Can anyone recommend a good fig to grow here in hot humid Georgia? I’ve seen a few different ones in Lowe’s and Walmart.
You’ll want a closed eye fig.
LSU Varieties, Celeste is a common one for south. Just Fruit & Exotics has a good collection of figs for your area.
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Thanks. I’ve seen a Celeste fig around here. So much to plant and so little room. Am also thinking of a pecan tree, and possibly a peach tree.
There’s a few good ones. Definitely need a closed eye for maximum production.
Celeste types are great, but some may split more than you think. There’s some in LA that are heirloom trees and have adapted to the humidity there. You next best bet would be LSU Improved Celeste: O'Rourke Fig - Edible Landscaping
OR Southern Brown Turkey, which is another Celeste type: Edible Landscaping Plant Sale: Buy plants online from our garden center and plant nursery
There’s also Hardy Chicago types like MBVS, Malta Black, etc… that will do exceptionally well and personally they have a much better taste than Celeste, but that’s my preference. It’s a different type of fig. Celeste has a brown sugary taste to it while Hardy Chicago has a berry taste similar to a fruity strawberry if properly ripened: Hardy Chicago Fig - Edible Landscaping
There’s also figs with a more complex berry flavor that will do well in Georgia. Black Mission & Violette de Bordeaux types taste even better than Hardy Chicago, but may lose out a tad in production: Violet de Bordeaux Fig - Edible Landscaping
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Yeah you can mention other forums, although a lot of good figgers are here. The suggestions are good ones.Celeste can drop figs as @hoosierbanana mentioned to me just yesterday. I heard the LSU Tiger is like Celeste (as is other LSU figs) and a few people are really impressed with the flavor.
I have too many fig trees and decided to top work LSU O’ Rourke. I don’t really like it, but keeping LSU Purple.
I recommend Texas Everbearing, which I think is an English Brown Turkey type. It turns amber/brown when ripe and is very different from the Brown Turkey that most people are familiar with… the one that turns purple when it ripens. That one has a pretty big, open eye, and splits badly in humid conditions. The one I got was from Monrovia and it’s been excellent in dry and humid conditions for me.
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Thanks for the replies. I would be interested in starting a fig from a cutting. If anyone would be willing to send me one, please message me. Thanks, Ed
Mine just started growing, else I would offer you numerous choices in cuttings. Once growing it’s not a good idea to take cuttings. Maybe someone has some stored and can get you some?
That is an excellent fig! Mine though at least here out produces My Etna types.
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Have you tried LSU Purple, Drew? It is my assumption that it needs quite a bit of heat. Would be interested to hear your opinion of it.
I’d love to see a picture, Nate.
Here’s a link to a post I made about it last year when I was trying to figure out if it was mislabeled. You actually suggested it might be white texas everbearing, but I am now 100% certain it is not that.
Thanks for the info. I have it, but it has not fruited yet. If what you say is true, I will eliminate it, looking to cull the herd of fig trees in my driveway, good to know, and I probably will pull it. I’ll let it grow this year, and see how it does for me.
I can certainly see the EBT similarities now, Nate.
A friend on mine in Tucson has a 5 year old LSU Purple that he really likes, but he says it’s his latest ripening fig… he doesn’t get anything until October! However, we get pretty cool nights even into early May, so it might get off to a pretty slow start. If you have it in a pot, you may be able to get it off to a faster start. Mountainfigs on Ourfigs seems to really like it and he’s in a short season area:
Interesting but says it can produce in short season. I guess I have to wait and see. I can ripen any fig tree in existence here, it’s just with some like Preto I will only get 1/3 of the crop at most. I don’t grow that one, or BM, I do have two others that are similar. September ripe figs work best here. It’s still warm and the air is dry, so I can let them hang for a long while. July figs have to be removed before perfect due to mold forming. One that won’t ripen most of it’s crop is Panachee. But it’s such a pretty fig, even having the plant as a conversation piece works for me, I took some photos today.
Looks to be forming a breba
Today I did a couple air layers. My figs are starting to grow, and the fig shuffle is in full swing.
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That’s quite a collection Drew, you must be in shape doing that 2-step. I saw some nice big Celeste figs today at Lowe’s. They looked to be in 3 gal pots, about 4’ tall. I’ll probably pull the trigger on one of them. Not sure how long it will take to get a fig, but since I’m 61, don’t want to wait too many years 
Oh it sucks! (I’m 60) I’m going to have to do it Thursday. Two more nights of near freezing.
I want to eventualy eliminate half or more.
Only a few of the pots are about three gallons, most are more, the brown cloth root pouches are 10 gallons.
That plant to the right is Night Blooming Jasmine. It’s been in a south window all winter. The leaves will burn in the sun outside, but it is so prolific, and strong. I don’t acclimate it. I burn the winter leaves off with full exposure. It has new leaves already coming in. The flower is the world’s strongest scented flower. The whole street can smell them. In the winter, i let it get hit by a couple frosts to slow it down before I bring it in. It never has aphids, or scale, or white fly. Once It bloomed in the winter, and my 2 story house was overwhelmingly filled with it’s scent. Now I cut the flowers off if it tries to bloom. The frost hits stop it from flowering (whew!).
That is a very hard question to answer, it all comes down to personal taste after you get past the climate compatibility. I have seen a lot of people hate at least one of the best fig varieties, that may sound silly to you yet I have seen it a lot.
One that should do great for you is Unknown Carini (the one from figgy frank, there are at least two varieties called this), it one of my personal favorite varieties, no matter how much it rains the figs range from good to great. GM 142 does great here in the south too, tastes sort of like strawberry jam only much better. Ginos black should do very good for you yet I have not grown it so I do not have any personal opinion on it, I hear great things about it.
I had seen someone recommend a fig forum, be careful sometimes they have nasty fights on them and the forum owners do nothing to stop them. That is why I started my own fig forum, yet this forum is a great forum for fig information too. Sorry for not responding sooner I have been so busy with research and other things.