6 Hardy Chicago Fig Tree Cuttings

This is an auction for six (6) fresh cuttings of Hardy Chicago.  The cuttings are approximately 8” - 9” long and taken fresh yesterday evening (09/17/19) from our mature, potted and healthy, Hardy Chicago fig tree.  All cuttings will have at least 3 or more nodes.  The cuttings were cleaned and sealed in generic plastic wrap to preserve freshness and moisture.  The cuttings will be shipped to you via USPS First Class or Priority Mail.  The cuttings in the picture are the cuttings that you will receive.  No international shipping.

Hardy Chicago is a great variety that every northeast grower should have in their collection.  Very hardy and prolific.  2 crops.  Produces medium-sized purple figs with red pulp.  Berry flavor with nice acid bite.  Thin skin.  Great fresh, dried, or for jam.

☆  IMPORTANT - PLEASE KEEP READING  ☆

eBay used to be a great place for buying fig trees and cuttings but there are many disreputable sellers operating right now that want to steal your money.  These crooks view the fig hobby as a money making scheme and fig hobbyists as marks and don’t care what they're selling to you.  

• You will not receive the variety you ordered.
• Trees arrive in poor condition or dead.  Sellers will tell you to make a claim with eBay or PayPal.
• Cuttings arrive in poor condition or totally non-viable.  They are NEVER the correct variety.
• Poor packaging, late or no shipments.
• Feedback extortion.  Won't refund unless you leave a positive feedback rating.
• Selling from outside the country knowing it's illegal to import plant material into the US.  

Some of these sellers have good feedback ratings that have been fabricated.  Many collectors have lost money to these criminals with very little or no recourse from eBay.  Likewise, the same criminals will purchase from reputable sellers and make false claims of having received poor merchandise just to get a refund.  This is NOT a victimless crime.  eBay and PayPal have raised fees which have raised the prices of fig material for collectors.  Again, hobbyists suffer with little to no recourse from eBay.  As an innocent victim the best thing is your tree or cuttings will arrive in poor enough condition that they won't grow.  Because caring for and waiting 3 years for one variety and finding out it's another is not fun.  

Have fun shopping and buying on eBay and elsewhere but please be aware and above all, protect yourself.  If a deal seems a little too good to be true, it probably is.  eBay is a free market for any merchant but please only buy from reputable sellers.  Please take the time to read this informative article I’ve written about Buying Fig Trees and Cuttings From the Internet.   Also, take a look at this detailed forum thread that exposes many of the scammers.

About NYCfigs

Like many children of Italian immigrants I grew up around a wonderful fig tree.  We shared a building with our extended family in the Westchester Square section of the Bronx, NY and the fig tree was my Great-Grandfather Pietro's.  In 1942 Grandpa brought a small piece of that tree with him when he emigrated from Bari, Italy.  I have many childhood memories playing with my brother and cousins under the canopy of that massive fig tree.  Grandpa's fig tree never failed to provide a delicious summer snack for all of us.  Although everyone has moved away and the building has since been sold, Grandpa's fig tree continues to grow in the same spot today.  I started growing my own fig tree on Staten Island in 1995 and collecting in 2012.  Today I consider myself a horticulturist, fig collector and hobbyist with approximately 60 different fruiting varieties in our collection, including Great-Grandpa Pietro's.  My family enjoys propagating and raising figs in potted culture here in New York City with no help from a greenhouse.  Our goal is to find the many wonderful varieties of fig that grow well in NYC, USDA Zone 7b, with the minimal amount of fuss.  It is a wonderful, healthy activity we share together with friends and neighbors.  I am a proud member of CRFG, NAFEX, BYFG and regular contributor to the Ourfigs and former Figs4Fun forums under the moniker nycfig.  I'm also a regular contributor and administrator for several Facebook Groups dedicated to figs including, OurFigs Fig Forum and one of the largest and oldest Facebook resources for figs, Rafed's Fig Group.  In 2016 I was honored with the title of Fig King at the Staten Island Fig Festival, New York State's only event encompassing all things fig.  I am also founder and owner of figBid.com, the internet's only open marketplace dedicated to figs.  

If you are the slightest bit interested in learning about fig trees I highly recommend joining www.ourfigs.com.  There are also several active Facebook groups that you can check out.  Just type "Fig Tree" in the Facebook search bar and click the link for 'Groups'.