85 new varieties in yesterdays mail.

 

wow are u gong to start  an orchard 

good luck with your rooting.
i would love to view a step by step update.

Envious,

Wills must have been good this year, someone really came down your chimney early.

Eff Me!!!

Is pretty much all I can say, Wills, except that you will need to look for more land soon. I've got a fallow acre that you might want to use.

That is just crazy.  Best of luck.  Keep us informed as the propagation progresses.

There were 85 varieties you didn't have????

Hey Wills, any snakes??? You should have all your packages sent to me for opening....for safety reasons only.

Busy indeed!  I hope they all do well for you.

[QUOTE=figgary]There were 85 varieties you didn't have????[/QUOTE]

I second that! Where did you find those 85 that you already do not have??

Wow, 85 varieties that you didn't have... and apparently all from the same source!

I'm sure you will never give up your supplier...

I have a feeling we are going to see a lot of fig cuttings and baby trees in future. But that's a good thing. :)

Good Luck Wills! I know how much hard work it is, in the freezing Winter with  Rooting Figs with  regular watering, checking temps, grow lights and then more work! You know what, it sure is worth it! :)

Wow! I was thinking I was going to busy with just 7. That's quite the collection.

Yes these are 85 I did not yet have.  Yes both of those boxes are from the same person.  

Sounds like a fun winter to me, congrats.

Can we get a picture of the top of the box? You know, with the lid closed, return address label clearly visible.

Congratulations, enjoy them!

Careful, folks- fig fever is contagious!

[QUOTE=ADelmanto]Can we get a picture of the top of the box? You know, with the lid closed, return address label clearly visible. [/QUOTE]

We saw what you did there.

[QUOTE=zone5figger]Careful, folks- fig fever is contagious![/QUOTE]


You got that right.  If all the trades come as agreed to think it will be 147 new varieties this winter.    

Dang Wills! If ever I go to Florida, I really want to visit your place. And I hope it's when the figs are ripe!

You are welcome anytime Calvin.  It comes at a price as it will take weeks of work this winter to prepare the ground for the new varieties.  In fact Hershell is coming down next week to help me with a couple of tricky trees.  

[QUOTE=WillsC]85 new varieties in yesterdays mail.

 
[/QUOTE]
That's awesome!

Incredible!  I'd love to hear about your system for keeping track of all the different varieties you have - do you just keep a spreadsheet or some more advanced tracking software?  How do you label the trees themselves, or do you keep a map, or ????

5 varieties at once make my winter busy enough , 85 looks a bit busier.

Good rooting

Oh wow!
I thought i had a busy winter with 23 new varieties but it seems i just met my master!
Happy rooting!

[QUOTE=clucking]Incredible!  I'd love to hear about your system for keeping track of all the different varieties you have - do you just keep a spreadsheet or some more advanced tracking software?  How do you label the trees themselves, or do you keep a map, or ????[/QUOTE]

Pretty much do all of the above.  I have a master map and a master list, the sections are broken up in to smaller lots so the list looks like this......the letters mean something to me and the # is the plants location in the row.  

Congrats, Wills! I am curiours, out of all you have (plus the new ones) , how many varieties are distinctively different? To put this in a prospective, I would not count the Mt Etna trees as different ( Ginos, MBVS, Sals EL, etc)

Greenfig,

Don't have enough experience to give an opinion that would have much value.  Maybe in 4 or 5 years I will have an informed opinion.  Right now it is just exploration and trying figs I have never had, some I like some I love and some are just so so but it can take a couple years for a fig to hit it's potential.  To be completely honest my procurement has greatly overreached my knowledge and experience when it comes to figs :)

Wills,

Not to pry, just out of curiosity, how many varieties and then total fig trees do you have? Plus or minus.

Scott

You are an inspiration and my hero wills ;)

Thanks, Wills, understood!
I will mark my calendar to remind myself to ask you in 4 years for an update :)
Good luck with them.

wow great job wills, this year I'll be adding about 40 new varieties to my fig collection. Instead of focusing solely on figs this year I'll be grafting persimmons, pawpaws, pecans, and rooting a few other plants this spring. I'll eventually be turning my edible landscape into a food forest and didn't want to have a monoculture of only figs but with over 300 fig trees and counting they will still make up the majority of the plants. I hope you have great success and if you need anymore fig cuttings shoot me an email, maybe we can make it 90 new varieties for you this year :)   

[QUOTE=COGardener]Wills,

Not to pry, just out of curiosity, how many varieties and then total fig trees do you have? Plus or minus.

Scott[/QUOTE]

Total varieties in ground was 182 as of Friday and 189 total plants in ground.  Don't have many duplicates.  

Congrats Daniel for adding 40, if everything goes okay I will be reducing my collection by 40, deciding what to let go is just as tough and deciding what to add. Good luck.

