Hello everyone, well my fig orchard is complete.  Well almost except for the irrigation system going to be installed in about 2 weeks.  My fig orchard is on a hill.  In some places it is 30 degrees and less in others.  I have 67 fig trees installed in the ground.  A month ago I rented a one man auger.  And I don't care what anyone tells you!  A one man auger is really a TWO MAN AUGER!!!  I installed each tree by myself.  I'm a pretty big man, over 6 feet tall and over 200lbs but the day I drilled the holes in my orchard, I had a severe head cold which turned into a touch of pneumonia.  Just to get the auger out of my pickup and drag it up and down the slope of my orchard took a lot of strength out of me!  But I drilled 47 holes in 5 hours taking breaks in between each hole to catch my breath and strength to hold the blade in place.  On the 40th hole I got careless and the auger bit popped my knee.  I went down. The blood started to flow through my jeans and my knee swole up like a softball.  After I yelled and screamed, I finished the final 7 holes! 

Below are a few pictures.  Therer are a few trees that died to ground and are now coming back to life.  I've got 3 in ground Black Mission trees that I will be pulling up tomorrow morning and replacing them with a few others. 

Here is a list of what I have in ground now.
Byadi (BS)
Celeste
Peter's Honey OGW
Votata
Atreano (OGW)
Lamperia
Los Lunas
Brunswick
Marseilles White
Native Black DN
Genoa DN
187-25 UCD
Italian Honey OGW
Green Greek
Celeste
Smith RR
Petite Negra
Pananas Purple VS
Desert King
HOK (Heaven Only Knows)
Black Celeste
Bellclaire GM #14
Kathleen Black VS
Dark Portuguese BS
Deanna RR
Marseilles Black VS
Paradiso GM #9
Martin's Unk #17
Violetta
Brooklyn White BS
Atreano Gold
Hardy Chicago VS
Celeste
Black Italian DN
Don Fortiss VS
Black Mission (Lowe's)
Italian 258
Chico Strawberry
Black Mission (Lowe's)
Gino's VS
Sal's Coreleone BC#31
Black Mission (Lowe's)
Chico Strawberry SV
Strawberry BS
Ronde de Bourdeaux BS
Strawberry BS
Shar Italian DN
Brunswick
O'Rourke DN
Bourjassotte  Greise
Charlotte DJ
Melanzana Merdoscola
Charlotte DJ
Negronne
Taco KK
Stella OGW
Ischia Green
O'Rourke DN
Weeping Fig
LSU Gold HS
LSU Purple HS
ABQ1

I took 2 pics of my fastest growning trees since I've placed these in the ground 4 weeks ago.  They are Hollier and Atreano.  Just look at the figs on my Hollier!  Last year my Hollier figs were tiny, not this year!  I fertilize each tree with 3, 8-11-11 fruit tree fertilizer spikes.  They last 6 weeks and work well for me. I install them using an electric drill and a bulb auger. 

I took a top view picture of a tree that is sooooo slow to leaving out but was a super sweet fig.  Last year, I posted pics of leafs and fruit from this tree.  Some were saying that this tree is a Celeste.  I disagree.  I have 3 Celeste fig trees in ground and every Celeste has leafed out except this guy.   The buds are starting swell and push out.   I also added a few picture of my backup trees in case some of these in my orchard die, I have backups to plant in their place.  These are in 5 gal+ containters.  They are:
Violette de Bourdeaux (about 8 of those)
Malt Black
Black Jack
Atreano
Raspberry Latte
Celeste
Brunswick
Scott's Black
Sal's
Marseilles VS
Hunt
Lemon
Ischia White
Pappa John
Italian Purple
White Gem
Hardy Chicago
Blue Celeste
Golden Celeste
Paradiso
White Triana
Black Triana
La Goccia D'Oro
Monstrueuse
Black Maderia
Texas Evb White
Flanders
LSU Black
Tiger
and a few others

Well, I've got to finish laying out my concrete pavers and running my main water line.  Thanks for reading my post.  Good luck everyone and may you have the best year growing figs!  cheers, and...

HOW BOUT THOSE FIGS!!!!!

