Edible landscaping question?

ETXfigs said:
I just found this interview with Brian Melton from this year. He is working on good tissue culture Black Madeira and other varieties that are free of FMV. They also talk about some problems he has had doing this. He sold some plants that were not true to type and says that he is making it right by his customers. It's interesting, tissue culture plants that are much better than the ones at big box stores and Etsy. He also says he is doing a lot of fig pops, so he does both cutting propagation and tissue culture, but it does seem that he is doing a lot of work to provide tissue culture figs better than what has been available in the past. He talks a little bit about how he is doing it, in this video.

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He has been working on the BM tissue culture for a while now.
It is one variety that has is very bad. Which causes it to grow weak and slow.
The TC trees he is producing should grow faster and healthier.
Thanks for posting the video. I will check it out later.
Just came in for a water and AC break.
Back to labels and up-potting. :)
 
ETXfigs said:
I don't know if it's all the fig plants he sells but many of them, if not all are propagated cuttings from a tissue culture tree. The mother tree is a tissue culture tree that he propagates cuttings from. That's why he says they grow and produce so well and not like plants that are actual tissue cultures. If the rooted cuttings that he sells all grow and produce well, he doesn't have to tell anyone that the mother tree was a tissue culture tree. Seems he is being very transparent/honest. This is a screen shot of a portion of the description from his website.

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Edit to add: It seems he is saying that doing it this way eliminates FMV.
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I like transparent! I can only speak to my own experience. TC definitely has the advantage of (ideally) being disease free so there’s definitely that.

Part of it may have to do with the fact that I grow in a shorter season than many, so time to maturity for me is going to be longer from a plant that behaves like a seedling. It’ll never be as fast as other common propagation methods…. I think you need to weigh the pros and cons for your own situation. Price, plant health, your climate etc..

I’m hoping those growing TC figs will actively post their progress here. This is very relevant, useful information about a topic that I don’t feel has been documented as well as it could be.

Thanks to all those who contribute on this :)
 
scott_va said:
I was at edible landscaping a couple of days ago and have visited for years. Their figs, blueberries, kiwis, elderberries, and others are started from cuttings from their own plants.
It is incredible for me to walk in their greenhouse and see hundreds of fig cuttings started (with nearly 100% success rate) in 2 inch pots. I would kill them all in that size pot.
It does look like he does buy some of his (grafted) jujubes from Dave Wilson. His source figs and pomegranates (not to forget mature jujube trees, Che, hardy kiwis, persimmons, et al.) grow outside in the area around his greenhouses with no special protection. I think he has 2 big criteria for the plants he trials 1) they have to grow organically and 2) survive in his climate with no coddling.
I’m impressed every time I go, it’s like a living plant museum. If you search Edible landscaping you can see his propagation greenhouse. Here’s a Salavatski pomegranate next to the drivewayView attachment 7980
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It should also be noted that Fred Borne is the one that gave the Chicago fig to the original owner of Edible Landcapes, he gave the fig with no name other than it was cold hardy and from Chicago, so the owner named it Hardy Chicago.

Edit: Actually, I think it's the same owners but maybe they're in their second location? Or got big enough to buy land??
 
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Michael McConkey and his wife started the nursery business that became Edible Landscaping. According to a nursery folder, his interest began with growing his own organic food in the 70’s in the Washington DC area. They had a backyard mail order business propagating fruits and especially hardy kiwis and moved to near Afton, Virginia where the nursery is now in the 1980’s.
They started planting around their greenhouses to see how the plants performed in the local climate so there is an orchard of mature fuzzy and hardy kiwis, jujubes, pomegranates, persimmons, figs, bush cherries, plums, apples etc that surround the greenhouses. If you wanted to buy a medlar, you could go outside and look at a mature one. Quite a place. There was a fruit festival there today.
 
TorontoJoe said:
I keep at least one TC fig tree around at all times to remind me ..... In my humble opinion, they are the go-to choice for the fig tree growing enthusiast who wants to ensure the longest period of time passes before ever seeing a viable, ripe fig....

Just my $0.02 I'm just not a fan. I have never ripened a fig from a TC plant.
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I had a dozen and they all died, they never actually grew just kept sending out spindly shoots, anyway, after a year dead. Never again!!!
 
My daughter and I visited a week before the festival and a nursery employee walked around with us explaining the different persimmons and giving her an armful to try (she got an Ichi eventually). I wasn’t a big persimmon fan (I didn’t think) until she handed me what I think was a Ukranian origin cross (Nikita’s Gift) between American and Asian. Picture a red persimmon the size of a big tomato with soft, incredibly sweet, red translucent flesh. Now I’m trying to find a place for it.
 
scott_va said:
My daughter and I visited a week before the festival and a nursery employee walked around with us explaining the different persimmons and giving her an armful to try (she got an Ichi eventually). I wasn’t a big persimmon fan (I didn’t think) until she handed me what I think was a Ukranian origin cross (Nikita’s Gift) between American and Asian. Picture a red persimmon the size of a big tomato with soft, incredibly sweet, red translucent flesh. Now I’m trying to find a place for it.
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My buddy Gino has 2 or 3 persimmon tree's growing in his yard, his tree's are not that big. Him and his wife fight over the fruits, they hide them from each other and if they find the others fruit they steal it and eat it lol. I was over there one day and Gino is like come here "Ray Boy, look at these...WHAT THE..MY PERSIMMONS ARE GONE WHO WOULD STEAL MY PERSIMMONS!!" Then we go upstairs and he's like frantic looking all over the place and his wife is like "GINO WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU MAKING ME NERVOUS SIT DOWN!" The he's like "MY PERSIMMONS ARE GONE SOMEONE STEAL THEM!" then the wife "GINO NO ONE STOLE YOUR PERSIMMONS......I ATE THEM!"

Then we sit down and eat lol
 
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