I just joined the forum a few days ago and thought some might want to know something about me and what I live doing. I live outside San Antonio about 40 miles in a small town name Bandera. We normally have excellent weather around here and so tar this year, we have only had three or four days where it got slightly under freezing, around 29 to 21 degrees which makes it perfect for growing  different figs and other fruits.
  I got into figs mainly after my wonderful mother finally showed me her method of making fig preserves which I have loved just about all my life. Since I grew in the lower Rio Grande Valley (Mission and McAllen) of Texas, I have lived around figs, citrus, date palms, mango's and all sorts of other vegetables and fruits. I lived on oranges and grapefruit since my dad took  care of about 400 acres of them and we had 10 acres of them on our home place. It was a very healthy life style and I was never sick. Taking 3 years of FFA, it's hard to get away from agriculture and the desire to  grow things. Guess that's why my back half acre is an orchard that Adam and Eve would envy. I bet they didn't even have persimmons or a grapefruit tree...lol..I do.
  I presently have about 40 fruit trees on my 1/2 acre back fenced in yard including varieties of plums, apricots, nectarines, peaches, persimmons, apples and several fig trees. So far I don't have a large variety of fig varieties, mainly Alma, Yellow long neck, Texas Blue Giant, California Black Mission and Celeste. I am propagating several other varieties such as Flanders, Desert Giant, Dora's Delight, Chicago Hardy and one I located here locally that is purple in color, amber inside and gets from 2 to 2.5" in diameter, probably a large Brown Turkey. Once they have ripe figs, I will put some photos on here of the fruit and leaf, maybe somebody can help me identify it. It makes excellent preserves and has a nice sweet flavor.
  I am always looking for other varieties that will do good here, I mainly like the medium to large size figs from the size of Alma's and larger (2 to 4" in diameter). I am always concerned over the sellers on ebay because I see where other members have had issues with some of them sending cuttings other than the ones listed or dried out and dead cuttings.  Only problems so far have been from Wellspring who's plants are awfully small, hope they survive and a seller who goes by dausername1 who I see others have also had issues with (sending varieties other than what is listed and dried out cuttings).  Would like to know if other members have had issues with these two sellers. I don't know why sellers do this, dausername only sells most his cuttings for $10, is it really worth it to create a bad name for yourself for such little?  I see he seldom ever gets bids on his listings.
  Anyway, that is a little information on me and where I come from. Am looking forward to hearing from  other members and their experiences with figs and ebay.  Good luck to everyone and happy fig growing. Blessings to ya'll from the beautiful Texas Hill country. Don (newk on F4F.
  I would like to find cuttings for Panache and Black Madeira. Would love to do some trading.

welcome Charles :) i'm new to gardening and have bought 5 fig plants from wellspring garden.. they are very tiny but i'm hoping they will grow real fast once its warmer outside... not sure if you read about greenfin 7.00 fig cutting sells I would check out figcuttings.com I have placed a couple for summer delivery... also theres lots of informative members (Harvey, dave, etc.) who have checked which ebay users are reliable (just type in ebay user name) on search topic...

Welcome to the forum. Nice place to check in several times a day. That fig you described is the
LSU PURPLE. BIG LEAVES AMBER PULP PURPLE SKIN WITH THE STEM AREA USALLY WHITE OR CREAM COLOR. Makes three crops sometimes four. Richie from louisiana

Welcome to the forum Charles

Welcome to the forum.

My favorite nursery in San Antonio is http://www.fanicknursery.com/PlantDBFruitandNutTrees.htm  They always have some new and nice varieties of fruit trees in season. I know that they carry trees from http://www.lecooke.com/cms/
You'd have to visit in person to see what they have since the new stuff sometimes does not make it to their website. I might go there a couple of times a year since it's a long drive for me. P.S.They have 20% off this weekend.

I bought several plants from Wellspring and never had any problems with them. The size as you say is tiny but the price is OK when you cannot find something locally and not in a hurry. For extra protection, I usually keep their plants above ground until developed.

Welcome, Charles.

[QUOTE=Mario_1]Welcome to the forum Charles[/QUOTE]  Once summer gets here and I pick some of those figs I will post photos on here. I thought it might be an LSU purple also but since I have yet to see a fig from a LSU purple, I wasn't sure. Thanks for that info.

[QUOTE=newk][QUOTE=Mario_1]Welcome to the forum Charles[/QUOTE]  Once summer gets here and I pick some of those figs I will post photos on here. I thought it might be an LSU purple also but since I have yet to see a fig from a LSU purple, I wasn't sure. Thanks for that info.[/QUOTE]  Jerry, we use to have our Newkirk family reunions at Marakopa ranch in Canyon lake. My sister lives in Blanco. Nice to see some locals on here from this beautiful area of Texas. Take care and nice to hear from ya.

[QUOTE=Jerry_M]Welcome, Charles.[/QUOTE] I have also been to Faniks nursery, just bought a couple of their Texas Blue Giants and am looking forward to seeing how they turn out. They have a beautiful nursery that was founded by their grandfather and who started a few varieties of fruit and flower varieties. Texas Blue Giant is just one of his varieties he created. The man loved doing what he did...one of the great ones for sure. I plan on going back in a few days when all the new plants and trees are out, it's way on the other side of SA and about 60 miles from where I live so can't just take off and run over like I can the nurseries on hwy 16 in Helotes, Kerrville and Boerne.  Thanks for the info.

