Fig and Olive Trees

I will post my results good or bad :) Thanks

 

If you have failed to grow olives, then with pistachios is even more risky

 

Regarding the chinese chestnut, were you referring to Castanea mollissima? If so, they will grow nicely here.
About 4 years ago I was in Real Canadian Superstore at Christmas to buy chestnuts to roast. What they had were in very poor condition for roasting but perfect for planting....some were starting to sprout so I bought several and planted them into pots. In the spring I put them in ground in the backyard and ignored them. Now they are about 5-6 ft tall and doing great - not sure if I need a second pollinator but if so there are several other types growing in the neighbourhood.

 

Yes, I just planted 10 Castanea mollissima in pots a couple of weeks ago and I am hoping to get at least 2 of them growing, yes you need a second pollinator :). My peach seeds were all molded but my Pistachios are ok but not in pots yet. It is great to hear that your Chestnuts are doing good. I will post an update later when Iam done with Pruning my trees LOL.

 

Just an update, the Olive tree is doing great although it is still in a pot. It was kept outside all winter long next to a wall facing south west and it is still doing great now in March. I have not planted the Pistachios yet but I will keep you posted.

 

Yes, in fact my next door neighbor has a cherry tree and it produces a lot of Cherries. My tree is not ornamental, I bought it grafted with four types of Cherries. This year is its last chance if no cherries then it will be replaced with another fruit tree. So far, it has been a waste of space.

 

Thanks Polar, I hope that you and your trees are doing well. My olive tree is still very little but looks very healthy in a big pot outside (Summer and Winter). My cherry tree is still blooming but no cherries, hoping that I will get some this year. My Persimmons tree is now dead :( but still in the ground. The figs are doing very well and I added two more trees (Yellow Egg Plum and Read Haven Peach) doing well in their first year. I have planted two seeds for an Almond and Apricot and they are a couple of feet tall. I am hoping that my Cherry tree and Olive tree do well this year. Cheers!

 

Olympia, WA, zone 8a, one can see several very big fig trees in people's yards in the neighborhood. The two common varieties for this area are Olympian and Desert King. They don't leaf out until late in the season, but they grow very fast, and can abundantly fruit, with fruit size on old trees so big you wouldn't believe.

Someone I know has an olive tree in their front yard in Vancouver, WA (right across from Portland, also zone 8a), but it produces very few olives and many years does not produce at all.

Fragrant osmanthus is related to olive and can grow here (though not as hardy as lilac).

If fig trees can grow here, I'm sure they could grow in Vancouver, BC, although it might be a shorter growing season, and they might not grow as fast due to less heat.

 

We have an Italian honey fig that produces 2 crops per year - first crop has very few but very large fruit in May/June and the second crop is around late September that consists of smaller but much more abundant fruit.

 

Two Q’s:
How are your Chinese chestnut tress coming along? Are they likely too young to produce yet? When are you expecting them to start?
Also, re: your honey fig, are you happy with the flavour? Some figs from neighbours here we have found not all that tasty.... also, would you remember roughly at what age they started producing?

I always love reading what you’re up to. Thank you!

 

RE: Chinese chestnuts - we got our first harvest last Fall and roasted them for several nights - very tasty. These trees were seed grown in 2015 so they were only 5 years old when they started producing (and now are well over 3m tall).

RE: honey fig - very sweet fruit. We always ignore the first crop as there are just not enough to make collecting worth the effort (always seem to be on the highest and furthest branches), but for the second crop I can never seem to come up with enough recipes to preserve what we get so we usually end up giving away lots. As for when it started producing; we bought the tree in 2008 when it was about 1.5m tall and has been producing since about 2013.

 

That is all very encouraging news. Thanks for the update. I know what I’m trying next...!

 

My Olive and my Pistachios are still alive but very little. I am hoping that this year they will do better.