A quick fact to better understand the nature of fig breeding. Of the 30,000 trial seedlings at UCD Davis (through the mid-70's) only 5 new varieties were released. That is with the resources of geneticists and premium caprifigs. Not to say itâÂÂs impossible, but you need to be very very lucky or have lots of patience and resources. You are far more likely to bring a "new" variety to the fig world by searching for unknowns in ethnic neighborhoods. Your other possibility is getting a "sport". Every so often a branch will mutate and have different characteristics from the mother tree. From this you can propagate cuttings of the new variety. Panache is widely believed to be a sport rather than a bred variety.

Ha Ha......those cuttings sure have gone wild!!! Dennis, what you have pictured is what we fig rooters call "Porcupine Roots". That type of root system often develops in the air immediately above a rooting mix that the fig cutting finds OFFENSIVE. On the other hand, whenever you place fig cuttings in a rooting mix that they REALLY LOVE.......like perlite/UPM......what you get are what we fig rooters call "Monster Roots". ..........just kidding. Thanks for posting those pictures. I've seen these kinds of massive air roots before. Recently I planted a neglected Smith tree that was given to me. It came from the original source of this cultivar. It was just place in a container by the previous owner with only some potting soil put on top of the roots. I loped off the top half of the tree and planted it in the ground. I removed all of the leaves from the cut off portion, and chopped it into cuttings. All wood was old wood with VERY LITTLE pith in the center. When I rooted those cuttings, they literally exploded with roots all along the cutting length.....with more roots than I've ever seen any any fig twig. Maybe this happened because sap was flowing when the cuttings were taken or maybe it is because the wood was old wood with nearly no pith. I've rooted lots of Smith before and have not seen this. Time will tell if I ever find a pattern to this type of root formation. Dan

Hi Gladys, If you want to plan them in the ground, now is as good of a time as any. Plant as usual, stake the tree and water regularly until it establishes itself. If you want to put the trees into containers, and the trees are happy in your mulch pile, you may want to leave them there until the summer heat has passed. If you can find a way to support them until then, that will help. After it goes dormant (say November/December time frame) you can bare-root and pot in your favorite growing mix at that time. I live in Clear Lake (but am often traveling), if you need help planting or potting the tree, let me know and I'll try to coordinate my schedule with yours. I have had better success rooting dormant cuttings. However, September is a good time to air-layer some of the limbs. That is after the intensity of the summer heat has dissipated a bit, but early enough to where you can pot the layers up for a few months before they go dormant. As Mountainman has stated may times, the Santa Leon/Santa Fe/ Friendswood area use to be home to a significant number of fig orchard acreages and two (if I remember correctly) fig processing plants. Looks like you may have saved a bit of history. ~james

A mulberry that didn't survive? Wow. Was it a red one? Those are naturalized here. Are there mulberries in wild areas or neighbors' yards around you? Maybe you have a microclimate that's unfavorable, or perhaps you just had a dud. As for the blueberries, do you find you need to acidify the soil every year, or just upon the initial planting? I'm considering planting them near a cedar tree, hoping the droppings will provide some acidification, though I'm not entirely confident about the science of that. I know pine acidifies- not sure about cedars, though they seem they should. Theresa 2, can you remind us what dioecious means? Athenainwi- what variety of plum do you have that you have to bag? I was hoping for something a bit more self-sufficient, but still reasonably edible. Found it interesting that you use nylons. I wonder if cotton or muslin would work too. It's popular to use plastic bags, which doesn't at all appeal to me at all, for several reasons.