Fig Seedling?

Dairy_Queen · Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 12:46 am Post subject:

grackle: I don't want to steal any thunder from etwizard (the more the merrier, I feel!), but I'm a Landscape Architect with over 49 years experience in the Green Industry. So, I hope you don't mind my adding information to etwizard's knowledge.

Here are some wonderful links for apples, antique and otherwise:

This is a wonderous 8-page print out on all the apple varieties that you can buy: http://sonnet1.sonnet.com/davewilson/br40/br40_fruit_trees/br40Apples.html I carry copies of this in my truck, so when I visit fruit stands, I'll know what I'm buying.

From the same site, a link that tells you all about different culture of fruit and nut trees...including FIGS! http://sonnet1.sonnet.com/davewilson/homegrown/homeindex2.html

A very nice link describing apple festivals around the U.S. and Canada http://www.nationalapplemuseum.com/festivals.html

There are NO nurseries listed for the Dakota's or Minnesota that sell Antique Apples, but...a stone's throw from my home is an incredible nursery with a national reputation that sells antique apples and the trees
http://www.southmeadowfruitgardens.com/FruitTreeAboutUs.html

This is their catalog: Be prepared! This is exhaustive and lengthy! It will take about 2 cups of tea to get through it all, but the information is out-of-this-world! http://www.southmeadowfruitgardens.com/FruitTreeCatalog.html

That should keep you busy for quite a bit of time, grackle. I've visited the South Meadow Fruit Nursery and they are delightful.

P.S. I love your name! My grandpa had a love/hate relationship with grackles and used to hang aluminum pie pans on the fruit trees to keep them away! And nice to have someone from The Dakota's! Laughing

grackle · Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 12:51 am Post subject:

Dairy_Queen -
Any and all help and advice is very welcome!! So watch out as you may have opened a can of worms once I can get out and garden and you are hearing from me entirely too much!
I can't wait to check out the websites - that will be a great way to spend my Sunday!
Thanks again!

Dairy_Queen · Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 1:07 am Post subject:

Oh, grackle, you're so welcome!

Again, as a cooking thread here can generate pages of answers, I believe that most gardeners have a wealth of knowledge, so that's why I tossed my gardening gloves into this thread!

Lord knows, that when the sun finally comes out,

and takes away the feet and feet of snow in Michigan

I'll be rarely posting on any site, so the more gardeners to give information, the better!

The last link that I gave you, to the actual catalog, is just....wonderous! Find out 'which' apple was called the "mortgage lifter", because it was worth so much money! Or which apple is the ultimate Swedish dessert apple! If it wasn't such a cliche, I'd love to decorate my kitchen in apples: but I'd freak myself out and think that the next stop is "Scary Cat Lady, you know, the kind of woman who has 50 cats roaming around her house?!"

You are going to have a First Class Sunday with all these delightful places to visit; now I'm aching for a good, old-fashioned apple crisp!

Dairy_Queen · Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 1:25 am Post subject:

grackle: We're Zone 5 in Michigan and Zone 4 in Chicago. I grew up by Brainerd, Minnesota, so I think you're a Zone 3, which we used to call "Why bother?" Laughing

I did a little bit more research for you, and this is an organic nursery out of New York state that breeds for Zone 3!

Here's the Info link: http://www.sln.potsdam.ny.us/trees.html

Their apple index is NOWHERE as well written as South Meadows, so what I'd suggest, is read South Meadows for some varieties that you'd like to try growing, and then cross reference them at this site to see if they have them. Potsdam site is more technical: they list bloomtime, height, etc. and South Meadows is more like poetry.

