Wow… sooo many post about figs. Must be the most popular fruit.
My CH Fig … first fruits today. At least a couple hundred more left on my 3 yr old.
TNHunter
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Question for all of you Fig lovers…
I played it safe with my first fig Chicago Hardy… very happy with it.
Considering adding another in the next year or two.
I have heard that there are figs that taste very much like strawberry… that would be a big hit with my wife and kids.
My CHF ripened first fruits today… and last year we got figs until Dec 3.
I know that some figs ripen earlier too…
Is there a fig that ripens early… that also taste similar to strawberry… or perhaps some other nice berry flavor ?
Thanks
TNHunter
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Not exactly strawberry but you may look for cold hardy early producer green fig since you have Chicago Hardy which is very good.
I have only one Green fig in ground which is Carini very sweet and tropical flavor but I will find out more this year about split resistance and taste wise and ripening time .
@hoosierbanana growing lot of figs in ground and would like him to chime in. Anyone else growing in ground can comment too.
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Adriatic??
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Strawberry is a common name for Verte type figs: Green Ischia, Adriatic Jh, Strawberry Verte… I think they are all late ripening, large vigorous trees that tend to spread wide and can keep ripening good tasting figs much later into the season than Hardy Chicago. They tend to split more, and are not very cold hardy.
LSU Tiger tastes kind of like grape to me. Ripens about the same time as HC, larger fruit, sweeter, the same if not better cold hardiness. Doesn’t ripen well in cold weather though, splits in rain, has a weak sprawling growth habit that may need support.
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I saw a YouTube vid several weeks ago… and remember the guy was saying taste like strawberry jam…
I found the same guy … same fig… but this is a different video… (link above) and he says strawberry jam… strawberry-raspberry jam…
Black mission fig.
???
I will research it more. Any of you have it ?
Thanks
TNHunter
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Since you are planning to add just one so take your time. There are much better green figs, I will look into my notes and update you on finding. Black mission fig I do not have it so if you have a time please visit here , people are growing figs and lots of . You may have to become member to see everything . I am a member there too.
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The first of my green figs to ripen this year is Grosse Monstreuse. It has thin skin and is super jammy. It’s a very nice fig. One of my wife’s favorites! It is in a half wine barrel, most of my green figs are in ground at a different location, so it may not be a perfect comparison. But that’s all that’s happening here so far in Napa, CA. These are old pics, maybe one of the first fruits the tree made. I haven’t taken any this year.
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I loved this time of the year. Figs are coming, Asian pear 
,and so the potted Kaki persimmons.
Tennosui Hybrid Asian pear
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Your fig looks great! As many of the figs grown in California and states with hot, dry summers. @TNHunter I would not take any fruit growing/performance information from western states as valid for eastern states, as our growing conditions are vastly different. For example, I don’t grow a single peach (but I grow many nectarines), if I lived in CA, I would have grown a half dozen varieties.
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@AaronN - that is a gorgeous fig, love the looks of the inside. But I fear what works so good for you in CA… may not work well for me at all here in the hot humid south TN climate.
@hoosierbanana — if it is not pretty cold hardy I better avoid it… I do plan to grow in ground (like my CHF) here in my z7a… last winter our low was +8, but I have seen 0 in the last 5-10 years and negative numbers back into the 80’s and 90’s.
The first year I started my CHF… I was a complete Fig newbie… and did not protect it that winter… everything above ground was dead the next spring… but it came back from the roots and grew like crazy, and gave us 75 figs that 2nd year. Last winter I successfully protected it and it has grown like crazy this year… 10 shoots, and many are over 9 ft tall now, absolutely loaded with figs.
On your mention of other figs ripening later than CHF… last year our CHF ripened fruit until Dec 3… That was our first hard frost of the year… it still had fruit and leaves on then, but that hard frost wiped them out. CHF does not seem to have any problems (here, southern middle TN) ripening figs late summer, fall, even into early winter. Our first hard frost is not always that late… it could come in Nov.
You mentioned LSU Tiger… and before I got online this morning I read the descriptions of all of the Figs in the OGW catalog… and they have 4 LSU varieties… Below is a bit that they say about each…
Tiger - very sugary sweet, with a nice berry finish
It mentions that spoilage can be a issue for late summer and fall crops… I am not sure if they are saying this fig has that problem… or if that is just a common problem in the SE. They do say it is one of our favorites.
