I bought their (not rare) assorted figs last year and got Kadota, Celeste, Green Ischia, and Latterula. I'm interested to see what they consider rare, though I have to wonder where they're sourcing their plants from. Only time will tell.   

I'll bet they are tissue culture plants from Agristarts.

That is not a bad price for 3 TC plants.  I would be nice if they did list the Cultivars. I'm guessing that they are not sure what they are getting yet and can not guarantee what you will get either.  I just received 2 TC plants from WellSpring, they are around the same price and I know what I got.  Still, the mystery does make it kind of fun.

Thank you for the link and the heads up on this deal.

Scott

TC plant grow very very fast!  And you may not see one fig for many years.  Been then done that!

The TC figs I order last spring did not grow well at first, but are now growing like crazy.  I'm hopeful to see a fig or two from them this year, but not actually expecting anything until next year.  I do have to say that I do enjoy growing the TC fig trees, in addition, I hope that the selection of cultivars starts to increase radically soon.

As a whole, I like Baker Creek for seeds. I haven't ordered any live plants from them, but they're a good company - no complaints.

I just ordered from them yesterday. I really like they're catalog, lots of really interesting veggies and some fruits. I don't know about their figs though. I ordered some tomatoes and peppers.

I just also received Territorial Seed's catalog. They've also been great for seeds - they list a 1- to 2-foot Negronne for $24...

The best thing about Baker Creek is all there seeds are GMO free.
The main farm is in Mansfield,Missouri.
They also have a place in Sonoma County, California and they bought the Comstock Ferre & Company seed center.

http://www.rareseeds.com/

Baker Creek is not likely to sell TC plants.  I will ask them. 

If they are not TC, 3 "rare" fig tree for $15.00 is an amazing deal!

The gal on the other end of the phone doesn't know anything about them except they should arrive mid March and will ship in April sometime.

So for now, they're rare and "unknown" :)

And "rare" is an undefined and indeterminate statement that is solely the perception and or opinion of the author of the website text at this time.

Hope this isn't a dumb question but does a TC plant ensure it is FMV free?

[QUOTE=lifigs]Hope this isn't a dumb question but does a TC plant ensure it is FMV free?[/QUOTE]

Theoretically, yes. It seems they are.

What does FMV DO? I HEARD WE DONT HAVE IT IN LOUISIANA BUT DONT KNOW WHAT I DOES. CAP LOCK IS ON I AM NOT YELLING LOL.

Last year, Baker Creek plants were tissue culture according to their website.  Looks like they have changed the wording this year.  My brother bought the figs last year and got Kadota, Ischia, and Latterula.  He told me they were small and took a while to get going.  He also got the taro but they did not grow.  I bought the Katuk and it grew fine.

I love Baker Creek for seeds.  Never tried them for figs but the cutting grow so fast I'm not sure I would.

I got the figs last year too but by the time I caught the in stock it was late in the year so they didn't really take off but, I put half of them in the greenhouse and those are growing steadily so I hope the others will grow as fast once it warms up. I figured at $15 it was worth seeing what I'd get. 

I agree, for $5 each plus a little shipping, it's hard to wrong. 

Tissue culture in itself does not rid the strain of FMV.  They can do it as an addition to the standard protocol for TC but it is not always simple or successful.

There are whole lot of nurseries leaning towards only selling TC plants.  The bottom line reason why is money.  They can get a lot of plants for pennies and make a lot more money.  Last year, one nursery owner sat me down and explained it all to me.

I wish I could buy figs locally, I would love to see TC trees or Trees grown from cuttings.  I may start leaning on a small local nursery a bit, even give them a couple to sell so they can get a taste for figs and other exotics.

I know a lot of members are not fond of the TC figs, but I like them, they are fun to grow.

[QUOTE=rcantor]The gal on the other end of the phone doesn't know anything about them except they should arrive mid March and will ship in April sometime.[/QUOTE]


WOW! That's the longest shipping time I've ever seen.





yuk yuk

It seems that I have caught the bug already!  So much for my goal of one good tree.  I purchased two from Encanto today and ordered the selection from Baker Creek. 

I received my "rare" fig assortment from Baker Creek today. Yellow Long Neck, Magnolia, and LSU.  The LSU looks just about dead.





   

Now I'm excited to get home and see if I got mine too . Did they email you before sending it out?

Yes I got a shipping notification on the 7th.

Now I'm jealous I pre-ordered mine in November and haven't gotten a shipping notification yet :( maybe they haven't gotten the dwarf banana I ordered yet.

I wonder which LSU variety it is

If it's from agristarts it's an LSU purple.

Hi,
With all that green growth, I would put those in a greenhouse.
Don't put those softies out in the sun and the cold nights or the leaves will get cooked .
Good luck !

I am excited also. I placed my order with BC for the rare fig asst. early in the year. I wonder, for those of us that ordered, if we will all get the same varieties. I also ordered the Musa Dwarf Nam Wa Bananas and the assorted Kiwi. 2 female and 1 male. Ananasnaja 'Anna'. Actinidia Arguta Kiwi.
My seeds came in January. This is my first time ordering live plants from them.

I have been ordering heirloom seeds from Baker Creek for the past 17 years. I love this company, and highly recommend them. Excellent quality and germ. of seeds. I have never been disappointed.

