Also, forgot about Sultane. Also doesn’t set figs in a reasonable amount of time after freezing back.
Mine doesn’t freeze back and sets and ripens a full two crops.
Thanks Ray, I’ve got no intentions of getting rid of my container plants by the way, that would be nice if I can get some brebas… Those often drop here too though.
(I view everything through the lens of viticulture)–for more vigorous varieties a scott-henry system is sometimes used. This would be interesting for figs. So. Two wires on which first year growth would be tied down, top/rear wire growth goes up, bottom/front wire growth goes down. More light penetration, yes, but also bottom wire growth is devigorated to some extent. Yes definitely some work but straight forward. Just food for thought.
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Hey Dax, I’m trialing a low tunnel system in zone 6a that seems intimidating at first but is easy once setup. Low Tunnel Winter Protection (Figs, etc.)
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Brent,
Barbentane is a one crop fig. There are no brebas.
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Thanks for that. Don. I’m continuously thinking but leaning toward a big ole pile of mulch still. How did they do from last winter in terms of hardwood exposed/not covered with soil or anything other means under the tunnel (die-back)?
I assume the soil covered portions didn’t have die-back?
Dax
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Hey Dax. The soil covered portions had no die back. Of the six trees, three either died back to soil or survived just a few inches above the soil line. The other three saved growth between 8-14 inches above soil. Most of the damage I attribute to two things–one, I didn’t plant them until end of July. Two, I didn’t have the full protection (only had row cover, no 6mil plastic) in place before the cold blast right around Thanksgiving. I also didn’t have the wifi thermometers in place at that time, so I can only guess at the temperature. That being said I did have a thermometer in a nearby low tunnel, slightly different at five feet wide instead of three, that had a lighter row cover and it got down to 14F.
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Thanks!
Great documentation, Brent!
You are about a zone warmer than me, in SW PA. I only have 20 trees inground, oldest has had 4 winters in ground now, but I have similar observations so far.
I am protecting some by growing in low cordons, and pruning them way back and covering, some are growing as bushes which I cover with various insulating materials and a tarp. I find that if I cannot protect some wood above ground, that they are significantly later in setting figs. I find that my pruning and protecting methods remove a lot of the terminal buds/branches, which seem to be faster at starting growth in the spring and in setting fruit earlier. I am thinking about how to save more terminal buds on lower branches in my protection methods.
Florea results are same as yours, though the Mt Etnas grow much more vigorously.
My RdB, grown as a low cordon, has had 2 winters in the ground and although it grows back quickly, as you noted it takes a while to start setting figs - much later than the Mt Etnas and Florea, even though as a container plant it ripens in a similar season to a container Florea.
I hope with increased age/maturity it will start setting sooner.
My Niagara Black(supposed to be the same as LdA), seems too late in setting fruit after die back to continue with - I only had a few inches of a low cordon survive with protection.
Mount Etnas (Sals, Chicago Hardy, Bryant Dark, Black Bethlehem, RedSicilian(MN), Salem Dark and Unk Chios Dark) will fruit late after die back, but with some protection grow and fruit extremely well. I have 3-4 ft of growth on some branches already of the oldest ones, covered with figs.
Nero 600m does not seem that hardy to me and has frozen back despite protection, this will be second summer without ripening figs in time, it appears.
I have Jason’s Unk Black Ischia in ground, supposed to be same as Negretta, and this year some wood was protected above ground and I have lots of small figs which should start to ripen some time in September, its first inground production.
I also have an Adriatic(JH) in ground and this year I also was successful in protecting more than 20 inches height of 3 trunks, it woke up quickly and it is growing well but just starting to set figs, which may be too late to ripen for the second summer in a row. I am willing to give it another season or so to see if maturity helps make it fruit a little earlier.
I also have a Salem White in ground, my oldest cordon specimen, and I have been able to protect a longer cordon segment under cover, and this year it is fruiting much earlier than the prior two seasons, maybe as much as 4-6 weeks earlier this year - my results with this one and my Salem Dark is why I have hopes that with better protection over succeeding seasons and saving gradually bigger trunks, earlier fruiting is possible. Some of the improvement this year could also be due to the warmer early spring temps without a late frost. The fruit in the pic below is on rapidly growing branches off the main cordon. Some of the fruit on my Mt Etnas is a little farther along.
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Thanks for weighing in Ed. I’ve thought about how to grow them as cordons and save some terminal buds too, maybe notching above a bud nearest the cordon later in summer to get it to break could help?
@hambone, I went and looked at all the RdBs, aside from the branches coming from 2nd year growths I can’t really make any sense of it. They are still not setting as well as the Etnas, but most are doing better. I didn’t thin them much this year either, so maybe that slowed down the individual growths a little bit. Normally I would go out in May and select maybe 8-10 shoots coming from the ground, I like to give each a tug to find the ones that don’t have a strong attachment and are likely to break in a storm, but to the best of my recollection I did not do that this year.
I thinned out the 2 LdAs that had some trunks survive, not sure if it will help more figs set, but I saw some web blight getting started down low so cleared out all growths that had no figs set as well as weeds and shaded branches to let in more air and sun. About 30# of branches removed. Will have to be on the lookout for web blight on the others, with so much rain last year it was a real problem and apparently survived the winter on the wood.
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Great post, Brent; thanks!