If I was you I will discard all Brunswick type figs before your orchard gets infested with fig beetle!.
Any fig that sour so bad like Brunswick and has a large eye and an interior cavity,is a host for fig beetle.
Once it establishes itself in your orchard it will push trough fruits with smaller orifice eye and sour them ,before ripe.

Great job Dennis. Thanks for keeping us posted. Looks like a must visit place if I have a chance to be in NC. I like the HOK variant name. Hope its an awesome one.

Dennis

A great fig collection indeed!, keep up the good work.

My cuttings will be ready soon.  Let you know in a few days.

George

Great job Dennis, I hope the damage to your knee is too bad. Your hillside reminds me of Jon's hillside in Ca. Good luck with all your trees and looking forward to more pictures of the trees and fruit as they mature and ripen.
"gene"

Very Impressive, All the best 

VERY NICE! Awesome list of varietals. My experience with Brunswick has not been the same as Herman's. Did have a few spoil after the weather cooled down in the "fall" and one fruit became waterlogged after a hard rain while it was ripening. Otherwise...YUM! Good luck!

Good God Dennis! You have been busy. Very nice work.

I can predict the CNN Headline news in about three years:

• Man starts the largest fig nursery in North Carolina...in his backyard! 
• North Carolina man donates figs to local food banks.
• Man's blood tests positive...for fig?!?!
  

Dennis, I am here to officially advise you that since you have so many fig cultivars in your collection, that you must now register your collection with the Federal Government's "fig gene pool" !!!!!!!!

........nice collection and looking forward to your future reports on those cultivars.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

Dennis beautiful job.

Hi Dennis,
 stock up on some extra camera batteries and a fruit scale.
Wow thats a lot of figs your going to have once they take to the ground.
Can see the sign menu out front.

Fig picking by the pound.
Fig wine
Fig bread
Fig plants for Sale

Great job, Dennis! I was sitting here scratching my head wondering where the Blackjack was till I hit the 5gal section ;). Great selection indeed!!

OMG!  This is an intervention Dennis:

Please . . . repeat after me: "My name is Dennis, and I am a fig addict."  ;-)

That is a fantastic collection Dennis, and a very, very impressive set up.

You will have many, many happy years with this.  Lots of fun, and lots of great food to come.  And good health too.

Sorry to hear about the injury though.  Power tools can be dangerous and unpredictable, especially in this rock hard red clay.

I greatly appreciate your sharing this Dennis.  There is clearly a tremendous amount of work here, but the payoff will be even more tremendous.

You are an inspiration my friend.

Best wishes.

John

p.s. Thanks for the tip on removing the Brunswicks Herman.  Another F4F member said the figs he got from "Michigan Fig" turned out to be Brunswicks.  When I first started ordering figs from Ebay, I didn't know anything, so I have a couple of those from MichFig.  I'm going to take them out to be safe, and then their next assignment will be cooking hot dogs.  Better safe than sorry.

Best wishes to all.

John

I am inspired. Great job.

Wow! I am amazed! Great job!

Dennis, your fig project has a lot of potential.  For those of us who grow figs in ground in the mid atlantic region it will be real interesting to see what you learn about varieties and growing techniques etc. in our climate.

Dennis, all I can say is wow. You did a tremendous job. That's an impressive list, too. Best wishes to you! Tim

I really hope these cultivars planted in ground survive this winter. I can't wait till summer to try the fruit.  I got plenty of space to plant more fig tree, if the wife let me!  She's been wanting a garden.  Yesterday, my neighbour gave us half of their garden space, a huge area 70 x 50.  So now I have play farmer john and plant veggies too!  I want to plant a few UCD & Richard Watts trees in my yard if the cutting are successful.  I have them in my garage and they are doing well.  I'll keep you guys posted on the progress of these trees throughout the year.

Hi, Dennis!
I'm seeing you having fan:-)
I'm watering my figs every day plus other my fruit trees around 3-4 hour..
I had a system, but my husband broke it when he move the grass.. So, now I have fan every day, plus at night I'm watering my huge trees..
But..I don't think I will create watering system for the figs..Seems to me, like different varieties need different ammount of water.. So, I just give every one just what they ask for...
But one thing real help me..I cover all pots with pain bark, I cover all soil like with a 1 inch of pine bark..Every fig over couple of days start look much better, and every one have new and healthy leaves...
So, I even start to think cover with it my in ground trees..
Seems like plants real feel better with it..
Olya.

