Went to a local nursery here in Central California and I talked about figs to a manager. He showed me that he was growing a lot of brown turkeys and some missions. I told him that Brown Turkey with a lot of heat is one of the best tasting figs, so its fine selling them in our area. I told him to stick to selling Missions which everyone has been grown up with. He said that he was getting other varieties, as customers are discovering the new varieties. He said the Tiger fig is a new variety for the nursery. I told him about the berry flavored figs and I finished by saying, "Don't you want to sell the best tasting figs?", he hesitated and said "No, I want the best selling figs"....I smiled.

I will go with best tasting!

Armando, 
Interesting how Human Greed makes the world go through a totally different path, isn't it :)

Thanks for sharing your daily interview with us.

Good Observation Aaron, but he didn't mean it that way. In my earlier conversation with him, we were talking about making money at running a nursery. He seemed tired and maybe frustrated at the major cost of running a nursery and looking to have the most profitable product.  

Thats kind of what drives the sales of figs on ebay. People want the latest and greatest not about taste is about what is missing from a collection or what can be bought so you can sell cuttings.

On the other hand my daughter bought me a huge southern brown turkey for Christmas because its her favorite fig to eat !!!!

Anyone who does real commercial sales will tell you that you must have want people want or you won't survive. period.  When you are looking at a 20K oil bill for the winter you know the greenhouse has to make money in the spring.  At the garden greenhouse they sell Celest and Brown Turkey in 3 gallon pots for ~$25 because that's what are customer's know and that is what they can get.  This year they are going to try selling some different varieties in 1 gallon pots.  The selections have to be made not only on taste but also suitability to the area. 

The Fig industry is changing and we need to adjust to it. I was at the nursery to see if I can find a rootstock to do some grafting. It was 70 degrees, the norm annually for today is 55 degrees.

You absolutely must cater to your market. However, many people do not understand marketing. Apple does not create a new iPhone because people demand it. They produce the best product they can knowing that people will want it because it's better. (Typing on the new iphone6 BTW). People do pay for quality if they can see the value in it. Yes most people will buy the $25 fig, but a few will buy the $50 one. It takes just about the same effort to produce both. So when marketed correctly as "unique" or "rare" the $50 figs should sell very well. IMO.

Aaron I was getting ready to write virtually exactly to what you wrote lol. Except the Apple analogy

Hi Armando93223,
I'm ok with the statement "No, I want the best selling figs"

Now, did he explain to you what that is "a best selling fig" ?
IMO, that is a fig tree producing a lot of fruits and good quality fruits .
So now, why not sell new strains as long as they are best selling figs candidates ?

The only point were I can agree, is that for a nursery, having 200 strains for selling is stupid - they would lack space ...
But selling new strains is attracting former customers to come back and check ... So a good idea IMO .
So as long as you would help him get new productive strains to sell, I don't see his problem.
Of course, you need to supply at least 20 quality trees ... and sexy trees, like trees bearing fruits ready to swollen in the next month - that would be a hit !

Good morning friends. I hope you are all cozy and warm today. All thoughts and observations are correct but think about it for a moment. If every nursery out there sold the rare and unique varieties, they would not be rare and unique any more so....
Have a great day!; )

I guess I am not all that different from that nursery owner. If I had to choose, I would rather have a good tasting, consistent producer than the best tasting fig which did poorly because it was not suited to my climate.

Of course, I have the luxury of room for about 10 figs in my yard so I am trying to have the best of both worlds ;-)

Armando, he is very much correct....from a business stand point!  Brown Turkey is widely talked about on the East Coast.  Why?  Because back in the day, that was the only fig we had, then came Celeste which is hardier than the Brown Turkey.  Brown Turkey is the mostly requested fig that I sell.