Apple index for Potsdam: http://www.sln.potsdam.ny.us/apples.html

And this is the last link for the day, a very strange one, indeed! I can't quite figure out if it was an actual project of a virtual project. Anywho, it's loaded and loaded with links enough for any apple geek...*cough*Dairy_Queen*cough* http://www.cloudnet.com/%7Eedrbsass/appleswebquest.html

Now, this will keep you busy until MONDAY!

etwizard · Joined: 12 Mar 2005 Posts: 7 Location: Northern California

Thanks to Dairy Queen. Alot of good information in those posts. I guess I should have specified 'Scion' wood. A 'scion' is a cutting from last years new growth. For all the reasons that Dairy Queen so eloquently stated its the best, if not the only wood to use. I have not tried 'older fig' wood to root.
The three to four four year rule may not apply. It all depends on what you're working with. Some figs will give you a few fruit, (say that fast 6 times and you get wet fruit) on the third year. Young figs can be fairly whippy (flexible) and may allow you to gently bend them into a Espalier shape (flat on a fence) Generally though, you need to watch were the buds are. Figs are not so easy to identify and other fruit trees. Their buds don't announce themselves at pruning time, so sometimes you may have to make that critical cut late. Its not the end of the world though. I find with figs that less is more. Less cuts, more fruit. But the same rules apply, no cuts wild tree (as in Medusa). So read about them and watch.
As for getting wood, (scion) I would join a "Rare Fruit Society". In California, there are many chapters up and down the State and these folks talk trees. These folks also trade 'scion wood'. Once a year they have a 'scion fair' where everyone brings their 'wood' cut into 12" pieces in a plastic bag with a label and a damp paper towel in the bag, and they get set out on tables and the members take a few of what they want. They take the 'wood' home and 'graft it' onto their trees. (A whole other lesson there) But these folks help preserve the different varieties of fruits that have for one reason or another, have fallen out of favor with commercial growers. So read and learn and help preserve our heritage.
By the by. I graft scions to dwarf rootstock and I have apples in two years.

Hope this helps.[/i]
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No GMO foods! Eat an antique apple.

etwizard · Joined: 12 Mar 2005 Posts: 7 Location: Northern California

No worries here. Your last past had all sorts of good info. I love finding new sites and info that I didn't have before. Write on they say.

Come to California and I'll teach you how to graft figs. Very Happy

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No GMO foods! Eat an antique apple.

Sarape · Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 4:30 pm Post subject:

Oh my, I visited the apple web sites which Dairy_Queen listed and got an instant feeling of nostagia for my roots back in Ohio. Down here in Dixie we don't have the wonderful variety of apple trees which seem to grow wild up in the northern and midwest states of the U.S.

Better than peaches, better than fresh sweet corn, tomatos, plums, pears, or oranges, an apple picked fresh must be the ne plus ultra of produce. I don't miss Ohio during the winter, but I sure miss it in autumn. I can remember Sundays growing up and watching the Cleveland Browns play football and then going out in the country to buy apples and cider and pumpkins and then stopping at Snow-White Donuts on the way home. Mmmm, glazed donuts and apple cider on Sunday nights. Razz

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' She says, 'I am the glamorous type.' I said, 'So what?'

Dairy_Queen · Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 5:25 pm Post subject:

I got Warm Fuzzies reading your post, Sarape. You have a wonderful way with words!

I've been fixated on apples my entire life. I'm clueless as to why, but I have my suspicions. A toy, that I treasure to this day, is a hand-carved wooden apple, that my Grandfather made for me. It is apple-sized. However, it is cut in half, horizontally, and when you open it...inside is a wee apple tea set that he also carved...fit for fairies and dolls! The two halves of the apple become a table, because the stem of the top half of the apple slips into a hole in the bottom of the apple. I'll go to my grave with that toy!

Secondly, I got started in horticulture when at age 3, my grandparents taught me to dis-bud and graft apple switches at their orchard! I still have the pen knife that my grandpa gave me (it's on my keyring) and that's what got me started in my passion for plants.

A trip to South Meadows orchard is right up there with a Botanical Disneyland, for me! All the antique apples are displayed in boxes behind the counter, and you ask the clerk to sniff them or try them. Because the yield is so small, they only allow you to buy 12 apples of any variety at a time...but...I don't mind the Let's Not be Greedy aspect of it. With everyone interested in antique apples, it allows many people to experience it, instead of a few glutinous few.

