A unique, private collection (and an intro)

lewisfigs

Member
Greetings fig friends - thought I'd share my story with you all as an introduction. A few months ago I came across a collection of fig trees for sale in the Austin area - nearly 200 trees of various size and age, grown in 5g to 35g pots. There were ~40 that had recognizable variety names, the rest were labeled with names of cities, regions, or landmarks across the world. The seller was a third party who didn't know much about the collection. After several visits and lots of questions I was able to find the name of the collector, which led me to discover information about the collector and the collection. I acquired the entire collection a few weeks later, where I went from about ~35 trees to 230 trees overnight. (Yes, my wife thought I was thinks I am crazy) This collector collected cuttings from travels around the world, with a concentration from India, SE Asia, and Sub Saharan Africa. He grew most in pots at his home, and had over a hundred planted in ground at his home. The collection was acquired and grown over more than a decade, where it was cared for by his family. My due diligence even led me to view the home where the collector lived and the trees were grown during an open house recently - the collector sold their home and is moving out of the area. Additionally, there were another ~150 trees that made their way to a local nursery where they are being propagated and selling off the original trees.

I have limited details on the specifics of each variety, other than it was acquired from the area where it was named. I acquired them as they were entering dormancy or were already dormant, so I did not see fruit, and what leaves remained were on their way out for the season. Ficus Carica is not native to many of these areas - are they imports that were grown? Other Ficus species? Unique varieties? Are they common? Fruit quality? Vigor? Cold hardiness? There are so many questions about these trees.

I intend to keep the names of each variety as they were found, with the caveat that many are likely to be figs we already know about. If and when it turns out that a variety is so similar to something known it will be noted, to keep confusion down.

Regarding the known varieties from the collection, I was able to trace nearly all of the varieties to transactions on figbid from known sellers. This collector made over 200 purchases on figbid over the last few years!

Wanted to create this post to reference - there's undoubtedly some cool stuff in this collection, for example one of the trees that showed unique branching color and characteristics, called "FJA China (B)" is likely a ficus johannis afghanistanica - it's rooted and leafing out now and shows the typical ultra serrated leaf pattern of an Afghan fig. There's another called "Pattani" that has very thin, reddish bark that is fibrous and splinters like carbon fiber when twisted. Thought it would be fun to share with the broader fig community as I learn about each tree.

In case you're wondering what it's like taking on ~200 mostly mature potted trees, I've spent most of my time:
  • Cataloging and organizing, creating new labels, researching the areas where they are from and categorizing by country. Each tree had a plastic wrap around tag with a printed label sticker that needed replacing. A good number of tags had never been moved and were constricting growth.
  • Pests.
    • I've imported an entire colony of pill bugs. Almost every pot had dozens of pillbugs, which, normally aren't a problem, but the sheer volume left them hungry. A good number of trees had visible damage from pill bugs munching. The potting mix of the trees did not contain much in the way of mulch or decaying material, leaving the pillbugs to work on healthy branches. The pill bugs quickly moved into my existing beds where my fig trees were planted. Beds were covered in 3-4 inches of mulch. However, I'd find them at night, on healthy trees, working away. Maybe they developed a taste for healthy ficus wood. The internet and horticultural experts will tell you that pill bugs only eat decaying matter - that is simply not true. If you're concerned, go out at night with a flashlight. See the attached pic of a couple of pill bugs chowing down on fresh (albeit dormant) growth from an SMGG. These two pill bugs remained in the light, the other dozen or so scattered when I turned on the flashlight.
    • Scale - the plastic tags mentioned above? Turns out black/red scale hangs out underneath them. I had personally never seen scale before, and didn't recognize it right away, but these little eraser sized (or smaller) black mounds were speckled across a number of trees, with a large concentration under the plastic tags. Scrubbed them off by hand. Two rounds of mineral oil and spinosad to deal with the pill bugs and scale. We'll see if that knocks them out in the coming weeks.
    • RKN - this one is the worst. ~30 trees showed heavy signs of RKN via root galls. I manually inspected every tree by digging up roots by hand, inspecting for galls, changing gloves, washing down after finding an infected tree. This took a very long time. Best I can assume is that the infected trees were all located together at their former home. These are now quarantined, in an area away from everything else on concrete. Plan is to air layer and part out via cuttings. It may be some time before I see quality fruit on these. About half showed signs of visible stress, the other half looked fine.
  • Moving trees to the growing area once received. Moving them back in a couple of weeks later ahead of a freeze. Moving 15g and 30g trees ~50 yards is a lot of work. I am going to put as many as I can in ground once I see how they perform this year.
  • Rescue efforts - several trees weren't dormant, they were dying. I have cuttings going of trees that were in bad shape. A few of the smaller/younger trees, likely recently rooted trees, showed little or no growth. After rinsing their soil out and inspecting the roots, the roots and/or cutting looked bad - either partially decayed or dying. Pruned aggressively, dunked in a diluted bleach solution, and repotted. They are growing under lights. One, named "Kandy Lake" is fascinating - it has one node where 5 leaf buds have emerged, from a tiny trunk the size of a usb cable.
  • Fertilization/Irrigation - I've invested heavily in irrigation/drip over the last few years but will need to re-plumb a few lines and install fertigation on my main line instead of on one zone. I have 2 toddlers, fertilizing and irrigating would take hours and hours, especially in the heat of the summer when they need a little drink a couple of times a day.
  • I built a 24'x10' greenhouse over the course of two weekends - partially out of panic because not all of the trees fit in the garage, but mostly to have a proper place to propagate over the winter and store small/young trees. Now that it's complete, it's nice to have a "home base" for all things fig.
Still to do: Move them, again. Choose which to plant. Plant. Root prune + new soil on the remainder to downsize the big ones to 15g max. Prune for shape. Lots of greenhouse work: sterilize, irrigation, build rooting bench, install ventilation (next weekend project).

