Fig and Banana pics

Fig Cuttings for Sale at FigCuttings.com

One of the great things about figs is how easy they are to propagate as cuttings.  It's easy to root fig tree cuttings and start your own trees, and that makes it relatively cheap and easy to quickly grow your own fig collection.

Our in-ground fig orchard is going to be going dormant soon (first frost is usually in mid-October), so we're lining up new homes for the cuttings now.  We've got cuttings available from 17 varieties, all priced at just $2 per cutting.  

We've built a new website at FigCuttings.com to streamline ordering, so if you have any interest in trying your hand at growing your own fig trees, click over there and get yourself some cuttings :)

Sorry, we don't ship internationally or to California.

Banana House update

Here are some pics showing the progress of the bananas in their new pool house.  Four of the plants in there are flowering right now, 3 Dwarf Orinocos and a Cocos.

Here's a Dwarf Orinoco that had 'gotten stuck' after transplanting and didn't grow for a long time, so I had to chop off the top to allow it to push new growth out.  When I chopped it, the first thing to come out was the flower.

Here's another Dwarf Orinoco a few feet away but growing in the same hole.  This one has a half dozen leaves, but the flower is only an inch above ground, so it's going to be an interesting bunch that may end up sitting on the ground before long.

Here's a supposed Cocos pushing out a flag.  I got my original Cocos plant from Pitangadiego, and from what I've read, there's doubt as to whether it's the real deal.  It makes bad bananas in San Diego for him (venturabananas has also sampled them there and concurs), and it's not known whether it's a real Cocos that makes bad bananas there due to being so cold sensitive, or whether it simply is not the real deal.  If anyone has any further insight into whether Pitangadiego is selling the real deal, please share.

The biggest plant in the middle of this pic is an SH-3640 from Going Bananas:

Another Dwarf Orinoco bunch:

The big plant just right of center is a Dwarf Brazilian that will hopefully bloom in the next month or so.

The biggest plant in the middle is a Pisang Ceylon that is going to be high maintenance from here on out due to its height.  Hopefully it blooms soon so I can sample the fruit and then replace it with something shorter :)  Just to its right is a Dwarf Red that will flower very soon.

Part of the miniature citrus grove, with a tomato in back, a Meyer Lemon on the left, and a Midknight Valencia orange on the right.

Meyer Lemon:

Washington Navel Orange:

Fig Harvest 2015 - Aquaponics Greenhouse

We've been eating ripe figs almost daily since late June, when we first started picking Hardy Chicago fruit in the aquaponics tunnel. There were a few Black Greek fruits before that, and some wonderful Alma fruits started a bit later, but Hardy Chicago has been the workhorse in that tunnel. Here are some pics of the fruit (dark fruit are Hardy Chicago, light fruit are Alma unless otherwise noted):

6/28/2015

7/1/2015 (bottom left is Celeste)

7/5/2015

7/8/2015

7/23/2015 (bottom two are Celeste)

7/24/2015 (back right is Celeste)

The harvest season in our adjacent semi-pit tunnel lags a bit behind that of the aquaponics tunnel, and has only just recently begun. A Celeste tree in that tunnel started trickling out ripe figs on July 1st (they're in the pics above), and the first bananas started ripening last week, but most of the plants in there are still a few weeks away from ripening their fruit.

Our New Fish House/Banana House

Here are some pics of our latest pit-style tunnel greenhouse, which is around 80' long x 17' wide and has a 4' deep pit. The planting areas have been dug out an additional 2', so from the perspective of the plants, they have an 11.5' ceiling. It's still very much a work in progress, with a lot to get done before cold weather gets here. Eventually there will be 3 pools totaling around 12,000 gallons of water (I aim to finish getting them installed over the next few weeks).

Here's what the bananas looked like when I moved them in:

Below are a few pics from when I was building it. This time, instead of doing all of the digging by hand with a shovel and wheelbarrow as I had done with my pond and other tunnels, I rented a Bobcat. After the 1st day, I thought, "Eh, that's enough help, I'll just do the rest by hand." Which might have been an okay idea if I hadn't then decided to keep digging and make it twice as big as I had intended when I started. Here's what the trench looked like after using the Bobcat on the first day:

Then after some hand-digging:

Then after more hand-digging...

Special thanks to my nephew and Dad :)