Volunteer Fig!?

So I’m working in the garden and notice in my corn bed, what looks like a fig! I often throw failed cuttings into my beds as mulch, but this bed is new, and I don’t remember throwing anything but bagged products into this bed. I must have though thrown what I thought was a failed cutting into the bed. Here it is at the base of a corn stalk. No cutting visible, it must be buried.

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Most of my cuttings were rare or valuable figs, wish i had a way of knowing what it is? That may never happen, some were unknowns in the sense they were new discoveries.
I also got in some fig seeds from the fig forums, just for fun.

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Could it be seedling?
I have some fig seedlings popping up in my yard which I believe were planted by birds.

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No, no wasp here. So it can’t be. I did get seeds, but I have yet to plant them. I got them from a California grower where the wasp is. The wasp must be there with you too!

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Strange that it never crossed my mind that we have fig wasp here even seeing these seedlings.

So now I can grow Calimyrna fig then.

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Yes, that is very cool. You can breed, and grow figs we can’t here. Plus pollinated figs are supposed to taste better. It’s a win-win situation. Most common figs produce seed if the wasp is around. I have seed from RDB, MBvs and WOW (I don’t know what this is?).

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I had a volunteer fig pop up last winter. It’s about 4-5’ now. I know chances are that it will never produce anything edible, but it will be fun to watch and if it doesn’t produce, it will make a good rootstock. It has a few branches lower down and a bunch of suckers.

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Must be a very good one with that name.

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Sure but it is cool! Why I obtained some seed, they were free, chance of a new incredible fig are at about .001%. And my volunteer could be anything, and for sure is a keeper, as I only tried to root rare pons figs and rimada’s and such. Unless it is from last year which is very unlikely. Besides the fact I built the bed this spring! It’s in a shady spot, so best if I remove soon.

I asked and he said look for wow fig on the board and many were talking about wow factor figs, not really it’s name. So I still have no clue, anyway seeds are going in cups tomorrow.

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Have you tried the fruits of any of these varieties? If so, is there anything unique about them as compared to the other more readily available ones?

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Yes and no. The common varieties are proven winners. I have a few now. Most of the Pons varieties, which is a guy who collected many across Europe, most unknown here. I went for ones he mentions he likes, and fruit early. Maybe some are special? I didn’t pay anything for them. A guy gave me a bunch of extra cuttings. I’m kinda cheap :slight_smile: I won’t pay hundreds of dollars. A guy called padsfan (Padres fan-San Diego) discovered Craven’s Craving in Pt Loma San Diego. A fig from the Azores, and most figs there are extremely good. The guy from Portugal that brought it here is still alive. Like a Black Madeira which are very good but late fruiting and only best on the west coast although we can ripen a few here before the frost. Anyway i saw one went on EBay for $149.00. I got a cutting for postage. Great tree, I made three air layers and traded for other rare figs. One was Bass Favorite Fig, a rare fig that makes sense! Bass lives in the Northeast and it’s his favorite. He is known for finding rare figs in NY, to PA area from immigrants and has introduced dozens of cultivars. Anyways if it grows well in the Northeast it should do well in the Midwest too.
I also grow tropicals and cacti, and so the ornamental aspect of some figs is not lost on me.
I wanted the Paratjal rimada as it produces a very ornamental fig, beautiful! So I traded a CC for one. Still waiting on it, it’s still an air layer at the moment. Here are some photos of it.

The Coll de Dama (CDD) figs were introduced by Pons and many rave about them. They are late ripening types. They taste fairly similar to each other so I went for the earliest fruiting one that also produces green (or some call white) figs and dark figs. Even on the same branch, at least that is what is said. I have seen no proof. A hybrid found in Pons orchard as a volunteer (kinda ironic under this thread) and that one is Coll de Dama Blanca Negra. So I traded for one of those too. I don’t have it yet, but it has been removed from the mother tree some time ago and will be sent in September. The other collector doesn’t want to chance loss. He wants to wait till fall. All of my CC air layers are removed and have been growing on their own a few weeks now. Fun and easy to do an air layer.

Because growers are just nice people in one of the trades the guy is throwing in a Martinenca Rimada. Which I’ll get next year, his plant is young, long story having a fake, and was the original trade, so the excellent collector threw both ramada’s into the trade, just that I will have to wait for Martinenca Rimada. Here are some photos again a very ornamental fig as are all Rimada types.
Photos by Dave on F4F, another excellent collector. His plant.