That's all for now - I'll share what I find when I find it. Hope you'll enjoy learning about these with me. If interested, the list is here.

A few pics attached.
 

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Wow!!! Very interesting and a huge endeavor. That's a lot of trees and Alot of trees to trial without any idea of what the expect from the characteristically.
Did the nursery that got the 100 or so trees Cherry pick the better known varieties for your area?
 
Wow!!! Very interesting and a huge endeavor. That's a lot of trees and Alot of trees to trial without any idea of what the expect from the characteristically.
Did the nursery that got the 100 or so trees Cherry pick the better known varieties for your area?
Good question, and sort of- they had several CDDs, MP, and REDACTED varieties among others that I snagged a few days later (though at a much higher price). They were separated mostly by size - they did not take on any 15g or up and were limited in space.

Edit: why does the post say REDACTED over the abbrev for F.d.M.?
 
I'm speechless wow. Can someone shine a little clarity on this amazing post.
 
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Excellent intro and story.

That is for sure a lot to take on all at once.
Plenty of people here who have had tree numbers like that and either protect them all in winter or shuffle them in and out.
So many are no stranger the to work involved.
Sounds like a great collection of interesting trees from interesting places.
Looking forward to more pics this spring as they wake up and this summer as they bear fruit.

Thanks for sharing.
 
Good question, and sort of- they had several CDDs, MP, and REDACTED varieties among others that I snagged a few days later (though at a much higher price). They were separated mostly by size - they did not take on any 15g or up and were limited in space.

Edit: why does the post say REDACTED over the abbrev for F.d.M.?
There has been some trademarks placed on some of the fig collection names and that may be the issue with the redaction.
I'm curious why the collector gave their collection up? Would you care to share the name?
 
Nice collection.

Regarding RKN - it was recommended to me to place air layer several feet above soil level and seal/wrap tight to ensure ants/pests or splashing water won’t carry RKN and enter new soil and roots.
 
Nice collection.

Regarding RKN - it was recommended to me to place air layer several feet above soil level and seal/wrap tight to ensure ants/pests or splashing water won’t carry RKN and enter new soil and roots.

Would you happen to know how far north RKN can be problematic? I've never heard of anyone up here having problems with it.... I'm hoping it stays that way. Sounds like a giant pain
 
Would you happen to know how far north RKN can be problematic? I've never heard of anyone up here having problems with it.... I'm hoping it stays that way. Sounds like a giant pain
Well, there’s Southern RKN, Northern RKN and a few others.I don’t know the low temperature limit to kill them. I contacted a lab a few years back to analyze my soil to identify exact type I have, but didn’t follow through with it.

My assumption is they are more destructive down south due to warmer soil temperatures. They don’t lay eggs until soil temperature is 80F, which is May down south and July for me. I don’t see why they can’t exist in potted culture in northern climates when trees are placed in garages all winter though.
 
Well, there’s Southern RKN, Northern RKN and a few others.I don’t know the low temperature limit to kill them. I contacted a lab a few years back to analyze my soil to identify exact type I have, but didn’t follow through with it.

My assumption is they are more destructive down south due to warmer soil temperatures. They don’t lay eggs until soil temperature is 80F, which is May down south and July for me. I don’t see why they can’t exist in potted culture in northern climates when trees are placed in garages all winter though.

Hmmm we certainly get the temps but perhaps not long enough or at the correct time.
 
I remember your post! That collection had "The One," but folks had snatched it up by the time I saw your post and called the nursery. I wondered how things were going with you.

Sad that it has been so much work for you, but happy that you have the knowledge to handle the pill bugs and other challenges. I wish you continued luck with the trees!
 
Wow that’s a great history and wonderful how you acquired a most extraordinary collection. A treasure for sure. That sure was a lot of work getting them pest free. They will thank you come harvest time. If I were a fig tree I would want to be planted in your yard. You deserve 10 stars for all that work. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
 
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I remember your post! That collection had "The One," but folks had snatched it up by the time I saw your post and called the nursery. I wondered how things were going with you.

Sad that it has been so much work for you, but happy that you have the knowledge to handle the pill bugs and other challenges. I wish you continued luck with the trees!
The One was not in good shape - it’s one of the smaller trees on the rehab list - fingers crossed it pulls through!
 
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