Hello All,
Just a quick question on where the figs in your collection came from. What percentage were purchased from a nursery, purchased from EBay, traded for or gifted. What's the error rate? Obviously, it doesn't have to be exact.

Thanks


Zone 9a
Wish list: 1. Gris Olivette
2. Sweet Joy
3. Figoin

My small collection 18 plants is about 50% nursery (online) and 50% Kijiji/craigslist.

I didn't even think of Craigslist.

Mine are are 98% gifts. 1% cutings from Fignuts.ca  The left 1% composes ½ of my trees is from prunings on the sidewalk on garbage pickup day. Unknown italian black fig that looks Brown turkey type. Vigorous grower. Very productive. 

Lol...i have looked at craigslist but I'm too chicken to buy.

5 bought from eBay-forum members (1 turned out not true to name (member's ultimate source was at fault) but member made it right once I brought it to his attention)
4 bought from live nursery ( all but an unknown was mis-labeled, 1 is LSU Purple and all else Celeste, even the unknown)
1 bought direct from member ( correct)
10 TC plants bought from online nursery (correct)
3 Walmart bought ( 1 wrong/mislabeled) edit: just found out 2 may be mislabeled; the only one not mislabeled, ironically, is Celeste.
2 Lowes bought ( both wrong/mislabeled)

I am very new to figs and the forum so no trades/gifts yet but a few cuttings are promised later this year. Overall, I prefer buying direct from members if I can and eBay-forum members if I really want a variety since eBay is usually expensive because of the middle man and frenzy bidding.

Cuttings from members here
3 plants from one member here on trade
found fig tree in Santee, Ca  1 cutting made it
Do not have good luck with rooting cuttings but I don't give up I just keep trying

I'm like 98℅ eBay, recently turned an eye to trading because in the future years I think I would prefer to share here than to blindly make money on eBay. Sure I'll sell a few 5+ years down the road there, but people here are very nice and a huge part of my enjoyment in fig growing is that I am a part of a group of other crazy collectors. That's not to say I still won't play on eBay, but in future years all my duplicates, cuttings and air layers will be offered up here first.

>> I've meet some really nice people from Craigslist. They are more then will to talk and spend time with you plus they love to show you their fig collection.

You are luckier than me, I have bad experience with Craigslist, I bought " Desert king", They sold me some junkie variety of " Brown Turkey", I bought again from other seller" Desert king, Hardy Chicago", all trees are sick trees , FMV, FMV mites, branches problem, you name it, big job to clear all mess.

I am not fig tree collector, I just want few good basic fig trees, I have better luck with forum member here, Winter is good time to collect some cuttings.

Biggest problem for me is that, Duplicated vareities.
I have 4 type of " Brown Turkey". and 3 type of " Vdb" Etc, not sure which one is real.

I have about 30+ varieties. About 90% eBay and I've been trading airlayers with forum members from across the country. EBay Figs have been very expensive,but it was they only way to get the hard to find varieties. I have only been into Figs a little over one year.

I have 106 trees from 5 inches tall/2 months old and up, been growing figs only 3 years.  I count 94 varieties, with several of the duplicates planned for trading.
Initially I bought one Chicago Hardy from a local greenhouse, and another from Lowe's
I have received 12 plants as gifts, another 22 as trades for my extras.
I have 2 plants airlayered from my own plants.
I have 2 plants grown from green cuttings from my own plants.
I purchased 10 varieties of cuttings from Jon Verdick when he offered his last big cutting sale - 8 of them were successes.
I have purchased about about 15 varieties of cuttings directly from forum members, but 8 of those have failed completely.
No Ebay or craigslist purchases to date
The rest of mine were from free cuttings offered for postage or for trades.

I started collecting and growing this year. I started with the biggest plants I could find at online nursuries. I wanted to get some figs this year. And my 2 LSU Purple and my Chicago Hardy have given me 15-20 figs each. Both pretty yummy. Then I went tried cuttings from eBay. I just recently found the method that works best for me. I made all the rookie mistakes with cuttings getting to that good place. So 40% of my plants are from nurseries. 30% are from eBay. 25% are purchased directly from F4F members. And the rest are cuttings taken from local trees. I'll start trading next year. I almost forgot. I placed a sizable order with Greenfin/Figcuttings.com. We'll see how that turns out.

Thanks you on the rooting method advise, Tony

Hi Again,
Since I have been asked I'll tell you what I do to root cuttings. Again, there a so many wise voices here on this forum I don't want to in anyway want to imply my way is better. It's just my way. In fact, my way is three different ways cobbled together.

1st thing I do with cuttings is wash them with antibacterial soap. I use Dial. I use either a toothbrush or just by hand.
Then I put paraffin wax on any cuttings on the top 1/3 of the cutting.
Then I put the cutting in a clear plastic cup (16oz Dixie cup) and fill halfway with water.
I now know smile good. Frown bad. As far as which way is up.
I have a kitchen window that gets a hour or so of first light and is bright all day.
That's where the labeled cups stay. I change water daily.
Usually in about 3 weeks the cuttings will show leaves and feeder roots.
Then I put them in nursery pots for trees filled a 1/2 chunky peralite and 1/2 potting soil mix. The nursery pots sit in a holder for 12.
Be gentle and watch how you deal with the roots.
That holder is in the bottom of a plastic container. The top is a larger plastic container. The humidity box.
That set up is where I grow them on. I sit it in a corner that the patio door is. It gets constant indirect light.
I spray it every other day or so. I put a little water at the bottom in the saucer that covers the nursery pot holder. I do it for humidity and so the soil at the bottom doesn't dry out.
In a few weeks I can usually see roots at the bottom of the nursery pots that are doing the best. I pay attention to the roots not the leaves.
When most have leaves and roots peaking out the bottom I take the bottom part outside and leave it in the bright shade for the day and take it in at night.
At this point I'm I'm dunking the pots halfway up in water for a second or two in the morning. Less is more when it comes to water and cuttings.
I do that Everyday or every other day depending on how hot it will be that day.
After awhile you have a plant that has root growth and is acclimated to outside temps.
BE CAREFUL HOW MUCH DIRECT SUN YOU GIVE THESE NEW PLANTS!!!!!
I fried a whole batch of cuttings/plantlings doing this.
Less water. Less direct sun. And let nature do it's thing.

The link is to my fall back method.
The success rate is high if you don't overwater and are patient.
It takes much longer to get leaves and roots. But I've had 1inch piece of cutting give me a plantling.