Wow! I almost fell out of my chair. Who knew there were that many varieties? I mean I knew there were a lot, but not that many! Kudos to you. That's a lot of work you are about to embark on. Congrats!

Total varieties in ground was 182 as of Friday and 189 total plants in ground.  Don't have many duplicates.  [/QUOTE] 

That is fantastic!  It is impractical for me to collect that many her in Colorado, I'm thinking around 30 one day, focusing on the short season varieties.  I would love to see such a collection first hand some day, it must be quite the sight.  Are you planning to one day have all varieties that are ideal for your area?  From what I've read as I'm slowly learning, that could be in excess of 1000 right?  

Congratulations on pushing your collection into the 290 region once successfully rooting your recently acquired cuttings.

Hi,
There are at least 700 varieties of ficus carica, and not speaking on localized unknown strains ... Still some left to acquire . Good luck.
Considering you need two trees per strains just in case you lose the only one, you'll have at least 170 pots started from that pack of 85 cultivars .

I need two additional spots for two potted trees which are former July cuttings, so I'm battling with my garden.
But, ok, they have to fit in . I don't know how but ... I have got this week to figure it out, cut the bottom of their pots, plant them in place and do their winter protections.

@waynea: I'm still selecting better strains adapted to Zone7. At some point, I will select the more productive ones and the tastier ones and that will be it . With the trees that I already have, this year, I could fill our bellies and make some preserves.
By the way, I just opened a new preserve pot this morning ...
So far, with 10 trees in ground for 3 persons, I get enough production for our needs. As I already wrote, what is amazing, is having figs from different strains in the same plate . That way you're never full and fed up of the taste.

Scott, I think the local folks will have you covered for your someday.

[QUOTE=cis4elk]Scott, I think the local folks will have you covered for your someday.[/QUOTE]

I believe you are right, there is already an amazing selection of fantastic figs in Colorado.  I can't wait to move so I can really start expanding my collection. 

I do have to say that Andy was right, this is an addictive hobby. I'm not content having only the 2 varieties I got from him like I thought I would be. 

[QUOTE=COGardener]
That is fantastic!  It is impractical for me to collect that many her in Colorado, I'm thinking around 30 one day, focusing on the short season varieties.  I would love to see such a collection first hand some day, it must be quite the sight.  Are you planning to one day have all varieties that are ideal for your area?  From what I've read as I'm slowly learning, that could be in excess of 1000 right?  

Congratulations on pushing your collection into the 290 region once successfully rooting your recently acquired cuttings.[/QUOTE]

Cold weather folks have to work a LOT harder and I always am amazed the work they do for this hobby.  

In a few years yep will be figs everywhere but I also have citrus and grapes and almost 300 blueberry plants.  

[QUOTE=WillsC] To be completely honest my procurement has greatly overreached my knowledge and experience when it comes to figs :)[/QUOTE]

As it should be.

How else do you get knowledge and experience  :)

BTW, start making your wishlist so we can get you up over 500 plants.  You know you wanna.   :)

[QUOTE=WillsC][QUOTE=COGardener]
[/QUOTE]

Cold weather folks have to work a LOT harder and I always am amazed the work they do for this hobby.  

In a few years yep will be figs everywhere but I also have citrus and grapes and almost 300 blueberry plants.  [/QUOTE]

I did not know it was extra work until you pointed it out. .. lol.   like anything else, if you enjoy it, then it's not work. 

You do have a lot going on especially with your nice long growing season.  I wish I could grow blueberries here,  but our soil is very alkaline. It is possible, but it is a lot more work then I feel is worth while.  I may grow some in large containers, it's much easier to maintain the acidity that the blueberries require. I would love to grow citrus, perhaps with the greenhouse once I move.  I do have a good amount of the standard fair for my climate, a mixture of 39 apples, pears, plums, peaches, nectarines and apricots. Many of those trees have 3 to 12 grafts to increase my varieties and extend the harvest. I have goji berries, raspberries, strawberries, pine berries, honey berries, grapes and aronia berries. I'm also growing a Dwarf Cavendish banana and a pineapple, why not. They look good with the Palm trees. 

I'm looking forward to seeing the progress and results of rooting and growing all of your cuttings. 

Scott

Wow.

OH MY GOSH! Sounds like you are gonna have a Garden of Eden! would love to visit one DAY. Good luck with your new plants.

All I can say Wills WOW and good luck

Beast mode!!!!!!;)

Will
Best wishes for successful rooting of all varieties and best wishes of the season to all.

Bob C wrote above "BTW, start making your wishlist so we can get you up over 500 plants. You know you wanna. :) "    But I don't see the 85 new varieties received made any dent in Will's wishlist under his signature!!