Almost missed these. A Black Bethlehem, which have been coming in for a while, and my first 2 JH Adriatic of the year.
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143 g Genovese Nero AF 
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I donât have a deer situation, but it seems to work with the racoons, and pretty well with the bats at my front door. It also scares me if I forget I left it on with the motion detector and go out there.
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Do you think the Bellaclare Sport can be related to LdA? Or that same group? Leaf shape and fig both are similar. Nordland is there too.
Look good.
We have been getting 8-10 a day for a while now off my CH fig. Treats every evening⌠not much rain (no big heavy rains) which helps a lot.
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Flanders Fig, this is about as ripe as I want this fig to be. Itâs very sweet, anymore than that it would be like eating baby food, lol.
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This one is a Mercedes Gem, which Danny Gentile of FigBid was giving away for a dollar per cutting at the end of last year. Itâs a nice berry fig with prune undertones. Subtle seed crunch and nice jammy texture. For a non-caprified fig, Iâd rate it 7/10. Sheâs a keeper.
Hereâs the story of Mercedes Gem as told by Danny Gentile:
With the help of my sons, weâve probably pruned about a dozen or so in-ground NYC fig trees so far this season. We havenât come across a real winner since 2019. I think this one may be a winner. This tree was discovered in the Bergen Beach section of Brooklyn, NY. Mercedes, the owner, reached out to me over the summer to ask for some general advice about her 3 in-ground fig trees. The trees were described to me only as 2 white fig trees and 1 black. Mercedes explained that sheâs owned the property in Bergen Beach for 20+ years and the fig trees were there when she moved in. She went on to tell me about the bowls of fruit she and her family would enjoy from these beautiful trees and how she would meticulously care for them. Mercedes said that all ended in 2012 when the fig trees sustained mortal damage by submersion under a flood of salt water caused by Superstorm Sandy. Unfortunately, this is an all-too-familiar story here in NYC. And whatever heirlooms werenât killed by Sandy in 2012 got the knockout punch from the arctic blasts in 2013 and again in 2014. Mercedesâ fig trees were dead.
Mercedes said she cleaned up the mess sometime after Sandy and lost interest in the fig trees until she realized they started growing again from the roots. Leave it to a Brooklyn fig tree, huh? Theyâre tough! She said the trees were no longer growing like they used to and had become a tangled mess. Mercedes said the fruit hasnât been the same, either. It appears the trees are producing smaller and lesser quality figs than they used to. Mercedes said she tried pruning but the trees have really gotten out of control and she doesnât know what to do to help bring the trees back to the way they used to be.
When we arrived I observed 3 in-ground fig trees that were definitely a huge, tangled mess. The trees are planted on the property line against a concrete wall or the side of a garage from a neighborâs property. The fig trees were tall, wide, and bushy, growing almost into the middle of the yard. Although it was a mess you could see there were clearly 3 separate trees. Mercedes told me the two trees on the left were white figs and the one on the right was a black fig. She said the two on the left have given her some fruit since Sandy but the black fig on the right has not. I started pruning back and indeed found old, dead stumps within the mess of the first fig tree on the left. Judging by the diameter of the stump Iâd have to say the tree was 20-30 years old when it died. The tree in the middle did not have any dead stumps and was growing straight up with one strong, single trunk. There was some tangled mess behind it but that was easily removed. That tree only needed a topping and some light pruning otherwise and I have to put age of about 10-15 years on it.
The third tree on the right, Mercedes Gem, also had some dead stumps within the mass of roots. They looked old but not as old as the first fig tree and Iâd have to guess the tree was about 10 years old when it died. The dead stumps easily broke away. This is the tree thatâs supposed to produce a black fig. I topped a branch with a line of figs on it. The branch hit the ground and some of the fruit fell off. I picked up the fruit and low and behold, itâs ripe! Who among us will not test any ripe fig. Certainly not me. I cut the fig open with the pruners and was amazed to find what you see in the pictures; a small green fig with jammy red pulp. And it was delicious! Very dense, sweet pulp with berry undertones. Small cavity and tiny eye. So, a green fig from a tree thatâs supposed to have black fruit? Itâs been a long time since the owner had fruit from this tree and the details of some delicious fruit may have been lost to time. Completely understandable. In any event, this one appears to be a winner and the only one of the unknowns weâve pruned this season that weâre going to root.