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I’m enjoying watching it come up. I do have a question for the group, how long for a seedling to produce figs (if I win the genetic lottery and it’s female, etc etc)? A old thread on F4F mentioned it could be as quick as two years, but I didn’t see much else on the web, most articles referred to air layers or cuttings.

Thanks!

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I’d keep control on those suckers, seedlings tend to sucker and branch more and can get very weedy.

There is really no way to calculate the chances of it producing edible fruit because there are unknown factors that each determine a different outcome.

Some areas of CA have become populated with GA/GA (homozygous) caprifigs, any seeds they pollinate will all be caprifigs. When a caprifig pollinates another caprifig the seedlings are 50-50 GA/GA- GA/ga, but GA (2 linked genes responsible for short styled female flowers (caprifig) and stamens) is dominant so there is no outward difference between them. So there should be zero chance of an edible fig from a cross with a GA/GA male… there are edible caprifigs but how the GA genes became unlinked isn’t understood and once it happens that caprifig cannot host wasps and pollinate other trees naturally so would only occur in nature from a mutation I think…

If the pollen parent was a heterozygous caprifig and the seed parent was a female the seedlings will be 50% of each. The quality of course will depend on the parents and how their genes combine.

Whether it requires pollination also depends on the caprifig, the seed parent cannot pass the trait on so it does not matter if the seeds came from a common fig or a cauducous type. A quarter of the seedlings from a heterozygous/persistent pollen parent will be common females. So that is why people come up with all sorts of smooshed percentages to try and encompass all of the unknown factors. It would be much better to use selected males but they are not readily available.

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Drew,

Here is more figs for you to collect.LOL.

Khurtmani (Eseli)
A very large redish, honey fig is probably the best fig
from Israel.

Kori Gol
A heavy bearer, medium to large, white fig. Very good.

King
The best to grow in a north climate like Canada. It’s a
super fig medium to large greenish yellow, of high
quality with strawberry pulp. It ripens a large breba
crop between July and August.

K- 6-5
A yellllow redish, super sweet, like jam fig.

K - 7-11
A high quality large greenish yellow fig.

Lampeira
A rare fig from Portugal.

a

Lattarulla (Italian Honey Fig)
A medium, light green fig. Two crops. Second
crop is flavor rich and sweet. Adapts well to container,

Los Lunas
A medium to large green fig. Very good.

LSU Gold(Louisiana University)
A very dependable, huge flat gold fig. Tender
and exceptionally sweet .

LSU Purple
A Very rigorous grower. Red to dark large fig with
excellent flavor and high sugar content. Cold
resistant and a good pot plant.

Mademoiselle de deux Saisons
An excellent, yellow-redish , juicy fig. Good for
colder climate (-13°c). Earlier type with some brebas.

Magnolia

Malta (Sugar Fig)
Small to medium fig with light brown to violet
skin and strawberry pulp. Very cold hardy.
Excellent fig of high quality. Excellent to cultivate in Canada.

Martineca De Cartagena
A large elongated greenish yellow, very sweet fig.
Early in season.

Marylane Seedless
An outstanding seedless white fig with very sweet
and excellent flavor. Rated high quality. It’s size
is from medium to large.

Maximino
An excellent purplish black fig with early season
and 2 crops.

Melanzana
A rich flavor, super qality, reddish brown large fig from
Italy. Its tree is very vigorous. the breba first crop is
huge. It ripens early. Good pot plant.

Photo/ Dr. Leon
Longue d’Aout
A medium to large, green(flush violet), good quality, rich in flavor with tow crops. A lot of brebas.Ripes two weeks earlier and is sweeter than Melanzana.

Mollar Blanca
A very sweet and tender white fig with 2 crops and an
early season.

Monstreuse
An excellent, medium to large, green-redish fig.
Two crops.

Moscatel Branco
A medium to large, greenish white fig with very good
honey flavor.

Napolitana Blanca
A medium to large, greenish white fig with very good
honey flavor. Two crops and early producer.

Napolitana Negra
An extra large, black fig well known from Spain with
outstanding flavor.

Native d’Argentieull
An excellent quality, small violet fig.

Negra Murcianna
A very good honey flavored, large black fig.

Negretta
A very sweet, small black fig.

Nero(B.C.)
An excellent bluish black fig.

Neveralla(Archipel)
A large, very sweet, greenish purple to violet brown fig. It’s slow growing but tree bears fruit heavily. Breba crop is good.

Northland (Nordland Bergfeige)
A sweet, reddish very rare, cold hardy variety fig
from Switzerland.Excellent for cold climate.
On a protected area, it can stand the temperature
of -10°c to -14°c.

Pajarera
A very sweet, medium fig with great flavor, known as
the bird fig.

