My breba season is over and looking forward for the main crops. I will have to freeze and dry them this year due to the heavy crops.
Tony
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Celeste Fig. Very underrated and pack of sugar. Little smaller from Improved Celeste but very good. Must have for all zones.
Celeste Figs 08-11-2019 Main Crop Zone 7A Ellicott City Maryland
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I could be wrong… but the leaf in the background looks like it has some web blight. If those spots get any bigger you should pick it and any others with the same off before it can spread. It can spread to beans as well, I learned this year… so I bag the leaves and leave them in the sun to cook.
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I got some pictures today when scouting for it, there aren’t good pictures of it on figs that I can find.
Here you can see the web of fungus that spreads from an infected leaf to others, they are stuck together. The web is not always easy to see though.
Totally skeletonized leaves.
On bean plants
How it starts out.
It go an early start this year, but has been progressing much more slowly than last year when it was raining more, found some pictures I took in september last year.
Here’s the web after it ran down the stem of the leaf and engulfed the stem and a fig.
Inside of infected fig.
Sometimes the leaves, or parts of them drop and infect anything they touch.
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Bleack!
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Black Jack, breba.
Un-caprified.
2" x 3.5".
82 grams.
Medium-thin skin.
Fig + mild strawberry flavor.
Slight seed crunch.
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I removed the leaf, thanks for the heads up
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Thanks for heads-up—and excellent pics, Brent! Believe I’ve got it, too:
One cultivar has it worse than the others—just a scattering on most. Haven’t seen any of the fungal “webbing” yet, but that could be because we’ve had a real dry spell here of late. Am going to have to dispose of some leaves tomorrow and maybe consider a fungicide routine. The “no-spray fruit tree” strikes again! Lol.
Think my rattlesnake beans have a touch of it, too, and I believe Prunus spp. may also be susceptible, as I’ve seen identical lesions on wild black cherry leaves.
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It does seem like the Etna types are more vulnerable to me. I think Black Walnuts can be carriers, there’s a tree that drops leaves onto some of my figs and some of them became stuck and spread infection quickly like the walnut leaves had live fungal tissue. I suspect grass clippings can be a vector as well.
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All the cut ones are Florea, most from 4 inground trees and then some from a few container trees, and one lonely Improved Celeste in the pint with extra Floreas. Looks like RdB and some of the Etnas will start getting ripe in a couple of days.
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Very nice could you please post some pictures after dehydrating. I will do some this year and want to get an idea how much to dehydrate.
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I like them dried when still soft. My only concern going that way is long term storage. They should be OK in the fridge or freezer. So I’m always working around the correct dehydration level. So far I haven’t had any spoilage. But at the stage I like I don’t think they are safe at room temperature for long term. This is before and after. I think you could store these at room temperature. Too dry for my eating preference.
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I dried these yesterday. Don’t know if you can tell the difference. But these are soft and chewy. Just the way I like. It took about 15 hrs at 125F.
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Thanks That is the texture I am going after. I do not like too dried figs. That will help a lot.
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The ones with the cantaloupe chips are not done enough for me, they are still very soft, not quite chewy yet and would get freezer burn and start losing flavor after 3-4 months. The ones in the other tray are what I like for freezing, they feel leathery. If storing on the shelf in jars they need to be hard, not cracker dry but not soft at all, they do soften up a little over time.
These went about 18 hours at 130, but were on the porch and it has been humid/raining the whole time, and the dehydrator was at full capacity with 6 more trays of cantaloupe.
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Looking very yummy. Will do some this year for sure. Now I have a good guide line. Thanks for posting picture.
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These will start to mold, if left on the shelf more than a
few weeks. I just had to throw some out. You can get them
like this at 140F in 10 hrs.
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