To update this story; while pruning, Mercedes introduced me to the previous owner of the property, Vinny. Vinny owns a local construction company and happened to be doing work in the lot next door. He told me his dad is from Calabria and planted those trees and the trees in the lot he is currently working in about 50 years ago. He said itâs been many years since heâd been back there and doesnât remember too much about the fig trees. Vinny said his dad currently cares for about a dozen in-ground fig trees at his home. I asked Vinny if he could ask his dad about these trees but he said his dad suffers from dementia and may not remember. He will ask and get back to me if his dad remembers anything.
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Col de dame Roja. Good fig, very sweet and dense, cool coloring. Debating whether to get rid of my cdd roja or cdd blanc. Both are large potted trees. Donât have space for both. This fig gets 8/10
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Currently, I think I prefer my Roja. But itâs older and in ground. Probably not a fair comparison. I donât currently know what Iâm going to do with my Blanc, but I will be keeping it. Somehow
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I donât really know. I received my original cuttings 5 or so years ago from a fig collector in New Mexico. All I could find at the time was a Martha Stewart video of her visiting the old Bellaclare (or was it Belleclaire?) nursery. It was a favorite fig there and it was shown to have a bit of a weeping habit, but that was a mature tree and my smaller tree hasnât shown that yet. Unfortunately that old Martha Stewart video of her visiting the nursery is no longer online. I canât remember if he said what it was a sport of to begin with. I would love to hear of any others growing it and what they think.
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Here is the young Bellaclare Sport
And here is an unknown LdA type of fig.
They both have thin leaves and weeping habit. The leaves can be easily burnt in the mid-day sun.
The figs are similar too. Though yours is more round.
I also have two more LdA type figs and an unknown Brunswick/LdA.
They are all good figs with red flesh inside.
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Interesting. Is your Belleclare Sport from one of the cuttings I sent?
I do like those deep fingerish leaves, very nice folliage.
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Since you are in Sothern California, I assume you get wasp. Then most of your figs can be pollinated by wasps. You may not even know. Color and taste will all be different from the figs without wasps.
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Yes. I do not know how the plant âsportâ works and is defined. But the saw-tooth like leaves distinct and the berry color inside is unique too.
There is also a Boston 12 that is from another forum member here. Iâm still not sure if that is close to LdA or to Dalmatie. LdA has leaf shape more like an open palm tree leave. Dalmatie leaf shape is more closed finger shape, more like Brunswick.
My neighbor has a large productive fig that appears to be some kind of red Sicilian. Heâs gone for a few days and asked me to pick and enjoy any ripe ones. Because of the size of the tree, he harvests close to 50 lbs of figs off this tree even with the squirrels and birds taking a lot as well.
He received the tree as a gift many years ago and all he knows is that it came from a small nursery in Rochester, NY run by âan old guy from Sicily.â For years he assumed it was a brown turkey and we just called it Steveâs brown turkey. I still call it that even though we know it isnât a brown turkey. It is very similar in flavor, color and shape to a Salâs Corleone (Aka Aldos, etc.) that I had, but is a bit bigger and the tree is more vigorous. Just another great âunknownâ. I have one in a 15 gallon pot that does very well, but seeing his giant fig making machine in the ground, I definitely need to make some decisions and put a couple figs in the ground to get the big crops.
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Thanks for posting that. I was afraid it was gone for ever. It is tough to tell since the video quality is pretty low, but it does look like the leaves look different. I wonder if that is just a result of the Belleclare tree being mature, since I get a lot of variation in leaves on some trees, or somewhere along the line there was a mixup. My leaves look just like the leaves in this Figaholics video and he says his was from the original, so who knows.
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