Looking good Dennis.
Keep up the good work and keep us posted.

Wow that's impressive nice work!

Wow Dennis!  Congrats on a lovely fig orchard!  We all have fig envy now:)

This is awesome Dennis! I hope your knee and figs are doing well.

Hank, the knee is fine but after running up and down that hill carrying bags and other stuff my knee starts to really ache. I will be removing some swapping them for others. No winter protection this year though.

Hi Dennis,

What killed your black mission trees to the ground?  Did they freeze?  I ask because my black mission isn't doing all that great either.  We are in similar zones and, I think you have red clay soil also, don't you?

And would you post some pics of your orchard?  I'll be it looked great last summer.

Dennis,

That is amazing!!  It's my first time seeing this thread.  What a dream yard!  Did you get a nice harvest of figs in 2012? 

Very impressive.  Can't wait to see photos.

Hey Dave, you know that's a good question. I believe it froze to death. I bought 3 Black Mission trees all at the same time. Back then, they were everywhere and pretty cheap. So, I planted them in my orchard and left them alone. That summer I got a few figs. They were excellent. The following winter I did not winterize and we had a harsh winter with ice and snow. The next year, one flat out died. Another one just stopped growing. I got a few figs the next year but not many. Then one day, they just stopped growing and poof.....they were gone. Today, I have several Black Missions. Last year, they almost out produced my Improved Celeste. Red Clay? You bet! However today when I plant my trees in the ground, I use my tiller and water saver (pine bark fine). We do get cold weather here but not like we use too. Temps only get down to 22 now. Last year our coldest days were in November and lots of bugs! So far, the same thing this year. I'll photo my orchard this Spring. I have to tidy it up a little first.

Frank, look here: http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/Your-overall-2012-experience-6032038

Dennis,

   I am glad someone brought this thread current. You don't need an "ataboy" from me, but holy smokes, you are ambitious! Accolades from this direction. Now don't hurt yourself again. Ask for help, if only on the premise the premise that good company enjoys good work.

Dale, I got 2 sons. But I wanted to do the work myself and I want to do it first thing in the morning. Sometimes it takes more time to tell someone vs just doing it myself. After I dug the holes, next came irrrrrigation. I did get one son to help with that. He put on his football cleets as I guided the trencher. Here is the thread: We were done in 20mins! http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/Fig-Orchard-Irrigation-pics-5410087

Dennis, your orchard is amazing! I hope one day I have a home that I can have an orchard. You have given me a goal. I would also like to have a grape vineyard, and blueberry orchard. Gonna need myself a big piece of land. Hope yours is doing well and that this year brings you lots of wonderful figs. Also hope that knee doesn't act up on you. Happy figging!

Dennis,

    Glad you had someone handy to hitch up to the plow. I am finding out I am not healing as fast as I used to and we can't afford to be out of commission too long.

Dennis, the orchard looks wonderful!!

How far apart did you space the fig trees? you might want to trim more sod off around the trees to make for easier mowing. I found out to use my mower I had to leave a 6' circle without grass (when i first tried my hand at fruit trees) to make sure i can make all the turns without missing a spot. Did you mix up your own dirt to fill in the holes or just used the dirt you have?

Thanks,

Jose

P.S. I'm now kind of glad it didn't go so well, I have more space for figs!!

Wow, that is crazy good.  I hadn't even seen this before you won the craziest fig fanatic.  You sure deserve it.   By the way, a couple of fabulous prizes are on there way tomorrow (anyways, I hope you think they are).   Thanks for taking the crown.  I'm so relieved it's not me anymore.  At least that's what I can tell my family.   You are!   Awesome job on the orchard. 

