Herman - I have one F. Afghanistanica planted outdoors and three in my garage. The outdoor plant seems to be surviving the mild winter we are having, it pops out with leaves when the weather gets into the mid-sixties, then drops these leaves when the weather gets below freezing.
The three plants in the garage are air-layerings from the plant outdoors. When I moved the potted plants into the garage they all lost their leaves. Just a week or so later they started to leaf out and began new limb growth. Since they have little light they are growing much too fast, and look gangly even though I put them outside every time the temp goes above 50.
They apparently air-layer very easily, but I tried two cuttings and they were unsuccessful.
I have been unable to find out very much about this particular fig, things like size, hardiness, age for production, soil requirements, etc.....Lou

I have mine in the cool greenhouse.. and it leafing out already... it's growing in a gallon container.
Lou how large is your tree now? Do you protect it at all in the winter?
I'm wondering how the fruits look like.
I've been communicating with a fig enthusiast from israel his name is daniel. He has a fig (ficus carica) variety named afghanistan... saying that he would need a male and a female for fruit production. The leaves seems to be very close if not the same as the afghanistanica. I'll post pictures of it if I can.

Bass

Here's how the afghanistan looks.

Bass

Notice the leaves how closely resembles the F. afghanistanica.

Very interesting ,Bass ,is just that my little trees had small 7 cm. leaves this fall,before it shed them out.Yours looks like it has larger leafes.Can you tell me the size of leaf.??

herman... I want to mention that these are not my trees in the pictures, but they're grown by a fig enthusiast from israel. My tree is grown in a 1 gallon still.
few nights ago the temperature dropped below freezing and my heat had problems and some of my trees in the greenhouse were damaged. I have the ficus sycomorus al the leaves on that one wilted in fell off.. but the afghanistan still growing strong. evedentily it's as hardy or even hardier than ficus carica.

My outside tree only has a mulch layer of horse manure about six inches deep, no other winter protection.
The branches (it is more of a bush than a tree) are about two feet high and are about half the diameter of a standard lead pencil, and don't have the same look as F. carica. The leaves are smaller with even deeper frills than those in the pictures on this thread. This could be due to my plant being more youthful.
Another difference - even though they appear to have latex in the woody parts the deer have eaten the younger tips of ALL the branches. These same deer, although they have learned to eat the fig fruit of one variety which I grow, have NEVER eaten a leaf or branch tip from any of my F carica.....Lou

HEY HOW'S IT GOING PEOPLE.MY NAMES ROB I'M FROM MICHIGAN AND I'M ALSO A FIG FANATIC NEW THIS FORUM.I WAS WONDERING IF ANYONE ON HERE HAS THIS Ficus Afghanistanica FIG TREE FOR SALE OR IF ANYONE KNOW'S WHERE I CAN BUY ONE.THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS YOU ALL....

http://www.yuccado.com/displayone.php?ytitle=Ficus%20afghanistanica

Here is a link that might be useful: ficus afghanistanica source

I'll chime in regarding the hardiness. I put one out last fall in my orchard in southern Maryland (zone 7). Went there today for the first time in a while to see how much freeze damage there is on the figs -- the ficus Afghanistanica is doing fine, and could see no damage.

gene, how are the other figs doing?

I've seen F. Afghanistanica offered on Ebay a few times in the past year. I considered getting one at one time, but didn't follow-through.

~Chills

Hi Chills,
They're all looking pretty much as I expected. Those 1st year trees suffered a lot of damage, especially those that were still putting on vigorous growth during the last part of the growing season -- that growth never has time to harden off. Most or all should come back up from the ground however -- so I'm not worried. The older trees looked hale and hardy. There were a few small trees where I'd mulched heavily with a dark colored mushroom mulch. I noticed on some of these that the bark had split pretty badly. I'm guessing this was due to extreme temperature fluxuations between the heat of the sun during the day, and the cold after sunset playing havoc on the bark. I'll need to remember to avoid this next fall.

I have two orchards near each other, one established 2003 and the second in 2005 onwards. The interesting aspect is that the older orchard is on very flat, low lying land (just off the Chesapeake) that doesn't drain that well. The second orchard is close by, but has a slight slope and drains better. Trees in the newer orchard seem to overwinter a bit better than those in the old one, despite being younger which usually means more tender. A case in point are the Negronne trees. I set out about 8 mature potted Negronne trees in 2003 in the old orchard. They have always had a hard time during winter, and have always had to start from the roots each spring. In 2005 I set out three potted Negronne in the new orchard 1/4 mile away, and have no problem at all. I'm sure it's because of the better drainage.

I just resized the photo above. It was making the screen wider.
I've heard so many reports about the edible F. Afghan. fruits. I haven't heard about how good the flavor is.
I guess all of us have seedlings of them and none have fruited. Mine is in the greenhouse in a 3 gallon, it has leaves now, still no fruits. I'm wondering if it bears Breba crops as well.

Bass

I'm confused. With male and female plants - does this fig need to be pollinated to produce edible fruit?

Hello,

Here is another Ficus Afghanistanica source:
Forest Farm, of Williams, OR; tel:(541)846-7269
http://www.forestfarm.com/search/closeup.asp?PlantID=fiaf033
I originally got mine from there.
I do have a LQ (~6) green twig cuttings (~6") going in
my GH. My further inquiring resulted in learning that
they were (mislabelled!) seedlings, with the seed
source originating from the Iran 'region'.