[QUOTE=figpig_66]Welcome to the forum. Nice place to check in several times a day. That fig you described is the LSU PURPLE. BIG LEAVES AMBER PULP PURPLE SKIN WITH THE STEM AREA USALLY WHITE OR CREAM COLOR. Makes three crops sometimes four. Richie from louisiana [/QUOTE]
That's nice to hear about Wellspring, I just need to be patient with these two little guys. I took them out of the small cup they were in and put them in a gallon pot so they have plenty of room to spread their roots. They suggested I graduate the pot sizes up but I think they will do better if I just put them in the gallon right off the bat. Will see how they turn out. Thanks for the info.  Don

[QUOTE=Mario_1]Welcome to the forum Charles[/QUOTE]
Richie, one of the plus's I found with this large purple (maybe your LSU Purple) is that it has a tightly closed eye so bugs can't get into it. My Alma's are the same. I can get several cuttings from Alma trees as one local has about 15 trees of them, I also know where others are and mine will have cuttings by next fall and winter. Anyone needing one, I am more than glad to do a little swapping for them and large purple. Got plenty to cut so let me know.   Thanks again.

Welcome Don!

Fantastic people here sharing everything figs and beyond. 
You will get the hang of maneuvering around shortly. 

I recommend starting with the threads pinned to the top with the lock "Start Here"

Welcome Charles. Like you and many others first starting out, I also purchased from Wellspring. Al is correct they are usually tissue culture. Use the search feature to learn about them, but with a little patience they will grow. Don't be disappointed if they don't produce the first year, however some members have had success there.

[QUOTE=DaveL]Welcome Charles. Like you and many others first starting out, I also purchased from Wellspring. Al is correct they are usually tissue culture. Use the search feature to learn about them, but with a little patience they will grow. Don't be disappointed if they don't produce the first year, however some members have had success there.[/QUOTE]
It's good to hear that, since of their extremely small size, I was a little worried that they wouldn't survive. If they do good, they have other varieties I may buy later. Got to see how much space I have left for new varieties, I don't like them too close together that it hinders their growth. I do plan on keeping them trimmed back as not to allow them to spread too big. I have planted all other sorts of trees with success, just recently got into multiple varieties of figs. I have a couple listings on ebay under boaglio45 if anyone wants to see that large purple fig I was talking about earlier. It just shows the fig itself and shows how big it is. LSU gold was what one member told me. I think he may be right.

Welcome!  Just about any fig will do well for you.  Your best bet is to go to http://www.figcuttings.com/p/fig-trees-for-sale.html and see what's there.  Periodically people will offer cuttings for sale on this board, as well.

Welcome to the forum.  I also enjoy oranges and grapefruit, but I always get tired of eating grapefruit at some point  during the season.

I love grapefruit but believe me, there is no comparison between what you buy in the store and  how one taste picked fresh off the tree sun ripened. I grew up on tree ripened oranges and grapefruit and that spoiled me. I can hardly handle these store bought ones.

By the way, I have plenty of Alma cuttings available and am kinda looking for cuttings for Black Madeira and the Panache fig.  Anyone wanting to do  some trade, let me know. I also have that large purple (probably LSU purple) listed on ebay under boaglio45

Welcome from the frozen tundra....

I live in zone 9 and zone 10 is right below us.  We can grow anything around here, especially fruit trees .   My want list I listed...Black Madeira and Panache for now. 

Welcome, Charles!! Yes, pls post pics!! Your place does sound beautiful. You have room to plant. And, you have persimmons!!!

Thanks for the comment, can you  believe we already are having our fruit trees blooming out?  I have two Harvester peach trees that are already blooming out. And it isn't even February yet, they have been blooming for a week now. Some of my other fruit trees look ready to burst out with  beautiful pink and white blooms.  I don't have but about a half acre to plant in but I got it full of fruit trees..my own little Garden of Eden only I call it Don's little Garden of Eden. I need to deer fence the front half acre now and plant it. Have a great 2016.

Welcome to the forum, greetings from So.Cal...

Welcome, Charles. I live near Atlanta now, but used to own a small ranch down the hill from you in Hondo.

If you lived in  Hondo, you would be considered a neighbor here in Texas..lol.  I go there quite often, I have a Valkyrie Super Interstate and I love going through the hills over to Hondo and Leakey. Beautiful country over there. It ain't bad here though, all the creeks and rivers are running real good now. By small ranch, you mean a couple thousand acres?  lol

[QUOTE=newk]I love grapefruit but believe me, there is no comparison between what you buy in the store and  how one taste picked fresh off the tree sun ripened. I grew up on tree ripened oranges and grapefruit and that spoiled me. I can hardly handle these store bought ones.

By the way, I have plenty of Alma cuttings available and am kinda looking for cuttings for Black Madeira and the Panache fig.  Anyone wanting to do  some trade, let me know. I also have that large purple (probably LSU purple) listed on ebay under boaglio45[/QUOTE]

I can probably send you some Panache for just the shipping.  Send me a PM.

Charles, No, it was just 50 acres, but pecan trees. Was very nice. I used to fly small aircraft out of Boerne, over Medina Dam, Leakey, Bandera, etc. loved the scenery from above. Welcome aboard,

I bet it is beautiful, no telling what you see hidden out here on some of these big ranches that have been around for close to 200 years and handed down from generation to generation. I have only done it one limited time and didn't get to see as much as I would have liked.  Pecans did real good this past season with all the rain.  Take care...Don