I’m an art teacher from a small town in Oregon who landed into a fig growing hobby and found that it just fits my level of zen. I love teaching and sharing about these passions of mine and I hope you enjoy the videos.
Featured grower on figlife.com figlife.com/pacific-nw
You can follow me on Instagram @loftinart
As I have gotten several requests in comments about cuttings here’s the disclaimer: if I decide to sell any cuttings or trees, it will be via Figbid. Requests for cuttings, trees, or sales in comments likely won’t be answered. Thanks for understanding and thank you for watching.
Eric, What are your thoughts or opinion on the White Madeira as a variety to grow in your area (Salem here)? Yeh, Ney and the like. I hear it is a great tasting fig and would like to get one provided I am not barking up the wrong tree. Thanks again and wishing you the best
First of all...Great Video!!! Super valuable information!!! Thank you. Thanks alot! I am here in the PNW ..Salem area and wanted to ask you the following: After your experiencing the recent cold spells here and the resulting damage to De Tres Esplets, Negra de Agde and Hative d’Argenteuil ....what are your current thoughts regarding whether all three are definitely/unquestionably worth having /keeping for our area? Do you have any growing disappointment with any of them that gives you some reservation about their suitability here and may not be worth the effort involved and if so which one(s)? I have recently purchased Negra de Agde and plan to buy DTE and possibly HDA. I am a first year newbie with fig trees...and I would really appreciate your response. Thanks again.
DtE is a keeper for sure. Even with the tip death. I pulled nda out of the ground because it just wouldn’t ripen in time. My Hative doesn’t look good. I’m not sure if it’s going to make it now.
You might try giving Potassium (K+) and silica (Si) They can help plants tolerate cold weather by improving their stress tolerance and strengthening their cell structure Use of stress-mitigating substances could be an effective approach to improve a plant’s tolerance to freezing. Potassium (K+) can enhance the plant’s ability to cope with stress. High concentrations of K+ lower the freezing point of the plant’s cell solutions. Furthermore, adapted cytosol K+ concentration is essential for enzyme activities that are involved in frost resistance. Silicon (Si) is also an important micronutrient that can protect plants from freeze damage by modification of the cell wall and prevention of membrane damage.
Try Rockaway Green. The guy that found this one is from Long Island,NY. You will like it. As for White Madeira #1 imo is not an Adriatic. I happen to like jh adriatic. I have many of the Adriatic figs and I really need to get it down to a couple 😊
My RL(Bass) died to the ground, too, and I'm really sad. I love that tree. The stump feels solid like it's still alive. It's July so I m ready to give up, too, but yours just strouting encourages me to hope
I added a backup this year, one of a small handful of new trees. I really want this one to work out. I had main crop my first year with it and was really impressed.
@@davydwalker8554 we had a very mild winter up until a hard freeze in the mid-upper teens and twenties for an extended period of time. I think my lowest was 15 degrees or so.
Eric, the great Lou Monti says, "If given a choice always plant your fig trees on your highest ground." It seems that your experience has proven this to be true. Great video as always!
I put Verdolino in ground last year and it proceeded to go downhill at a rapid rate. I fertilized with Jack’s triple 20 at 1/2 strength and it came back nicely. No issues overwintering and it is loaded this year. I think this will be a great variety for the PNW. Thanks to both you and Mario!
@@BlizzardBurrr where i am, I’d be concerned with the grafts dying in the heat or in the winter due to them not being solidly established. Just depends on where you are.
@@JohnDurso82 I don’t consider either of them to be in the same family group as the green Ischia adriatic varieties. Stella is in the dalmatie group. Green Michurinska is it’s own thing.
@@JohnDurso82 lol. Not a bad thing. You’re doing well with Green Michurinska. If you want to mess with an adriatic get a cheap one and call it good. Strawberry verte or green Ischia are usually pretty easy to get.
I really do not know much about the Adriatic figs. Thanks for helping me learn about this group. I had a Texas Strawberry Unk on 10/21/22. That is super late for me. We were extremely lucky to have a great October in 2022. This is not typical for the Willamette Valley!
I have Green Ischia and Mercedes Gem. The Green Ischia died back to the ground but, has recovered nicely and is about 12 inches tall and growing fast. It will be interesting to see if they are so much alike that I will cull one. The Valle Negra that you gifted me is doing great. It gave me Figs last summer and looks to be doing ok this year as well! Thank you for doing the work you do, so the rest of us don't have to.
I need to learn this. My trees grow vigorously in Louisiana and I`d like to add some Celeste branches to my much larger Brown Turkey to see what happens. I need to get some LSU Purple and Olympian trees but I`m running out of room because my emergency solar panels will need open space not only for frequent storms but greatly reduced costs of summer air conditioning, cooking and winter heating. Or I`d have 8 more trees right now.