Anybody (really) interested, email me privately. Will do
a trade or ship at your own cost (when the weather
warms up, hopefully soon)...

George (NJ).

Here is a link that might be useful: Forest Farm (fiaf033)

Clarification:
The (back then) FF mislabeling I mentioned above was
for another ficus.species. Since then, I assume and
believe that they got their things straight, since
even the item id name was drastically changed....

Clarification_2:
I just saw a phrase of 'AFGHAN FIG'. This SHOULD NOT be
confused with (I cannot remember where) a ficus.CARICA
loosely duped as an 'Afghan' fig; which is totally
a totally different ficus species monster...

One other possible source for you brave DIY guys/gals,
that I heard about, is to buy dried figs from some
Middle Eastern ethnic grocery store that sell them.
Not from Turkey (that is probably a F. Carica), but
maybe from Lebanon or Iran region. They are often
MISLABELED as F. Sycomorus figs. Sow the seeds,
and if viable, you will know instantly form the
leaf shapes. F.S. leaves are smooth edged oval
mulberry like, while the F.A. are HEAVILY
lobed/serrated (and very beautiful - even qualify
for an ornamental hardy shrub - with some bonus figs???)
almost like an oak leaf...
Even the thin twigs are 'dainty'...

Thanks to all the people that answer to this post.
!!!!
I have to let everybody know about a problem with my two Ficus Afghanistanica.
They were planted outside on my front lawn as Ornamentals,and grew slowly but surelly all last sommer.
NOW when i checked on them Yesterday,They were eaten up by Squierels,and rabits all the way to Ground.
They are the only plants eaten out this year.
I had problem with Squierels,eating other plants,as wegelia,Japanese Maple,Kerrya Japonica,etc,but never fig before.
I hope it comes up from roots,as they are very nice looking ornamentals.!!!

Herman,
Maybe you should give a longer lease to your dogs which
were doing such a wonderful job on your other figs.
George.

Herman, I have few trees that were eaten up by squierrels also. Usually when ground is covered by snow, squerrel's can't find anything to eat. So they chow on the soft bark of young trees. Squerrels and rabbits ate Kiwi vines, Jujubes, figs, pawpaws, and Persimmons. All were young trees.

Bass

I had to cage in my figs, jujube's and a couple other plants this spring as well due to the voracious appetites of the rabbits and squirrels..

They didn't touch my kiwi vines, though (as I think caging them would have been difficult.

~Chills

My Afghan fig tree, 16" high, survived the winter here on Guemes Isle. , in the San Juans, in a one gallon pot, outside.10" of snow in Nov. (unusual) 16F also unusual. It leafed out in the spring and I planted it in the ground in the front yard. Put a cage around it to protect from the Deer.
I got 3 Ficus Afghanistanica Figs from Forest Farm in Oregon. Gave one to each of my Daughters, one in Mukilteo, WA and one in Arlington, WA. Colder in Arlington than here.

Thank you Gorgi!

On a walk through my neighborhood I spied a very unusual lacy leafed volunteer fig growing in some ivy in front of a home. I rang the doorbell and asked the man (who had a mid-eastern accent and appearance) if he minded whether I took a cutting (he told me take the whole thing). I've been wondering ever since what it might be, at the very least it is highly ornamental with extremely deeply cut leaves, even the young ones.
Now with what you wrote below it makes plausable sense that perhaps someone in that house was eating Lebanese/Persian figs and tossed one into the ivy where it sprouted. Again, a big thanks to you!

Mary

One other possible source for you brave DIY guys/gals,
that I heard about, is to buy dried figs from some
Middle Eastern ethnic grocery store that sell them.
Not from Turkey (that is probably a F. Carica), but
maybe from Lebanon or Iran region. They are often
MISLABELED as F. Sycomorus figs. Sow the seeds,
and if viable, you will know instantly form the
leaf shapes. F.S. leaves are smooth edged oval
mulberry like, while the F.A. are HEAVILY
lobed/serrated (and very beautiful - even qualify
for an ornamental hardy shrub - with some bonus figs???)
almost like an oak leaf...
Even the thin twigs are 'dainty'...

My F. afghanistanica is just now (5 years from seed not a cutting)
bore a single fig that dropped off before it could mature. So it
would seem pollination isn't required but fruit may not mature if
un-pollinated. D. Melton in Atlanta claimed his bore fruit without pollination
and the seed was viable! Next year should tell the tale. I've also found that
one year or older wood is hardy but new growth is damaged at around 20f.

HTH
Chris

Approx height 14Ft.

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My 2nd year plant has its first fruit. http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/figs4funforum/vpost?id=2254184

Hello,
I came upon an interesting write up on Ficus Johannis subspecies Afghanistanica - the Afghan fig. This is written by Arthur Lee Jacobson and appears to be a thorough article.

Ingevald

Here is a link that might be useful: Plant of the month- Ficus Johannis - Afghanistanica

I've eaten fruit from Ficas afghanistanica, from wood harvested from the Mountains of Afghanistan - it is an amazing fruit: uniquely-flavored, golden-yellow within; sort of tastes like honey, but a little brighter.

I've read that the flavor should not be that great, as it contains mostly pollen - not sure why this was written.

Steve

I recently purchased an Afghan fig from Plant Delights nursery in North Carolina. The tree has highly frilled leaves. It is currently in a pot. I'm curious to see how well it grows in my Zone 7 climate.