I'm guessing here (I couldn't access the sites you offered for viewing your pics): likely villains can be caterpillars, earwigs, slugs or snails. If you've got a pollination programme going you could cover the seed pod with a piece of pantihose tied on lightly as a hood. They stand up to the weather better than paper. To catch the secret munchers - or at least see who's doing what - head out after dark with a torch, on a mildly damp night. What you do with the munchers is up to you. Salt baths. Or a big, heavy garden boot. The second one is guaranteed effective ;-). If you have pets, and you find snails or slugs - be sure to get a pet-friendly snail deterrent, with a pet-proof container for serving it up to the pests, to keep them and your local wildlife safe. With the seed pod - unless the stem has been munched through, you might find that the plant will form a sort of 'scab' over the wound and the remaining seeds continue on to ripen. Give it a go, anyway. It would be a shame to lose a season's propagation just because of a few pesky munchers.

Kitty, I too have been knowing to snip a cutting, lol, but don't make a habbit out of it..though never 8"..lol..A leaf here if it were succulent.. Rhizo, maybe it depends where you live, but most clerks would not allow one to snip a piece..they'd insist you either buy the plant or No-way, Jose. There's a plant called Rhoeo, (Moses in the Cradle) that I hadn't seen for 15+ yrs and came across it at a nursery..It was on a separate table, w/o prices, and I was planning on purchasing the plant. I grabbed it, but not before my husband took a 3" cutting, went up to the clerk to ask its price, and he snatched it out of my hand, and sternly said, This plant is NOT for sale! He was utterly rude, which was uncalled for. This was about 8 yrs ago..I'm happy to say this baby is now over 2' tall w/many shoots..Had I asked this clerk for a cutting he probably would have told me to leave the store..this guy really had an attitude. So, even though, I'm really not a thief, I was happy my dh took the cutting.. Once we went to a smaller conservatory..nobody and I mean, not a soul was around..we could have walked out w/orchids, bromiliads, and an assortment of plant, but I wouldn't think of it..That IS stealing.. Kitty, I wish you luck w/your cutting. In one plant book I have, under propagating, it says, leave to the experts..lol..I'm sure w/TLC, you'll get it to root..If you have any camellia books, perhaps it gives info on rooting cuttings. Toni

Melike, I appreciate your concern! I didn't point it at him! With all the crazy's out and about these days I wasn't about to confront anyone without any protection! I wasn't really worried about losing the figs. But for all that I knew it could have been someone trying to find anything to steal and decided figs would do! LOL A few weeks ago, a guy I work with stopped at the Jack in the Box to get a breakfast sandwich and someone attempted to carjack him! Too bad that we aren't allowed to carry weapons on the job. He ended up with three broke knuckles fighting off the carjacker, that escaped. Anyone on my property, unannounced, may be subject to lead poisoning.

My neighbors kept encroaching on my property: a small chicken coop, a small woodshed. When I told them I thought they were now on my property, the woman practically bit my head off about how careful her husband was to make sure they were in the correct spot. Since I couldn't find the corner stakes, I paid mucho $$ for a survey. She accosted the surveyor demanding to know why she hadn't been informed he'd be surveying (he didn't need to go onto their property). He told her he was working for me and didn't have any obligation to inform her. We discovered that the buildings were on my property and he set the property line with metal stakes on the corners and put a row of wooden stakes on the shared line. I sent them a demand letter to remove their buildings, which they did. She said she hoped I was building a fence (so she wouldn't have to look at me, I guess). I hadn't planned on a fence, as there was no real need. But I came home several months later to find out they had pulled up the wood stakes, driven their pickup on the line and unloaded gravel partially on my property! I called my handyman/contractor and asked how fast he could build a fence - I didn't want to lose the holes the stakes had been in. He showed up the next day with a crew and put up a 4ft field fence (it's off in the distance from my home, so I didn't care what it looked like and the wire fence kind of disappears into the landscape). They had to build it through the pile of gravel- I told him I wasn't paying him to shovel the gravel onto the neighbor's property, so they should just go through the center of the pile. Well, she came home and went ballistic again and I guess spent an hour or more shoveling the gravel, flapping her gums the whole time about how I always did these things when she was gone, and why didn't anyone tell her we were building a fence! The contractor says his guys STILL talk about her, wishing they'd videotaped it. I put it a couple of inches on my side of the line, just to be sure there was no dispute and to keep them from piling stuff against it. And even though I didn't have to, I let them dig up some plants they'd planted on my property, because I really am nicer than they are!