Figs!

[WaterWitchin]

Originally Posted by Ray

... My wife freaked out a bit when she read a wasp pollinates the flowers, then becomes a part of it, and the fruit. Fortunately, that is not true of all figs, and ours is not in that category.
....

Ewwwwww! Just Ewwwwwww!

Please tell me this Hardy Chicago fig is NOT in that category.

[Clawhammer]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

Ewwwwww! Just Ewwwwwww!

Please tell me this Hardy Chicago fig is NOT in that category.

It is not, Chicago Hardy is common fig. Smyrna types need the wasp and a male pollinator (caprifig). And you don't have the wasp anyway. Only in the Mediterranean and some parts of Cali

[WaterWitchin]

Feeling better already!

[Ray]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

Ewwwwww! Just Ewwwwwww!

Please tell me this Hardy Chicago fig is NOT in that category.

From Dave’s Garden:

“Three types of figs are:

1) Caducous (or Smyrna) figs, such as ‘Calimyrna’, ‘Marabout’, and ‘Zidi’ which require pollination by the fig wasp with pollen from caprifigs (a wild, inedible fig) to develop fruit;

2) Intermediate (or San Pedro) figs, including ‘Lampeira’, ‘King’, and ‘San Pedro’, which do not need pollination to set the first crop but require pollination in some regions for the main crop;

3) Persistent (common) figs, with examples such as ‘Adriatic’, ‘Black Mission’, ‘Brown Turkey’, ‘Brunswick’, and ‘Celeste’ that do not need pollination for fruit to develop. Of these, the persistent or common figs are most commonly grown in the Southeastern United States, and ‘Brown Turkey’ and ‘Celeste’ are most popular cultivars of the common fig.“

[Fuerte Rav]

Got a nice crop of early figs developing on my tree, before any leaves! Need to get a net fence round the base tomorrow before the hedgehogs find them!

[estación seca]

Back to what Ray wrote - The spring crop forms the previous fall on branch tips of trees large enough. If they winter too cold, and the branch tips die back, the figs for the spring crop are frozen. If this happens you can still get figs on new growth the following summer if the plant is large enough.

[Jeff214]

Originally Posted by Clawhammer

I bought a Celeste fig today, known as the "sugar fig". We have a wonderful fruit tree nursery here in Portland called One Green World that has a nice online presence. I'm obsessed with the place.

I also found a random restrepia sanguinea at a local nursery today for $15, so today was a success Never had seen a restrepia/pleurothalid locally before.

Celeste is very sweet and productive. Should be a good one if you can beat the birds to it! I think there are two types of "Celeste" out there but I'm not that familiar.

[Clawhammer]

Originally Posted by Jeff214

Celeste is very sweet and productive. Should be a good one if you can beat the birds to it! I think there are two types of "Celeste" out there but I'm not that familiar.

Already have a stash of organza bags... I am more worried about my street hardened city squirrels.

At least I don't have to fend off adorable hedgehogs Fuerte Rav

[WaterWitchin]

Okay, been thinking about this. Is there anyone here in a similar climate to mine Zone 6a who has a hardy fig tree growing outside in the ground all year? I know it can handle the heat... it's the cold that worries me. Regular cold, not so much, but when we do the occasional below zero dips it causes me to think I must do them in a pot.

[estación seca]

I have seen old fig trees in the Bronx, New York City, growing in the ground on the south sides of buildings. Italian immigrants brought them from the old country. Their families wrap them with newspaper and blankets each fall, then bend them over and cover with fallen leaves. They might survive some winters unprotected but not a bad winter unprotected. I think NYC is Zone 6b. Some friends of mine lost the fig their grandfather brought from Sicily when he became very ill and nobody had time to wrap it before what became a terrible winter.

I don't think they have any chance in Kansas unprotected due to your cold wind. If grown in a pot a garage might be too cold for overwintering because the roots would freeze. But if you pick a smaller growing variety and prune it properly, you can get fruit in a 15 gallon pot. Use 75% #4 perlite in your mix so it's easier to move. And I would suggest a rooted cutting rather than a graft so you can encourage branching from the base.