hi all! as far as I know from reports of people here in europe, the "bayernfeige violetta" is not as good as claimed. good promotion, but nothing behind it. it freezes back at temperatures which known (hardy) fig cultivars can withstand. in some places the fruits do not get ripe. the fruit taste is not good compared to others. better save money and effort in finding an mailorder nursery. there a lot of well known hardy figs to experiment with :-)

I also recently harvested a huge Black Jack breba. Sorry, because it was way down in shade, the color was not typical of BJ, so I did not take a pic. But I did measure/weigh it. Appox 3x2.5" and a (whopping) 102 grams! Very similar in shape (tennis ball size) to Rob's but much less dark skin. It was quite a juicy mouthful (or 2) with an average welcome fig taste. Maybe not as big as softball (a grapefruit originally came to mind!), but there again, there are many 'soft' balls...

Hi Dee, The figs you chose are good figs. You did know that two of the four you chose are San Pedro type figs, right? Desert King and Grantham Royal are both San Pedro type. The breba crop is self-pollinating, but the main crop requires pollination - which you probably won't have. Therefore, the main crop figs will not ripen. Both varieties are great figs, but I just wanted you to know this in case you didn't. If you want fruit quickly you can buy a larger tree. Of course, you "pay for this time". Edible Landscaping sells 5 gal. trees (at a much higher price). If you want a good fig that will fruit as early as any get a Celeste. I had some Celeste that were rooted last year and began this year as 10" tall plants. Some of them made a handful of figs this year. Good luck. Henry

I've seen stuff with smaller holes (as well as the stuff you mentioned with the 2x3" holes). The smaller holed stuff is generally called "hardware cloth" here and is frequently used to make collars for protecting trees from deer and other browsing animals. I've seen it at ACE Hardware and TSC (tractor supply co) around here, but I haven't gone looking for it in a couple years. Last year I lucked out and got 10 bags of mulch for $1 each. (I'm on the look-out again this year) and being lazy I wrapped my outdoor tree with first burlap, then a cage (2x3 inch holes making up an elliptical cage 4 feet high with leaves. Wrapped the top-growth with a tarp and enclosed the cage as well. Lastly just piled up the bags of mulch (and a couple stems all I did was bend to the ground, pile on leaves and weigh down with bags of mulch. Maybe it doesn't seem too lazy, but compared to what I did the year before, it was. My fig made it through with no loss at all. Unfortunately I really don't get as much sun as I'd like and it is still full of hard-green figs. Next year the shading ash tree nearby should be dead and the fig will go from 1/4 day sun to almost full day sun. I didn't pinch this particular tree this year, but next year I will be pinching it! I want to build an enclosure (eventually) for it, which would essentially make it easier to protect. My wife likes the idea as it would just then look like a strange growth off of the side of the garage rather than a big blue and white stalagmite in the back-yard. ~Chills