I doubt that Smith would grow good in zone 6b or 7a, yet I have a variety called GM-142, that the fruit is said to be a lot like Smith in flavor and texture, I have not yet tried Smith myself. Our GM-142 tree has survived down to 3 degrees Fahrenheit so far. I might have some trees of it ready to give later this year.
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That’s interesting! I might should give or trade my rooted smith cuttings for something else then. Sounds like you have an interesting variety there, i hope it does well!
I am trying a rooting method outdoors that is used in fall/winter in a very similar climate as ours. I am not doing it 100% the same way that it’s normally done, as long as the cuttings don’t freeze much if any then they should root decently. Since I am doing something I have never done before, I don’t dare promise anyone anything.
Here is a description of GM-142 https://foodplace.info/Bountiful_Figs/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=622#p5684
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That is nice! It will be interesting to see how your rooting method goes! Your fig variety has shiny leaves and to take single digits is a good sign of cold hardiness i would think! Do you think the thick skin may have a useful purpose like protection from insects or rain? How long have you had it in ground?
Yeah being from Louisiana i grew up with figs and enjoyed eating them like crazy at harvest… Here in kansas no one knows what that’s like and i sure miss it! I have CH, RDB, and Sunfire rooted so i am excited to have a good start. And Smith is growing but i think it may just die outdoors so i may not keep it. And i certainly do want a few more hardy varieties to try! But what’s crazy is that figs are not really the big thing down south that they should be!! We never had more than 2 or 3 types. A neighborhood may have someone with a Celeste or a Brown Turkey and i knew someone with LSU Purple and my uncle has Gold… But if I suddenly moved back to Louisiana the first thing I would do is plant like 20 varieties of every flavor!!!
I planted it “Thursday April 14th 2016”. It will enter it’s 4th season in the ground this year, the begging of it’s 4th year in ground.
Most pests here don’t attack figs unless they are split, the only exception I have found to that is Peter’s Honey, that appears to be a pest magnet here, a part of me wonders if I should keep it. Here birds, and Box turtles go after all fig fruit. Ants go after any fig if they are sweet enough, they go through the skin easily in large groups. Sometimes they can eat a fig in hours, if there is enough of them.
To prevent ant issues, I use Tanglefoot on the trunk. Stops them all. But a challenge for bush-trained fig trees, every trunk must be wrapped and tanglefooted,
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So true. In our climate our fig trees all grow in bush form on their own, it’s a loosing battle to try and force them to be trees in our climate, the thicker trunks rot away every time.
I don’t think that fig trees in our climate ever go fully dormant, yet we get deep freezes every year, sometimes as cold as 3 degrees Fahrenheit. That is true with all the 7 varieties we have, the thicker the trunk, the more liquid there is in it, the more liquid there is the more fragile the wood is.
With all but one of our fig trees, each year there was more and more small trunks. One fig tree which was more cold hardy, and faster growing than the rest, took way longer for it’s thick trunk to get damage and to deteriorate. Yet it’s still happening.
Me I rather deal with ants, than put tanglefoot on my bushy fig trees. Many people manage to keep ants away using orange peels. Yet that is expensive, and home grown citrus does not produce when our fig trees do/would.