Ginny

Just as a note, a Yellow Long Neck needs a lot of heat to taste good (assuming they are YLN for real and you get any figs at all)

Wow, not to be a wet blanket but that's super disappointing from B.C.  "Rare" fig assortment including magnolia and "LSU."  I mean, I'm sure they must contract out with someone for those plants, so its not entirely their fault, but man oh man I am glad I did not buy it.  I sure thought about it...I figured it would contain...well, not rare...but somewhat less commercially available plants like VdB, Atreano, Hollier, Alma, etc.  Given, they stumped me with "Yellow Long Neck," so I'll give them that...but magnolia and LSU (which could be one of ten different varieties in theory, but I am assuming purple or gold); I can buy those at my local walmart or lowes, and certainly my local nursery.  The only thing "rare" about them is that they're not chicago hardy, brown turkey, or celeste.

Not trying to knock B.C. here, nor downplay the plants you received.  LSU purple (if that's what it is) is excellent when fully ripe for me, and mine is still a relatively young plant.  Don't know as much about Magnolia, other than that tissue culture plants are readily available at my local walmart.  I guess at the end of the day, 15 bucks for 3 trees is a good deal, so long as they survive.  I mean...15 bucks for 3 brown turkey/celeste is a good deal, let alone the three you received, so who am I to complain?  Still glad I didn't order it though....

that line-up would have been disappointing if I was expecting "rare" figs. Stick to cuttings from folks on this forum and you can hardly go wrong.

Yea I got two that were the same as ones I bought from them last year and the unknown LSU variety :/ I'll stick to the forum I guess.
But my tiny bananas are cool. They have like 6 leaves and are only 3" tall. I can't wait to see them fruit :)

I know this is a year old but I just recieved my order and it seems they changed their packaging to list the varieties. Just in case anyone else is planing on ordering in the future. Not so rare but good for a noob like me, as I only received one duplicate (desert king, I ordered one from eBay). I also got olympian and ischia. I only have 3 other variety right now. Not bad for 15$ shipped.

yeah, that packaging guarantees that the contents are tissue culture figs from Agristarts. Not a bad deal if you're just starting out. 

Good for new people. Agree, most likely from Agristarts. Not terrible, but not rare.

I can vouch, based on the look of the plants, they are agristarts. Also they shipped from FL and shipping was slow, like they had to order it. None of my plants are over 6 months old so I'm not disappointed but a seasoned figgy may be. Question, are agristarts a bad method to propagate figs?

Agristarts is a vendor. They sell tissue culture plants. Sometimes, in the tissue culturing process the plants biological clock gets reset and they think they're young again. Which is bad because then they take a few years before they start fruiting. But that doesn't happen every time.

I ordered from Baker Creek recently. The plants arrived today. They were healthy. They were shipped without pots; it looks like Baker Creek grew out the Agristarts plants and pulled them out of the flats. I potted them up into the pots that other TC plants I ordered from Wellspring shipped in earlier this year.  The Wellspring TC plants have taken a while to get started but are doing well too, they are in the picture taken outside  .

I haven't been doing this long enough to know if these plants will take longer to bear than ones propagated from cuttings, but it was fun to get 5 plants (also 2 mulberries) for $23. 

 
 

I bough several fig trees from wellspring gardens. The two Olympian trees I got from them last spring has figs on them already.....

I purchased 2 sets (6 plants) and on 5/23 received 2 White Marseilles, one VDB, Ischia and Olympian also one unmarked that did not make it .....I overwatered it. Transplanted to the large 1 lb. plastic Coffee containers and full Sun as soon as they adapted. The VDB and Ischia are over 2 foot tall now in only 4 months. The 2 WM's and Oly are multi-branched and 1 foot tall and 1 1/2 foot wide. They all started at 3-4 inches tall! I purchased (on sale) 3 plants/$13 delivered so the 5 still alive cost me $5.20 each. All healthy and the Ischia I just pinched back at 2 feet! So I am impressed. As to the "rare" part I suspect that they are comparing it to what you will find locally or big box stores.  I had to beg my local Nursery to get me LSU figs and choices for others rather than Brown Turkey, when they ordered my LSU Gold they ordered 6 and last I was there they had only 2 left. I am now WM heavy.....6 total! I have had good luck with Wellsprings and Hirt's also. When you can get a well rooted fig plant delivered for under $10 I feel like that is a deal for the beginner that is not ready or not having luck with cuttings to start a collection.

Anyone else think that their fertilization instructions are insane?  1 lb of 8-8-8 for a first year tree in a container?  Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd be shocked if people weren't killing their plants with those instructions. 

Wow, I guess I am glad I missed that. Must have meant 1 Tablespoon.....don't think I would put more than that!

Hi All!  Thank you so much for catching that GregMartin!  That got past several of our horticulturists :(  We will have the instructions edited before we print bags for this next season.  To answer your questions, yes, the live plants we offer are TC from agristarts.  We send employees down to Florida, and ship them directly from the greenhouse there to minimize shipping time for the health of the plant.  We ask for the rare varieties, but sometimes we have to send what they have available.  The LSU they offer is the purple.  We accept pre-orders beginning in October, and begin shipping in April, shipping by zone warmest to coldest, to hopefully prevent the plants from arriving frozen.  We do guarantee the live plants for 30 days from when you receive them. 

Thank you, Lisa, for your comments. It's great to see a company representative care enough to reply to questions in the forum. A little customer service goes a long way.

You're welcome arachyd!  If anyone has any questions, they can email us at seeds@rareseeds.com   :)