Palito
An outstanding large white flat fig from Portugal.

Panachee (Tiger)
A small to medium fig with yellow stripes on the
skin and stem.One of the best tasting figs, with a
berry taste.It’s a conversation piece.( I have a tree
with 3 branches with green figs and 3 branches
with yellow and greeenstripes.)

Paneta
A very sweet greeen fig with 2 crops and early
producer.

Paradisa
From Nocerna, Italy. ( No figs yet)

Paradiso Bianco
An excellent, cold resistan, juicy green medium
to large fig.

Paradiso Nero
A brownish red medium to large fig. Second crop has excellent flavor. Good pot plant.

Pasquale(Vernino)
A very heavy cropper with small dark purplish
black figs. Delicious, sweet flavor, late to mature. Not hardy.

Pastiliere(Hirta du Japon)
A medium to very large red purple fig from Japan,
good pot plant.

Peter’s Honey
A medium, very sweet, lemon yellow fig. Good
tree for growing in a pot.

Petite Negri
A good flavourfull medium to large black fig .Good
to plant in pot.

Petrelli
A very sweet white fig with very large brebas.
Medium main crop. It’s the same as San Giovanni but ripes 2
weeks early.

Pezon Largo
A very sweet and early purplish black figs,
elongated , with 2 crops.

Pied de Bouef
A large greenish ti to light brown fig, has
two crops. Early ripe and a lot of breba.

Piedmonte

Pingo de Mel #1
A small greenish fig, high quality, very sweet
honey fig from Portugal.

Pingo de Mel #2
A large to very large white fig, high quality,
honey fig from Portugal.

Pope’s

Portuguese East Mountain
An excellent cold resistant, medium black fig

Qila Saif
An outstanding medium large, brownish
mahogany fig.

Qeue Longue
A black fig from Italy.

Ravin de Calce
A black medium fig from France.

Reina de Malaga (Qween of Malaga)
An outstanding, high quality green purplish fig with
2 crops. Early breba.

Rojeta
A very sweet and tasty redish large fig. Very
good brebas and large second crop.

Ronde de Bordeaux
An excellent flavor, small, dark blue fig. Better than
Violette de Bordeaux. Very sweet and cold resistant.

Rusa
A very sweet white fig from Russia. Early breba.

Sal’s (Corleone)
A small to medium black fig, good flavor and very
hardy. Good for colder climates.

.San Français
A gray brownish fig with only one crop.

San Giovanni
A very sweet white fig with very large brebas. Medium main crop.

São João Preto
An outstanding flavored large black fig from Portugal. Lots of brebas.

Santa Cruz Dark
A very good, speecial taste, dark large fig. Brebas only.

Schar Amber
A very heavy cropper with large brown figs having very sweet, amber flesh that has proved to be quite hardy up the East Coast. A good pot plant from Israel.

Schar Italian
Its tree produces a fair breba and a large main cropof very large, purple skinned figs with red flesh thatis very sweet tender,
and high quality. Ripens even when leaves fall, from Israel.

Sierra
An improved Calamyrna fig, (does not need
caprification) hybridizedby Dr. Louise Ferguson
from California StateUniversity in Fresno. A
medium to large yellow greenish fig of high quality.

Skardu Dark
A hardy dark fig from Pakistan. Good for cold
climates,-10°c/-14°c

Stella
An outstanding large, green, honey fig.
It’s cold resistant.

Sultane
A medium to large good quality black bluish fig. Very
prolific and cold resistant.

Sucre Verte (Queen)
An outstanding medium greenish , honey type fig.

Sucrete(Bifere)
A small green fig of excellent quality.The fruit is not
very aesthetic, but has two crops and is a good pot plant.

Tena(Bifere)
A small to medium green yellowish early fig.
It’s very sweet and of high quality.Cold resistance
to -14C degrees.

Ventura
A medium to large flat green fig with excellent
strawberry flavor. It’s hardier than most trees. It’s
very good in cold climates like Canada.High quality category.

Turca 2
A greenish ,very sweet fig.Early brebas.

Verdal Valenciana
A very sweet green fig. Early breba.

Verdale Longue
A very tasty, green redish, medium to large fig.

Verde Passo
A very sweet greenish blue fig. It’s outstanding
when it shrives.

Verdeja
An excellent green fig, Early brebas .

Verdone (Adriatic)
An older cultivar that produces a large, sweet,
rich, green yellow, very fine flavor fig. Two crops
annually. High quality category from Italy.

Vern’s Brown Turkey
A good quality, large brown fig.

