Remind me – what rootstock? Is it possible that this is an instance of poor compatibility?
I have to try it for myself on DV rootstock. I find it hard to believe that the Japanese breeders would choose to release a variety that they found bland. And sometimes Izu gets great review for flavor.
Also, the Japanese describe Soshu as “the best so far” for flavor. Izu is the female parent.
p.s. I checked the Japanese release notes. They say that Izu’s fruit quality is generally similar to its parent Fuyu. An early Fuyu would suit me just fine. I know that “early” is not a priority for you in your location. But as a benchmark, I’ve been picking “midseason” IKKJ in late Oct / early Nov, not completely ripe, in order to avoid a hard freeze. Tree-ripe fruit by late Oct would be a big plus. I’ll just have to see how Izu grows for me.
I have 2 Izus - one a Dave Wilson, other is on DV that I grafted myself many years ago.
Both are extremely poor growers. My neighbor down the road had an Izu for about 15 years. By year 3 my Saijo was larger than his much older tree and produced more.
He since cut his tree down.
Izu is not bland. It’s quite good. But not worth growing if you have any other pcna kaki.
My Izu seems to be growing with plenty of vigor. Comparable to the other two on the same tree I think. Maybe because it was grafted to a tree that was already mature.
See Table 7 and accompanying text re fruit quality of Izu grown in various locations / conditions. Very respectable results. But as far as In could see, there is no comment re growth / vigor of the tree.
Ram – Your message wasn’t directed toward me but this is the Izu that I just received from JF&E. It seems quite vigorous. Izu is the tree with the yellow labels and all the new green growth. [There are some DV seedlings breaking bud in the background, as well as a small piece of Black Zadar fig upper right.]
I know that Izu is supposed to end up small (“dwarf”), which is also true of IKKJ, but that’s different, of course. I’ll just have to see what happens.