In June, I rush to South Meadows for Yellow Transparents, the apple of CHOICE among the Amish...it's is THEIR apple of choice for apple sauce. One of my friends Amish relatives puts up over 100 gallons of Yellow Transparent applesauce for her "boys", meaning sons AND husband. She said that there would be a revolt if the boys didn't have apple sauce with EACH meal...including breakfast.

Apples....Eve sure knew what she was doing! I give her props for that!

And I agree, Sarape....warm applesauce donuts with cinnamon sugar topping and freshly pressed cider! More than enough reason to stay snow-bound Up North! Laughing

David · Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 10:46 pm Post subject:

I want that apple crisp and I want it NOW! apple crisp is one of my all time favourite desserts and I'm now surprised it didn't crop up in the "comfort Food" thread!

As an historical sidenote--the MacIntosh apple was developed no more than 10 miles from our house.
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Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!

Dairy_Queen · Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 11:12 pm Post subject: JUST PLAIN APPLE CRISP

David · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 5:24 pm Post subject:

Hey DQ, I really like the idea of using the two varieties of apple to make the crisp! I love the idea of the two textures and I never would have thought of it myself (non-lateral thinker that he is)

Yes the farm where the MacIntosh was developed is well marked and is still a working orchard!
_________________
Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!

grackle · Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2005 2:54 am Post subject:

Dairy_Queen - I have been meaning to let you know how much I enjoyed that website!! Now if I just had the space for all the wonderful trees I want!
We are a bit south of Brainerd here, so are usually classified in Zone 4 or 5. All the better for the success of my figs! (Some positive thinking here!)
Thanks again and I'll keep you updated on my progress!

Rainey · Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2005 8:07 pm Post subject:

Alas! My fig tree is falling apart!

Over the years I didn't diligently prune away all the shoots that developed at the base. I ended up with 5 trunks. They had to spread horizontally to find the space to grow. Last Fall one of them gave way to gravity. And just when the branches were getting low enough for me to actually be able to reach them to pick the fruit! Shocked

Two weeks ago two more of the trunks went over together. They were FULL of unripe fruit! Shocked

I plunked as many branches as I could in a picnic cooler of water hoping they could hang on long enough for the figs to ripen. I dipped several cuttings of different sizes in rooting hormone and stuck them in a 5-gal container of moist soil.

Yesterday, the fourth trunk went over. WAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaa! Shocked

I put a few more cuttings in rooting hormone and moist soil.

There's a single, off-balance trunk left. If it makes it to ripening, I'll cut off as many branches on the off-balance side as I can and see if it will develop a branch or two on the side that was crowded out to regain some equilibrium.

Meanwhile, I'll be starting all over again with seedlings to establish another tree in a better location. But that means another 4-5 years without figs until it becomes mature.

I'm so sad but at least we'll have some fine fire wood this Winter. Confused

Dairy_Queen · Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2005 9:01 pm Post subject:

Ah, Rainey: What a sad post to read. Crying or Very sad

I don't feel like going back to the beginning of the thread, but I'm guessing your fig was growing in a container and that's why it couldn't stand up for itself.

But, how disappointing to have all those lush figs, waiting to ripen, taunting you!

At least you did the right thing with the rooting hormone; good luck to you. Now, you might want to hang onto that seedling that you were planning on giving away.

Rainey · Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2005 9:34 pm Post subject:

Nope! It's been growing in the ground since we bought the house and it has massive roots that it just broke away from. Meanwhile, Caryn has already come to get her seedling. But all is not lost -- I put a number of seedlings in pots as I found them growing in flowerbeds and planters.

If the cuttings take root (it looks like one of the ones from 2 weeks ago might have; it's still quite fresh looking), they'll have a good headstart on the seedlings.

I knew you'd understand how rotten it feels. Serves me right for not watching out for it better years ago when those multiple trunks developed. I guess I was being greedy.