But if you've ever tasted a caprified Brown Turkey or a caprified California Brown Turkey, THAT would be one of the best tasting figs you'd ever eaten!  If I lived in California, it would be the only fig I'd grow including Zidi.  Jon Verdick won't admit this but when we were in UC Davis a few years ago, Brown Turkey was one of our best tasting figs!  It was in the top 1%!  It really is an awesome tasting fig on the West coast.  Here are a few pics taken at UCD back in 2012 when Jon and I were there.

 

 


 

 

Thanks for all the comments. I like the pics Dennis. Our figs are better tasting due to the fig wasp. Over watering the Brown Turkey can give it sour fruit and can give it a bad name. I will see if I can host an event with the nursery. Introducing people to figs and hopefully they can buy some trees from him. The important thing is to make more fig addicts. 

I work at a nursery and can attest that's not necessarily greed but giving people what they want. You can tell someone till you're blue in the face that what they're looking for is not the best choice, but it is familiar to them and familiarity is comfort and safety, so they will buy it anyway.

A prime example would be apple trees. Everyone loves Gala apples, but they are not necessarily the best for the home grower. I can recommend disease resistant varieties til I'm blue in the face. At the end of the season I bought all the ones we had for my own orchard because no one recognized the variety names. Guess who will be eating low spray, scab free apples next fall?

I agree - the masses dictate which products are available in any type of business. It stinks when you're looking for something different, but the grower is doing what's most practical.

Quote:

Originally Posted by snaglpus
Armando, he is very much correct....from a business stand point!  Brown Turkey is widely talked about on the East Coast.  Why?  Because back in the day, that was the only fig we had, then came Celeste which is hardier than the Brown Turkey.  Brown Turkey is the mostly requested fig that I sell.

But if you've ever tasted a caprified Brown Turkey or a caprified California Brown Turkey, THAT would be one of the best tasting figs you'd ever eaten!  If I lived in California, it would be the only fig I'd grow including Zidi.  Jon Verdick won't admit this but when we were in UC Davis a few years ago, Brown Turkey was one of our best tasting figs!  It was in the top 1%!  It really is an awesome tasting fig on the West coast.  Here are a few pics taken at UCD back in 2012 when Jon and I were there.

  

 


 

 

Last summer we visited a friend here in GA that grows a BT and my daughter's comment after trying one was as follows. "Dad ,dad ,dad, I do not want to break your heart but this is one of the best figs ever"(age 14, up and coming fig nut) . Currently rooting 2 cuttings. Maybe the bad name comes from under ripe fruit sold in stores! Fully agree with Dennis!

Also nurseries in my area will get unknown dark fig cuttings (probably Valle Negra or Nero 600m) and put a Brown Turkey tag on it.  This really pisses me off because folks think all figs are Brown Turkey!  GO FIGURE!  They told me that was the only way to make a sell of an unknown fig tree.  This is so wrong!  I bought 2 from a nursery in my area 2 years ago.  The leaf pattern look like Nero 600m and the figs are round sweet jet black figs!  here are a few picture of it.  Sold me these trees for $18 dollars each labeled Brown Turkey!  After I bought them, I explained that they were not BT.  The owner said he could care less.  He made a sale and that's what counts.


 
 

That's a good problem to have Dennis, haha. 

Frank: Didn't know there were more than 2 varieties of Brown Turkey, heard about the New Improved Brown Turkey. ...........Frank I wish I could tell him what to buy, I have no super powers...LOL .........On the fig wasp, I will be on the hunt for them, haven't seen one yet. Simon that is funny, that's a good problem....LOL

Hi Snaglpus,
That's called the fig lottery :) .
I played as well, the ticket (fig tree) was 8€ and labeled brownturkey.
The leaves had too long fingers to be a BT, but that little thing was so cute .
Hopefully I'll get fruit next year, and I'll know was she is or I'll have to wait one year more. But that's the fun ... Provided the final result is worth the wait !

This BT looks quite different!

Pen, not exactly.  Remember, caprification completely alters the interior and exterior and taste and every thing else about a fig.  Also those living in cooler climate may have a true color of brown on their figs.  But those in more hotter climates may have purple or black like California.