Fruits and Nuts: A fig question , 1 by pbyrley

pbyrley wrote:
Hi Terri,
I am growing (with some freeze problems in Zone 7B ) six different figs. First, you asked about brown turkey. It is extremely widespread and I have had 2 different brown turkey trees in the last 10 years (I moved to a new house). The first was very good to eat and the second was not. My conclusion is there is no real control over what you may get when it says brown turkey on the tag. You mentioned Vern's brown turkey and I would say go with that one instead of just brown turkey, although I never heard of Vern if you want a brown turkey fig.

However, I would recommend a little internet research on the LSU figs, like LSU Gold which are recently develped by LSU (DUH!) . Google "LSU Gold Fig". I have LSU Gold and also LSU Purple and they taste very good although I don't know of their productivity as mine are young. I love Black Mission and highly recommend it. I think your area (Zone 8) will be better than mine if you can provide water to your fig trees. All I have read says put some kind of organic mulch around the tree as the roots run shallow. I ran a lawn mower over leaves and put about 3 bags all around my trees. A bag of pine bark from Home Depot is ok too. The picture is a Celeste fig which froze to the ground last Winter (8 deg. one night!) and grew this tall by last July.

I also suggest you phone Bob Wells and ask to speak to a fig expert. (There is probably someone there who know about fig trees for your area). They will be glad to suggest what will be good for you. Also, there may not be all fig trees in stock right now and you can find that out.

Good luck and I would like to hear what you get and how it does.

Paul