Good to know! 
1 Like
I’ll trade you Florea cuttings for Resevoir, if you’d like…
Scott
1 Like
PM Sent
1 Like
What is the Black Bethlehem like
compared to the Reservoir Fig?
Earlier
Bigger
Smaller
Production ?
1 Like
This is the first year I’ve gotten any significant production from Black Bethlehem. It was actually later than the original Reservoir, though it was similar to a young reservoir in partial shade (West side of building), so it’s hard to say how their timing compares, especially since the BB gets some shade too. Their fruit quality is similar. I’m not a big fan of figs, but both are just OK to me. My wife and daughter like both a lot.
For the first productive year (3-4 years in ground), BB was very productive, probably almost on par with Reservoir, which is the most productive fig I’ve had (even young Reservoir plants).
1 Like
So has anyone been getting any recent production from Reservoir? What are your thoughts if you’ve grown cuttings from Bob and started getting fruit?
3 Likes
The reservoir trees that came from what Bob sent the NYC project that I started, one of them had a ripe fig ‘8 1/2 months later’. I have not gotten any newer updates than that July 2021 update, which was only about that one tree. Why is yours taking a long time to fruit?
3 Likes
I started a cutting this spring. It has one fig there. I’m not sure if it gets time to ripen.
It belongs to the Mt. Etna family. A good tree.
3 Likes
In the NYC project’s fig collection it was the first potted fig tree last year to produce it’s first fig of the year. I was told that it was ‘concentrated sweetness’.
3 Likes
Of the cuttings I started in late March or early April, MBVS and LaRadek EBT are the first to push figlets. Then Violet Sepor, “Reservoir”. They all get good chance to ripen figs this season. Quite a few others have pushed out figlets. But I removed most of them since I do not think they will ripen.
2 Likes
I haven’t been protecting my figs for the last 3 winters. This one was a bit colder and the main Reservoir plant mostly died backto the ground, plus a few low branches (understandable with winter lows around 0F).
I checked it a few days ago and this is the first time it doesn’t have any ripe fruit by the 2nd week in September. It is decently big and has fruit, but I think it will be later this year, maybe October.
A Reservoir fig I’ve been growing at a different site is along the West wall of a building and only saw moderate dieback, with growth 75% up the plant at the start of spring. I think this site was a bit warmer, maybe 5F, and the building may have helped. It didn’t produce any figs in July, like the main plant did last year (with little/no dieback), but it does have figs ripe now. They’ve got some yellow jacket damage, but were very good.
5 Likes
What is this fig similar to?
1 Like
@BobVance Thanks to your generosity, I now have 4 baby fig trees growing! I was able to root 3 of the reservoir, and 1 black bethlehem. They are all looking healthy and happy in one gallon nursery pots next to my front porch. The tallest reservoir is maybe 3’ tall, and just starting to branch out, and has little figlets. The other two reservoirs are maybe 2’ tall, and the black bethlehem is still TINY, only maybe 6" tall with only 3 full sized leaves.
Now that it is getting colder out, I was wondering if you (or anyone reading this) could give me some advice on what to do with the little fig trees?
- Do I go ahead and plant them in the ground?
- Do I leave them where they are?
- Do I pop them into my garage for the winter? And if yes, do I need to water them, and how often?
One last question: What are your thoughts on grafting, and when is the best time to graft figs?
I ask because I have two gigantic mystery figs in my side yard (maybe 15-20 feet tall?), both originated as cuttings from the same original tree, and neither of my trees are very productive. They’ve been in the ground for about 4 years now, and only set fruit this year for the first time, and only maybe 6 or so figs at that. I probably don’t need either of them (unless figs are known to get much more productive over time?), and I definitely don’t need TWO of them. I was considering grafting one (or maybe both) over to the reservoir and black bethlehem figs you sent me. I wasn’t sure, though if figs do better on their own roots, or if that would somehow mess with the nice little fig trees I have growing right now.
Any thoughts or advice wouldbe much appreciated!!!
1 Like
I’d suggest storing them in the garage and planting in the spring. If you plant now, it will just increase the chance that the tops die back and slow down their growth next year, without too much of a head start for the roots. If I thought it would only get down to 15-20F,. it would be a different matter. Even 10-15F (really the best case in our area) causes some dieback on mature plants, so it would be bad for ones so young.
When they are in the garage, they don’t need much water, though that could depend on how warm it is. I generally store them around 40F and water about once every month. Sometimes I go longer, and am generally OK.
I’ve never grafted figs, as in bad winters they die back to the ground, so your grafts would be lost. I wonder if you could scrape away a bit of soil, graft a bit below ground level, then push the soil back over the graft union by 4-6"…I’ve never tried it, but it could be a way to convert them over.
4 Likes
Thanks so much!
I’ll definitely pop them all in the garage once the leaves fall off. Maybe next year I will try to graft over one of my mystery figs. I think I won’t have a problem with them dying to the ground, because (i think) they’re in a nice little micro-climate. They’re on the south-side of my stone-masonry house, and the neighbor’s house is also only like 15 or 20 feet away, so I think it makes a heat trap? Anyway, the in-ground trees are giant tree-form trees that have never had any die-back whatsoever, not even when they were very young, or when we had polar vortexes. So, hopefully, if I graft some reservoir on there, they will grow quickly and won’t die. (I’ll also plant some on their own roots elsewhere, just in case).
2 Likes
Judging by your location in PA I’d start grafting figs around May 10 or so.
2 Likes
Thanks, will do!
1 Like
Thanks to Bob’s original very generous offer, Reservoir is the family favorite. On a good year I very slightly prefer Chicago Hardy over Reservoir. My girls and my wife all prefer Reservoir on those years. This year Reservoir was better than CH to me. In SW Missouri I’ve found that the extra heat from an unheated greenhouse makes all tbe difference in the world on growth and production. I need to be more relentless on summer pruning in that greenhouse. I’ve sent rooted cuttings of Res to several friends and even got some figs off of one planted behind the church I attend. We ate dozens off of the one in my greenhouse. Unless one of the newer fig varieties I’ve planted just blows my whole family away on taste and production Res will always have a home in my greenhouse.
5 Likes
Wow! So glad to hear there is a possibility of figs growing outside in SW Mo.!!! I was hoping there might be, but feared the worst!
This is the “southest” and “eastest” we’ve ever lived (having moved from Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, etc. to finally here.) So I’m excited to try some of the more warmth and wet loving plants/trees, but I have zero familiarity with any of this!!
Reservoir, is the thing to try. Okay! I’ll have to keep an eye out for that!! 
And note taken, a greenhouse will help. That makes sense… we’ll have to see what can be done about that!!
In absence of a greenhouse, would you suggest planting on the south side of a building for more warmth, or the north to hold off on potential early growth/frost damage in spring?
Would love to know! <3
1 Like