Jose, they are spaced 7 and 8 feet apart. I kept popping the 1/4in tubing because I never buried it. I finally dug a trench using a claw hammer and buried them all except a few. Then I built a 2 foot perimeter around each tree with 4 inches of mulch. I don't mix my own dirt to fill the hole. I just give each hole a 1/2 bag of soil conditioner and till it with my tiller. The tiller blends the soil so well and gives me plenty to back fill the hole when the tree goes in. Thanks for choosing me for the prize figfinatic. I am curious what's in the package.

Let us know when you get it.

Do you think you will eventually switch everything over to only a few varieties that does the best?

I will but last winter I cut my in ground tree way back and my fruit production was very low. So going forward, I will only cut these trees every 2 years. But yeah, the plan is to cull the non-producers and only keep what grows happy in Charlotte.

Dennis!  Wow!  We are negotiating with the bank on 1.4 hilly acres. We just countered their counter offer. An auger is on our list, but we have huge boulders on that hill, and this might be tough!  Thanks for all the photos and advice.  May hire professionals do do the digging job. 

We have about the same amount of fig trees, but also 3 x that of wine grapevines. 

I loved all your pictures and enjoyed the saga!  Look forward to seeing the progress as it goes along!

Suzi

Hello Suzi, good luck on your purchase!  I would love to move to CA and grow my fig trees there.  But it looks like I will be retiring here. 

I didn't have to use the auger to plant my trees.  I wanted to use my tiller but it had a vaccum leak and did not have time to fix it.  It's fix now and lately I've been using it to make my holes.  BUt I tell ya, using that auger was a chore!  It was fast but I paid the price for the speed.  I would love to plant some grapes but can only grow them in pots which is not good. 

It's time to start doing maintenance again so I told my sons to get ready.  I'm gonna use their muscle power to wheel all my mulch up and down the orchard.  Hehehehe.  I already prepared them for the up coming work!  I've got a truck load of mulch coming from the land fill....the black gold stuff.  Not a bad price.....$23 buck for one pickup bed load.  Ill post some pic next month when it all done. 

cheers!

That's an awsome fig orchard Dennis.
 I wish i had irirgation in my fruit orchard .

Last summer was very hot!
I was filling the back of the pickup with about a  dozen 5 gal buckets full of water and hauling them to the orchard .
Two or three..... trips in 100f+ weather was......... Just Awsome!
I am going to get the city to put a hydrent in this spring .
Then i will be dragging a LONG hose around.
I grow apples ,pears , necariens , apricots , cherrys , plums ,kiwi , grapes , black berrys , respberrys, gooesberrys , currents .
I have more fruit trees orderd .
I am in zone5 S.E.Nebraska.


AUSTIN

Alright Dennis!
UCDavis fig photo update...done
UCDavis video blog...done
Once Spring springs, I humbly request that you post a photo update of your orchard.

Thanks Austin. JD, I'll take some pics when I get back home this weekend. But I need to do some Spring cleaning first.

Dennis,
What a cool group of trees. Are there any that you think don't get enough heat? thx

Austin,
Look at drip. It's really cheap and works really well.

Very very impressive!

Michael, below is a list of what loved the heat and those that did not.  Petite Negra was the only one that drooped during high heat days.  Since I started this thread, I've added about 30 more trees like, Violete de Bordeaux, Negronne, Del as Senyora, Emerald Strawberry and others.  I'll have data on those later this year.  Also, these in the ground and comparing them to some others I have, I 've learned a few things.  Like I believe Byadi and Marseilles White are the the same tree....at least mine are.  The leaf patterns are the exact same and they fruit on cue exactly the same time. Plus they taste the same.  My trees are growing almost side by side and I know the labels are correct.  Also, some trees grow better in certain spots.  Some areas of the orchard are more compact with clay than others.  Those on the low end are growing extremely well.  It's not much clay there, just soft loamy soil.  So those in that area like Atreano, Kathleen Black, Martin's Unknown, Petite Negra, Pananas Purple, Don Fortis and Hardy Chicago explode with 5 feet of new growth every year.  Where as Black Celeste, MVS and a few others are just taking their time but puting out a lot of figs annually.  Now that these trees are in the ground, I don't fertilize them much.  Maybe a little bit of organic fertilizer twice a year is all they get.  Hope this helps!

Here is the other half of the list.