Or maybe both. My biggest Reservior gets about 60% of the days sun and for this being its second year from your cuttings as well as that it died back to soil line last winter(-12F unprotected) it did ok! Its crop of a dozen or so ripened in october. It was a refreshing flavor! And different than any of my other fig types. 
1 Like
I’m glad to hear that the new cutting has started producing for you already. The younger one in the above pics was planted in 2019 and has gotten pretty big. It had a decent amount of fruit- I didn’t measure, but at least 3-4 quarts, maybe more. But, it did start ripening later that the original plant (maybe early Oct vs early Sept) for the main crop. I didn’t notice any breba crop for the young one, but the original/old one had a nice flush of figs around August 1st.
Last winter was unusually mild last year- only about +10F as a low. That was the 2nd year in a row, so maybe we’ve got a new normal (the past ~10 years ranged from +1F to -10F. Even at +10F, some figs still die back, but Reservoir had little or none. I think Black Bethlehem also pulled through quite well, which likely lead to it’s vigorous growth this year.
4 Likes
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