seeds for rkn trials

[epiphyte]

for $40 (not including shipping) you will receive a total of 122 fresh seeds...

2 seeds: ficus opposita x carica (my hybrid)
20 seeds: ficus dcif 0023 (palmata hybrid)
40 seeds: ficus cherry cordial (palmata hybrid)
60 seeds: ficus carica (numerous different cultivars)

this offer is for fig growers who are struggling with root-knot nematodes (rkn). ideally buyers will separate the seeds into two groups...

group a (control): sow half of each seed variety in clean, sterilized potting soil.
group b (test): sow the other half in "dirty" soil (mixed with local garden sand or native soil known/likely to harbor root-knot nematodes).

this side-by-side trial will help reveal the degree of variation in rkn resistance within pure carica, as well as compare performance across the different hybrid lines and ficus opposita genetics.

including only 2 seeds of opposita x carica (oppcar) might seem a bit stingy, and a very small sample size, but I really want as many people as possible to directly observe for themselves how it handles rkn compared to larger numbers of palmata hybrids and pure carica. the results of my own rkn trials will be less reliable since i'm the very biased breeder.

you can purchase the seeds by messaging me on here for my PayPal (friends and family please) or you can purchase them on the following sites...

figbid listing
ebay listing
etsy listing

everyone is encouraged to include more seeds in their experiment. please message mike fons (figfair.com) for his list of available fig seeds.

[Rob]

This is another great idea, and we honestly need a lot more of this sort of testing done all over the fig world, and we need to get as many people involved with it as possible. The fact that we have 2 different hemispheres, it can work to our advantage in so many situations. Fortunately, I have no RKN issues here, our soil is far from sandy, but I know many areas have this issue.

[Rob]

Just to add to this, in Pakistan, they have big problems with RKN and generally never root carica, instead, they grow palmata trees and graft carica cuttings to these. I have now sent several hundreds of cuttings for free, mainly caprifigs, and these have been sent all over the country to expand their range.

To keep up with the constant supply of palmata trees for grafting, every year they harvest thousands of seeds from their palmata figs, and send them out to all growers who are able to help growing the small trees, just as below here...

All of this is done freely, with people only paying postage, and that goes for all of the cuttings also. They are very keen to get fig trees of all types growing all over the country.

When grafting time comes, they run grafting workshops and distribute how to videos. They are very committed to this, that is certain.

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