I don’t have a very large sample (I overwintered 22 in ground)—or much experience—but this first year an Improved Celeste (O’Rourke NOT from Petals from the Past in Jemison, AL) was the first to set fruit. It has also, by far, been my champion grower, having put on about 4’ of new growth since I uncovered it. Like all my in-grounds, I pruned it back to 2.5-3’ and protected it with a plastic-topped, straw-stuffed cage. Uncovered in early April. We had a low of 4F this winter, but this one experienced no dieback—probably in large part because of the big old slab of thermal mass (a hog pen foundation poured—and then abandoned—many years ago) behind it. Exposure here is southeasterly; and it should get about 8 hours of sun. Another IC, from the same source, was planted out in the open in my back yard, which is sunnier but less protected. It lost about 2/3 of itself over the winter, but is bouncing back nicely; fruit set was a couple weeks behind this one.
Improved Celeste, 7/4/19
Improved Celeste fruit, 7/4/19.
That’s interesting that they are late-setters for you. Could it have something to do with climate differences? Or do we have different strains of IC? Potted ones seem eager to fruit here, too, and they were the first of my cuttings rooted over the winter that wanted to push figs.
My next-earliest—nearly neck-and-neck with IC #1—was Malta Black, planted near the southwestern-facing wall of a metal shed. All the Etna-types (is Malta Black an Etna Type? seems a little different to me) followed fairly close behind. None of the Etna-types experienced much dieback over the winter—regardless of location—and all started setting fruit around the same time. Interestingly, the champion grower of the Etnas, Papa John— which has put on a similar amount of growth to IC #1 and is getting a lot of fruit set right now— enjoys no particular microclimate and is planted next to IC #2.
The only other one of these I overwintered is a VdB-type (Beer’s Black). About 1’ of a sucker survived because I pinned it to the ground and covered it with the bulk of my enclosure; the rest died to about 1"-2" stubs. No fruit; but it’s a tissue culture, so that may have something to do with it. Have Olympian and “English” Brown Turkey EL (= Hanc’s/Miller’s Brown Turkey?) in the open—which were protected in the same manner as the rest, and only lost some smaller-caliper growths this winter; they’ve just started pushing figs in earnest in the last couple weeks. Do have a Longue d’Aout and three Rondes de Bordeaux in ground now—but just planted. Thought I had a Michurinska-10/Florea—but it was just a misidentified Etna-type.
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That is very interesting about IC, mine originates from Vasile, who I believe bought it as a mislabeled O’Rourke but I’m not sure of his original source. Anyway, he reports the same productivity as you so there might be something to your idea about growing environment, and although he is relatively close by he’s been getting Nero 600 m. brebas on his container plant while mine show no signs of ripening. The IC I showed above is planted in the old potato patch which has very high organic matter in the soil, and the rest are in compost socks, but none of them are particularly vigorous, the soil and compost both test off the charts for calcium and potassium… or maybe mine had undergone some change also, epigenetics or something like that, I had trouble rooting them so all the plants I have now originated from a single stick.
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Report on Takoma Violet in ground 7B: It’s a Fig Factory!! Highly Recommend.
Puts my Battaglia Green and Ronde de Bordeaux to shame on production.
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Two of my in-ground tissue culture trees that set a few figs late last year but didn’t get to ripen any, LSU Purple and Beer’s Black, have started pushing out a few figlets over the past week. Hope they have time to ripen a couple!
TC Celeste is also showing double bumps for the first time.
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There has been one flowering gene isolated in figs which corresponds to light, it is activated by both short and long day periods but I’m guessing there could be long day genes as well. Because it seems like fruit set on some varieties is much more reliable in summer. There must be other genetic factors, because fruit set is clearly not equal across varieties.
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This is Atreano. I only included it to make me look good. It had filled out a 15 gal pot before tbe start of the season, was uppotted, and had a head start in the greenhouse before being planted inground. The rest of the pics tell the story true.
These are 5 of the 6 trees I planted last year and protected with my low tunnel system. They took more damage than I hoped for over the winter and are clearly imbalanced. Big root system+not enough buds=excessive green growth. I’m doubtful that the figs that are setting now will ripen in time but I’ll probably keep them on simply to slow growth. The varieties are somewhat irrelevant to me (until I can get them growing in a balanced way) but in picture order they are Chicago Hardy, Chicago Hardy, Mary Lane (seemingly very appetizing to Potato Leafhoppers), Mark Nelson’s (Celeste variant?), and Conadria.
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Nice report Brent and all contributing to the discussion! I have around 20 fig plants planted inground here in z4b, Maine. I have been impressed with their ability to survive out winters, most get bent to the ground and covered with mulch. Up to now, the most productive varieties have been Mt Etna types- Hardy Chicago, Marsailles Black VS, Malta Black, and my overall winner for hardiness and early ripening, Danny’s Delight. Florea is coming on quite strong this year, it has set a buch of maincrop and even retained a couple breba. Others I hoped would do well because of early ripening trait have not performed-IC, RdB
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4b! A testament to the adaptability F. carica—and to your own dedication as a fig grower!
So Danny’s Delight is an Etna-ish fig? I’ve heard it described as such. But to add to the confusion, there’s a light-colored fig (possibly a San Pedro—and maybe the same thing that Edible Lanscaping is selling as “Lattarulla”) circulating under the same name.
Speaking of hardier/earlier figs, has anyone here trialed Ali Pasha? It’s in the Michurinska-10/Florea family—though there seem to be reports that it’s a different strain with superior fruit quality and maybe better rain resistance. Of course, there are reports of nearly everything; and some sites treat it as just another synonym for M-10. Not sure where one would get a reliable specimen, anyway.
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