Verte
A small green fig with excellent flavor from Spain.
One of the best figs to grow in Canada. High quality.

Violette de Bordeaux
A small, super, jet black fig from Spainl,
considered by many to be the very best tasting fig.
It’s very hardy, good for cold climates.Two crops.
It’s highly productive in pots. Dwarf and prolific.

White Marseilles
Vista Mission
A high quality, large, purplish black fig.

White Texas Everbearing
A medium to large, extraordinary sweet and flavorful
fig. It’s very productive and hardy. A seedling that was
discovered in a Celeste fig orchard near Austin Texas.
It’s a smudgy-amber colored fig with solid gold pulp.

Wuhan
A unique fig from China with horizontal, weeping growth.

Yokneam
A black fig with 2 crops from Israel.

Zingarella

A high quality fig.

Zuchini
A very sweet, long green fig.

Adriano
A superb flavor fig created by mutation. It’s flavor is
outstanding. Small, skin cracks when ripe and has light
red stripes.

Adriana
One of the best tasting figs from Italy.

Alma
A high quality medium, yellow brownish, very sweet fig.
Good for pots and cold resistant.

Ariane
An outstanding flavored, medium to large, yellowish
green fig from Portugal. Early heavy bearer.

Aldo
An excellent large to medium redish brown fig with two crops.

Barada
An excellent large to medium green honey fig with two crops.

Photo/ Dr. Leon
Atreano
An outstanding flavored large greenish fig, Cold climate
tolerant.

Bagalhouce
The moonshine fig ,from Pico, Azores . A small white fig,
very sweet.

Barbillone
A medium to large greenish violet fig, with very good
quality with two crops. Brebas is large and juicy.

Barnachotte
A lemon yellow skin, very sweet high quality fig. Good tree
for growing in a pot.
Bayenfeige Violetta
A very good large redish brown fig with two crops.
Cold resistant to -20°C.

Beall
An excellent medium to large purplish black fig.

Bêbera Branca
A long whhitefig from Caniço, Madeira Island.

Bêbera Prêta
A long black fig from Caniço, Madeira Island. Excellent.

Beneixama
An excellent black top commercial fig withl 2 crops early .

Biancheta Bianco, Celeste & Black Portugal
Biancheta
A small white prolific fig of high quality,melts in your
mouth. Good pot plant.Cold resistant.

Bianchi Guido
A light green medium fig . Very sweet and tender.

Bifara (Italian Purple)
A large sweet fig with strawberry pulp. Two crops annually.

Big Granata
A large to very large fig with very good flavor. Two crops annually.

Black Jack
A large purple black, high quality fig . Good pot plant.

Black Madeira Flat
A large black fig from the Island of Madeira, Portugal.

Black Portugal
A huge black fig. Very good flavor.

Black Marseilles
A medium black fig with tender, very juicy, excellent flavor.

Black Weeping
A large, very sweet, and juicy fig. It’s tree has weeping
branches.

Blanche de Deux Saisons

Blanquette
A very good, small, greenish yellow fig.

Brogiotto Nero ( Briogiotto Fiorentino)
A large redish purple fig, more tolerant in cold weather than most. Very sweet, oustanding figs.

Brogiotto Bianco
The king of all figs, a large flat white fig. Very short neck, skin
cracks when ripe. Excellent quality, a delicate tasteful fig, a mix
of honey surrounds the full pulp.

Brogiotto Nero Romano
A super violet-purple fig with excellent flavor, very sweet and rich. A good pot plant.

Black Mission(Proper name Franciscana)
A purple black, huge, medium sweet, rich flavor fig.
Quality is excellent

Brunswick
A medium to large, reddish brown, sweet, rich flavor fig.

Capelas
It’s trees are slow growing and spreading, from St. Michael,Azores. One of the best figs in the North Hemisphere if planted in the ground. Good tree for growing in a pot. Fruit is large and of outstaning quality. Breba is huge. Very sweet even in cold weather.

Castanhal
A medium, brown, very sweet fig from Caniço, Madeira Island.

Carne Doncella
A very sweet, high quality, purplish black fig with 2
crops ,very sweet. Early breba

Celeste Family:
Good bearers, easy to keep up and
good for pot plants. Their figs are rich in flavor and
hardy in cold climate.

Blue Celeste(greenish blue)
Champagne(golden Celeste)
Tiger(Celeste Gigante)

Col de Dame Blanche
One of the best figs in our collection. A large white,
very sweet, outstanding fig.

Col de Dame Grise
A large purple gray fig of high quality. It’s juicy
and very sweet.