Gold - Large Crops, honey sweet amber to red flesh, selected for the humid SE, resists spoiling,
It ripens early, proven cold hardy.
I see more positives in that description (but no berry flavor… more in the Honey flavor group).
Might be OK to have a FIG that is just way different than my CHFig… (not berry flavored).
Hollier - one of the highest sugar contents, of the LSU figs, reliable producer of med to large yellow figs with amber flesh, very sweet and flavorful
Purple - very prolific, large breba and main crops of sweet caramel flavored figs, thrives in the SE, Small Closed Eye resist spoiling.
Some nice positives in that one too… Caramel Flavored Fig ? That would sure be different… Prolific, large crops, thrives in SE, resist spoiling… Hmmmm…
So many options…
TNHunter
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@Ahmad ---- agree on the advice given there… researched the Black Mission Fig more last night, and found that is is one of the most common Fig varieties grown in CA…
But the guy in that youtube vid that I linked to… looked to be somewhere in the South East to me, and they were growing well for him. I checked and it looks like he lives between Birmingham AL and Macon GA near the state line there…
Isons list the BMF for zones 7-11 — it may not be cold hardy enough for me here in 7a.
OGW list one that seems to have the flavor I would like…
Panache Tiger ---- strawberry flesh, intense berry flavor
But it says it works well in CA, with long warm dry season… not the most reliable for the SE.
Will keep searching… I have time.
I found a good vid on the LSU Fig varieties… by LSU AgCenter Fig Breeding Program…
Some negatives in that vid… he says LSU purple is best grown is South Louisiana and on all of the LSU varieties mentioned… he said they produce figs for about 2 weeks.
2 weeks ??? My CHF produces more like 3 months. 2 weeks would be a let down for sure.
On second thought, if it produced for 2 weeks (before my CHF ripens fruit)… that would be a plus.
Thanks
TNHunter
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Panache Tiger needs pollination by the fig wasp, so wouldn’t work in the East. @rayrose in South Carolina is a seasoned fig grower, in climate somewhat similar to you, perhaps ha can recommend something for you. Personally my favorites are Red Lebanese Bekaa Valley (ripening now for me in CT, so it is early), I-258 and Adriatic JH, but both are somewhat late, I expect them to start ripening in the second week of September.
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I haven’t tried Gold or Purple in the ground, but they didn’t have enough flavor for me in containers.
It is really tough to beat Hardy Chicago in overall performance. Tiger can taste better in good weather though.
Just a warning, OGW seems to be shipping out fig trees with fig bud mites so I would look somewhere else, you really don’t want them.
The problem a lot of fig varieties have is they don’t set fruit after significant winter damage or pruning. Mission especially, it wants to grow into a huge tree before fruiting but always freezes back here. You might hear people say that a variety “needs a few years” to set figs, what they probably mean is a few years of unfrozen wood and branches to tone down the growth rate.
Ronde de Bordeaux is in the middle between mission and HC/Tiger as far as setting fruit as a young tree. It can set a decent amount of figs on one year old growths, but it isn’t very winter hardy so it will probably need some kind of protection. The flavor can be sweeter, and sharper than HC, but it also likes to split.
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I don’t think this is true but I do hear that Panaché requires long season to properly ripen the fruits. So, your advice is still right that it may not be suited for short season growers
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@hoosierbanana - I have watched a few of Ross Raddi’s youtube vids on Ronde de Bordeaux…
Just watched one again…
A plus… he says it is one of the earlier ripening figs…
A negative - he said if you have to prune it hard (for winter protection, which I do)… it may not fruit much at all the next season. You mentioned… it can set a decent amount of figs (on one year old growths).
To get my CHF thru the winter last winter… I whacked it off at about 18" high.
I successfully protected those stumps… but if I did that to a RDB… sounds like it may not fruit much or perhaps not at all on new growth.
Hmmm…
Too bad there is not a CHF that taste like strawberries… mine do taste fruity… but more like a fruit punch flavor.
TNHunter
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