Picked up a few of these at Lowes. Anyone know anything about them as they seem to be unknown? Looks like a black mission knock off.
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I got one from Starks last fall as an add-on to get free shipping. It’s waking up but hasn’t done much otherwise. It appears to be grafted on a Celeste. Curious to see what others have to say.
Beer’s Black is a synonym for (or close relative of) Violette de Bordeaux. The Violette de Bordeaux family of figs are very tasty but a little on the late side ripening. You need roughly 125-130 days with a high temperature >65 F for figs to begin to ripen. Like you, I am on the border of 6B/7A (RI). I manage to ripen some VdB types beginning in late Sept – which makes the picking season very short. If you are further south, it will begin earlier for you.
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I have VdB as well, but it has not fruited yet. Doesn’t it have a breba crop?
I have 5 varieties of fig and each year is either feast or famine with all of them.
Yes it will usually produce a breba crop.
My local Lowe’s had tons of those in the other day. I didn’t want to risk it since I’m in zone 6b. I did buy some Olympian figs from them last year that overwintered fine in ground. But we sold that house so I’m won’t get to see how they do long term. I’m trying to root some cuttings from them, we will see if they take, it’s my first attempt.
-Nick
Olympian is even later than VdB. There are better choices for short-season growing.
Yes but I find that unless a tree is planted someplace where it can grow very big, we have to prune either for brebas or for main crop. Since the breba crop is small on most common figs, I generally prune for the main crop, which means removing most of last year’s growth. That implies few / no brebas.