Col de Dame Noir
A tasteful large black fig. Outstanding.

Colar -
A very large black, high quality fig with 2 crops.
Rated the #1 commercially grown in Spain.

Conadria
A large light greenish yellow fig. The eye is very tight and small. Average weight is 1.7 oz. Two crops. Very good fresh or dried with excellent flavor.

Corynth
One of the best medium to large greenish yellow fig with
two crops. High quality.

Doce
An outstanding medium brownish fig from the Island of
Madeira.

Deanna
A large light greenish fig of high quality.

De Pacheco
A very sweet, top cmmercial, high quality fig with 2 crops from Murcia. Early breba.

Dottato (Kadotta)
A honey fig, medium to large, richly flavored, sweet and ofexcellent quality, especially if the weather is hot. Probably is the most important single fig cultivar grown.

Duamane Nera
A great tasting large, dark fig.

English Brown Turkey( Laradek)
An excellent flavored large fig, very hardy, -28c, from the Czech Republic.

Early White
A medium to large, greeninsh yellow very sweet fig .
Two crops. The earliest to ripe fig is good to plant in pot.

Excel
A medium to large sized yellow fig with amber pulp, very sweet and is highly resistant to splitting. A good , well-adapted tree to grow in Canada. Seems to be very hardy. Superb flavor.

Fannick’s Fig
A extra large, blue, fig. Excellent.

Fico Santo
Large round, greenish,red inside,very sweet fig from Italy.
Top quality.

Fioroni Umbrella
A large, long very sweet brownish fig. It has only brebas and ripes in July/August.

Falicciano
A medium to large fig from Italy. Light green.
Very sweet.

Flanders
A richly flavored, amber pulp, heavy bearer,
super fig.

Photo/ Dr. Leon
Fracazzano(Bianco)
A lemon yellow, very sweet outstanding fig from
Italy. Two crops.

Fracazzano Nero
A large, black, superior fig. Outstanding taste.

Fracazzano Sguro
An excellent gren redish fig. Two crops.

Genovese Nero
One of the very best with a special delicate taste and very
juicy, you can almost eat with a spoon. Large to very large
dark purplef fig. It has two crops. Hardy in cold climate,
it is a very good producer and a good pot plant.

Genovese Bianco
A delicious yellowish fig with two crops. High quality.

Gillete
A large yellow, quite sweet and very heavy bearer.
Two crops. The frost never seems to injure the crop.

Ghosh
Gomera
An excellent medium redish brown fig from Gomera
Island. Many brebas.

Gordal
A very large, redish, honey type fig from Spain.

Large Greek Black
Grise Olivette
A very tasty, large, bluish fig from France.

Grise Saint Jean
An excellent dark,small to medium fig. It’s a heavy
bearer with 2 crops.

Hardy Chicago
A light redish brown fig with very good flavor.
Very good grower in Canada.

Hollier
A very light green medium to large fig which ripes
even in cold wheather. Sweet and excellent flavor.
Good in cold climate.

Inoral
A medium to large, honey fig from Spain. Very taste.

Inoral Temprana
An early season , medium to large, very sweet(honey)
fig from Spain

Ischia Black
An outstanding, small to medium, black fig.

Isfahan
A small, yellowish brown, very tasty, cold resistant
fig from Iran.

Italiano
A medium purple, pyriform, red flesh, of high quality,
rich and sweet flavored fig.

Jurupa
A huge green fig with excellent flavor. Very vigorous
grower.

Kala Heera/Ghosh
A rare super fig the from middle east.

Karachi Green
A very sweet, early and prolific fig.

Tony

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A nice reference, thanks! Yeah I need somehow to get rid of a few!

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I got some Valle Negra figs at green stage and hopefully it will ripen in time before the first frost. I have heard the figs are good.

Tony

These Rimada’s look really cool!

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Yes, and I want them for the looks, also looking at the chart for Paratjal rimada it ripens mid September, perfect for here. I have no idea how they taste? I do know Panache rimada is a decent fig too. I have one and will get a few figs this year.

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So I decided I best move this volunteer fig and disaster stuck. It’s 4 inches tall, and trying to dig it out with the corn, not good, I severed the root. It still has a tiny bit of root. I also potted up the severed root, just buried it to come up on it’s own, if it can?
So the root was at least 8 inches, and like a tap root. I didn’t dig up any cutting, or nothing!? It was on it’s on roots! This is not possible…
I’m going to call it Corn fig for now…

Maybe a fig seed was in the bagged compost or top soil?

Fig roots don’t sprout. I’ve moved a lot of them and nothing has come up from the roots that remained behind.