My office as of late …
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72 more.
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Today I finished installing and testing the automated irrigation for the 3 fig pot beds.
- Each of the 3 beds has 8 1/2" irrigation risers, each of which to service 9 3.2 gallon pots. There is one irrigation valve per bed. I flushed and capped them prior to installation.
- The irrigation water pressure from the street is 50 lbs which is too low to use standard 1/2" shrub heads to each pot
- I opted for 12-port manifolds that are manufactured for 1/2" pipe thread - twenty four in all
- Although these are intended for drip, I modified them for flow. The irrigation line for the beds is already filtered so I removed the mini-filter inside each manifold. I also removed the flow regulators in each port.
- I only need 9 outlets per manifold so I used the supplied port plugs to block off 3 of them
- Next I cut sections of supplied hose for this manifold, having determined what lengths were needed
- The manifold is screwed on the pipe and then one at a time a hose is installed, securing it in a pot with a supplied stake
- When all the hose is installed the manifold cap is screwed on
Testing each bed I measured a flow rate of 1 gallon per 5 minutes per plant – 72 plants simultaneously.
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Richard, you’re amazing! It’s so hot outside that I can’t last more than 30 min.
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I like those 12 port manifolds. You’ve given my some ideas for a setup next year. And thanks for the photos and details.
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I’ve spent the last two weeks installing the 2nd phase of automated irrigation. To do so, I gave one of my automatic valve substations a major upgrade and provided connections for a 3rd phase later this year. It all started with conduit, 3/4" pipe, and a bucket of parts …
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Words cannot express gow impressive this is to someone who has only been “gardening” intensely for a few years now…Standing Ovation!
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Yesterday I completed this section for housing up to 72 potted duplicates. The baskets are “tray7” trays from Stuewe, manufactured to fit six CP512 pots.
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Today I received 24 new cultivars, bringing the total up to about 550. In comparison to other collections I’m still missing about 70 named varieties.
BTW, these plants are from Tinkerbug Figs - an A+ licensed source of fig plants and how to raise them.
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Excuse the grammar and the lack of intelligence. I even had to look up what a “repository” is. Also, I probably won’t understand a link above so I’d like to ask. Here’s the link for reference: Genetic structure and differentiation in cultivated fig (Ficus carica L.) - PMC
When you are searching for genetic markers, is this exercise to trace back the origins of all the figs? Their provenances and all the breeding whether natural or humans that did the work?
So, is the link I decided not to read plentiful info. about origins of cultivars and you want to use genetic marking to make a ‘map’ that can point to the origins of said cultivars? You’re trying to retrace, history? And at the end, you’ll know if each cultivar is the real deal? As said above, you could use genetic markers to rest the debate whether or not figo preto & black madeira are the same? …and in the long run, you’ll have a true representation of cultvars which you know are the real deal. And, now, there would be no disputing that your repository is the correct genetic material?
I appreciate your answer.
Dax
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Hey Dax!
Intelligence is a multifaceted thing and most folks here don’t seem to be lacking. Let’s just call your confession “a lack of horticulture vocabulary”. 
Now about that link … about 2.5 years ago I decided the analysis was poor and wrote a rebuttal of sorts in an language equally confounding to most: math! 
So you asked:
“When you are searching for genetic markers, is this exercise to trace back the origins of all the figs?”
No, but we would like to find markers that tell us how similar and different they are, in what ways they differ, and are unique to specific traits, like “caprifig” or “butterscotch flavor”. We’d also like the marker values to be unique to individual cultivars, like “this is Archipel”.
I believe the origin of all figs in the species Ficus carica is known: it is thought to be a mutant of the (now) sister species Ficus palmata. It could have been the other way around though - something we’ll probably know in the next 50 years. Whichever came first also has an ancestor which is believed to be extinct. And for completeness I’ll toss in that figs, mulberries, jackfruit, and all other Moraceae all have a common ancestor way back in time.
And just to be more annoying I’ll add this fact: back in the middle ages, fig names referred to a “type” and not a specific clone. For example, Dottato referred to both male and female specimens.
“you could use genetic markers to rest the debate whether or not figo preto & black madeira are the same?”
Given an exacting set of markers, we could say that a plant or group of figs labeled Figo Preto are “very similar” or “significantly different” from this (or a group) labeled Black Madeira.
“And, now, there would be no disputing that your repository is the correct genetic material?”
I could say that my figs have these marker values, Harvey’s figs have another set of values (many of which will match), and the USDA figs have this set of values, etc.
Another annoying fact about figs is that cuttings are a poor way to propagate them. In less than ideal conditions, rooted fig cuttings will sprout “sports” instead of true-to-type branches about 1 out of 10 times. Grafting is more stable, and airlayering has the stability of the original plant - about 1 out of 400 on average.
So you, Harvey, and I could all propagate cuttings from the same fig tree and end up with plants whose genetic marker values are genetically identical or significantly different.
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I appreciate this. Math! My favorite. Thank you, Richard.
Dax
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Shortly after unpacking the figs pictured above I sprayed them with Movento and Thiolux while they were soaking in a dillute solution of Movento and 20-10-20. The Movento takes care of any hitch-hiking larvae and adult insects, and the Thiolux controls mites and other arachnids plus fig rust. The latter has proved very effective here. I apply it to figs already here in the early spring as leaves emerge and again mid-season. The downside is that persons with sulphur allergies can’t eat the fruit.
Richard do you have any references or additional information about the incidence of sports in figs? That’s one of the most interesting things I heard about figs.
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I think I have that paper. The subject came up at the 2020 fig gathering at Wolfskill.
I hope that DNA traits for cold resistance are studied. There are different DNA traits that create cold resistance. Like some fig cultivators their wood hardens almost instantly, very rare yet that exists, and those cultivators are cold hardy in part for that reason, They most likely would do great in a late April frost here.
We had 7 in ground fig trees here until the one that was always the most cold sensitive totally rotted late last year, and the one that used to be the second most cold sensitive fig tree in the ground here, is now one of the 3 most cold resistant fig trees in the ground. I am curious how some fig trees can have such a extreme increase in cold hardiness, while others just seem to not get much more cold resistant.
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