thearabicstudent
1366758767
Posted 1372625724
Reply with quote #1
So figs originated in the area around Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Israel. What's the closest climate to that in the US? I'm originally from Florida and the heat is right, but it's way humid there. Not at all like the aforementioned countries. Is somewhere in the southwestern US the best place to grow figs? Arizona? New Mexico? As long as you water them enough I'm guessing.
http://www.thearabicstudent.com Maryland, Zone 7a (half a mile from 6b)
ascpete
1336096379
Posted 1372626346
Reply with quote #2
An earlier post by member Gina Wiki Link with more info.
thearabicstudent
1366758767
Posted 1372626807
Reply with quote #3
Is that from Los Angeles to San Jose?
http://www.thearabicstudent.com Maryland, Zone 7a (half a mile from 6b)
HarveyC
1212433117
Posted 1372627811
Reply with quote #4
Areas slightly north of Fresno, California (i.e., Madera) have a long history of successful fig-growing. The latitude of Madera is 36°57' and they have hot summer days and warm nights. I'm further north at 38°9' and have slightly longer days but most days are not as hot and evenings are cool but figs still do very well here. The USDA repository at Wolfskill is located about 50 miles north of me and doesn't get as cool in the evenings. I think figs grow up here as well as they do down in Madera but much of the commercial fig growing for figs is for drying so the warmer nights (and less dew) is makes that area better for dried figs. We seldom have rain during the summer here in the Great Central Valley of California and humidity is low so that also helps figs do well. 5-6 days ago we had a very unusual rain storm for two days and I think we had maybe up to a quarter of inch of rain here. One summer back in the late 1990s I had 5 of my 6 cuttings of alfalfa hay get rained on and that was extremely unusual. We typically get small rains once or twice a summer.
Harvey - Correia Farms
http://www.figaholics.com https://www.facebook.com/Figaholics
rcantor
1309799312
Posted 1372627996
Reply with quote #5
Quote:
Originally Posted by thearabicstudent Where is the ideal place in the US for figs?
HarveyC
1212433117
Posted 1372629892
Reply with quote #6
Bob, San Diego has the "June gloom", as one friend calls it (foggy cool weather). As of right now (3pm), it's 72F in San Diego and 104F in Madera, and 99F here according to The Weather Channel (my thermometer reads 106F. Jon has said he has never produced a good breba but I've had many. West of me in San Jose they have a Panache tree at Prusch Park and I've been told the figs won't ripen there but I picked main crop Panache last year on 7/23, I believe. I didn't think San Jose was much cooler than here but I guess it makes a big difference.
Harvey - Correia Farms
http://www.figaholics.com https://www.facebook.com/Figaholics
pitangadiego
1188871011
Posted 1372631220
Reply with quote #7
I would have to agree with Harvey. There is a reason why they are grown commercially, in California, in the Central Valley. That is an ideal climate. Doesn't mean that they can't be grown successfully other places, but that location is the "cat's meow".
http://encantofarms.com
http://figs4fun.com
http://webebananas.com
rcantor
1309799312
Posted 1372634828
Reply with quote #8
I agree completely that the Central Valley is the best.
HarveyC
1212433117
Posted 1372640003
Reply with quote #9
Over the past couple of days I was chatting with some folks from Texas and learned that Texas once had significant commercial production, reportedly even being the top-producing state (well over 100 years ago). In 1930 there were 1 million trees reported in the Texas ag census. I had no idea such production ever existed in Texas. It's not clear what lead to the decline but several people in Texas still report good crops.
Harvey - Correia Farms
http://www.figaholics.com https://www.facebook.com/Figaholics
rcantor
1309799312
Posted 1372643265
Reply with quote #10
Texas is a great area but every once in a while it snows.
DesertDance
1247674606
Posted 1372644629
Reply with quote #11
Well, I'm in Zone 19 according to Sunset, and Zone 9a according to others. I live in the perfect climate! HOT days, Cooler nights. NO humidity. No fog. Lots of boulders for the Figs roots to enjoy the cool darkness. It tries to snow, but the snow doesn't stick. Lots of sunshine.
bullet08
1284496248
Posted 1372679765
Reply with quote #12
where i am isn't so bad. we have hot weather and figs do rather well. only thing is it has been raining like crazy for last two yrs. i've been down here for last 30 yr and i don't remember it raining this much before. typically summers are hot and humid, but not this much rain. rains are usually during the spring and thunderstorm or shower during the summer occationally. since late summer last yr, it's been raining like crazy. this yr, it's almost raining every week and last two weeks been almost daily thunderstorm.