I live in Port Coquitlam BC and im just trying out fig trees, and my tiny 1 year old fig tree I bought from the garden store this winter, I up potted it in the spring and im about to harvest its first braba in about a day or 2 im really letting it get nice and its on my balcony where it does not get the best sun since I have massive trees in my backyard. Is early because I had it indoors early in spring and did not take it out untill early June, its even just starting to form double bumps which was surprising since its still really young, I have many other varieties im trying out but so far this one has been doing the best, my celeste and LSU purple had a ton of winter damage from late which set them far back, also ive heard you can plant fig trees close together and still have good success if you prune them, ive heard a fig grower Ross Raddie who has a chanel and he planted his fig trees only 2 feet apart which he i thought was crazy but hes having success.
@@evanborge494 sounds like you’re starting out the right way. Giving them an early start is a good way to get a jump on things. I’m only planting the trees this close together out of necessity. I don’t think it’s a good idea long term for me because it’ll be too much maintenance and our trees tend to get big over time without much dieback usually.
Hi, so this is a mystery. I h 0:05 ave a supposed cold tolerant fig I bought from Lowe's. The first year, no figs, all the stems died during winter, I thought it was dead, but the next year, it grew like crazy from a stump, and we had multiple fig crops, 5 to 7 at a time, off of new stems. They tasted wonderful.l!! So this year, I kept my fig tree in a green house, about a small 3 gallon clay pot , and it grew vigorously in the winter after solstice , but It seems more leggy, but grew more new branches, and has produced about 20 figs this year to date, none ripe, slow to rippen.. I'm in Missouri, and it's hot and dry, so I water the plant every day, and it's full sun, 90°F+, full sun but doesn't get full afternoon sun, shaded by then. But now I'm considering shade, at least for the pot/roots due to your video. Many fruits, but seem slow to ripen. Very long stems, with a large number of leaves and fruit at the ends of each long stem. I'll try to find out what the genus of it is. Thanks! Dave
Hi, so this is in store bought cheap potting soil. I do fertilize with simple vegetable fertilizer. I think it is 4-5-4 Pennington rejuvenate fertilizer. The plant takes forever to ripen, but the fruit is delicious!!
@@HiDave0016 hi Dave. I can only make assumptions based off what you said. I’m far from Missouri and we have way different climates. I would assume you have leggy growth for a couple reasons: The pot is too small , it’s not getting enough light, it’s got FMV, or it needs fertilizer. I have some trees that just naturally grow leggy no matter what. Sometimes that related to what I assume to be FMV. Time and fertilizer usually allows the trees to grow out of it, but it takes time. Good luck!
sounds like your shady portion of the day is typically in the morning and then sunny in theafternoon? Do you have any growing that get sun early and shade late afternoon? I have some breba fig trees that get late afternoon shade and have had a rough time with them and am wondering if that's why.
I'm in Seattle. My dessert King has 5 or 6 breba (first time). I have about 10 other various varieties...I don't see figs developing on any of them yet. All my figs are in pots. Our weather has mostly been cold this year so far.
Ya. That cold snap in the spring really set things back. One of these years maybe I’ll get some good breba production. So far it’s been one to a handful on most of the trees.
My Stella dropped all breba also, but has tiny figlets that sometimes will ripen in time. My DK is absolutely loaded, but is also probably 25 years old and, therefore, very stable. Others doing great so far this year in Salem, OR are my Atreano, Olympian, and Souadi. My surprise of the year so far is my one year old Red Lebanese Bekka Valley. No breba, but biggest main crop figlets yet this year. I've not gotten Smith breba yet either in the pot.
That’s great to hear Eric. I up potted a souadi this year to a 15 gallon. Very productive for a small tree. RLBV and the other Etna trees are so reliable. Great choices for us. Have you joined the PNW figs group on Facebook yet? If not you should.
Breba's don't do well in Georgia at all, they all fall off.😢. What kind of buckets are those BLUE ones?? You have a lot of them, and I've never seen them? I like the sturdy handles. Much srurdie than the paint buckets?
I got them on Amazon. Somebody posted about them somewhere and I think it was a wrong price by the seller. It was less than $50 for a stack of 6 of those at the time. They’re food grade plastic, so really nice. I drilled drain holes out the bottom and use them for the trees I shuffle in and out of the greenhouse. They work great but I’m wondering how long they’ll last with the trees needing to be root pruned. I’m guessing I’ll have to do that every year on those. They’re only 10g
@@Loftinart the paint buckets at Lowe's and Home Depot are only 5g, so you get twice as long, their not under grower, or garden pots? How did you find them on Amazon??
I'm sure temperature swings and variety play the biggest role in fruit reliability but I wonder if soil type is a factor in reliability and quality as well when planted in ground
My 5 year in-ground Stella, which are commonly sold her in Portland, had 17 breba and dropped every. single. one. Very upset about that. Last year it ripened one and it was delicious but I think the tree has to go, it just doesn't hold.
I second that, Im new to figs, recently retired, but started my collection last year.. Do you watch The Millennium Gardner?? We are in the same zone, or basically similar climates, he has amazing growth, and fruit set on 100% of his trees, he didn't prune this year and his trees had hundreds of breba's.. practically overnight THEY ALL DROPPED, Just like in Georgia? Chris at Oregon Figs always preaches to me, CLIMATE SPECIFIC.. and he's absolutely right.. our climate is main crop only, but, I do envy that Pacific NW climate.. end of their season is so PERFECT for ripening figs.. Spend your time on trees that fruit!! We're not doing this to waste our time, fertilizer, and money on trees that don't fruit.. totally agree,
@@Loftinart Might entirely depend on amount of heat/sunlight and age.. I have a few stella in ground in full sun north of eugene and they've done well last two years. They took about 4 years in the ground to produce anything other than a later main crop tho
@@Loftinart Yea location is key, and this year's a bit of a wash on breba for the most part because of the spring. Only thing I got a real breba off of so far was a petite aubique of all things
Just to clarify, breba trees in my yard are not grown in full shade. They still get 7+ hours of sunlight a day during the spring and summer. Breba producers will still do far better in full sun than not, but for my yard I had to prioritize location based on the shade issues.
Ha ha I got a shout out. Don't get too down on your trees not producing well this year as you got hit with late frost frying your brebas and the extra stress for your trees recovering diverts energy away from breba. I had some trees with similar outcomes. My barbillone has zero breba but other varieties have lots. I wanted to add that even in ground springtime fluctuations can cause drop then again just before ripening there will be a second drop. My granthams where loaded first thing and half dropped during the first abortion but still a large crop on the trees. Last year second abortion dropped all but a handful but that was in a big heat wave so fingers crossed this year. Also pinching your tips before bud break can reduce the amount of drop on first abortion but will remove any chance of main crop ripening unless of the earliest varieties
I have LSU Hollier in ground and when the fruit is rip, the skin turn light brown color and soft texture. Your LSU definitely not rip at all. Could use another 2 weeks
Eric, I am with you about buying Peaches. I've tried several times to grow peaches in Washington, just north of you. Even the variety "Frost" was eaten alive by Leaf Curl. I gave up trying and I am better off for it!
why are your backyard trees in pots instead of the ground? Is it to move them inside during the winter, to make them fruit earlier or what? What are the dates you start to harvest the potted trees? the in ground trees? thank you.
Some are in pots because they’re too late to ripen in ground. Some get a head start, some don’t. I don’t protect trees during the winter, they stay out until I put them in the greenhouse to wake them up. If you follow my videos, they’re all time stamped for ripening dates and I try to make sure to mention whether they’re from in ground, potted, or head start trees.
Question ❓ I follow Chris @ Oregon Figs and he's been so helpful to me as a new fig grower.. You both are from Oregon, but, he seems to have better climate than you ? Seems you have a lot more die-back and seem to struggle a bit more ? Your state has some Wacky weather... I can follow 4 people from Oregon and the difference in climate is Night & Day?
Oregon is a big place. The Willamette Valley is the size of the state of New Jersey and only about a fifth of the state. There are a tremendous amount of microclimates here. Elevation and water table play a large part. I also have a creek behind my property that holds colder air.
I have about 8 of these in my yard.. Last summer two of them (the same variety) bloomed like crazy, so I was excited. I even hand pollinated the flowers individually more than once. I didn't get a single fruit to form. So disappointing. I have yet to taste one of these.
I think they might need cross pollination from different varieties, if I remember right. I feel like I saw somewhere that Nikita is partially self fertile but I’m not sure. Don’t give up!
Your collection looks great. Im up here in Boring/Sandy area. Just starting my fig journey. If you want sell any plants that you don't want? I will gladly take them off your hands. Plus if you are interested in selling cuttings this winter too? Would love to get as much variety as possible. Thanks, good luck this season.
My Brown Turkey tree was just a few tiny branches and it`s growing so fast this year in Louisiana. It`s already a giant circular bush three feet tall and 8 feet wide. I trimmed it too for cuttings. I got four Celeste this year as well. Hopefully I`ll get some figs but no sign of them so far.
This is really good for people that want to grow in ground in the PNW nobody knows what other varieties are going to work unless somebody's out there doing it.
