I found these in the fig forum. Is there a distinctive taste between them? What make them the top varieties? Sweetness? production? hardiness? early ripening? I only got 5 of these varieties from the list below.
Tony
Vista
Strawberry Verte
Negronne
Black Nission NL
LSU Gold
LSU Purple
Adriatic
Black Madeira
Panache/Reverse
Celeste
Jurupa
Galbun
White Texas Everbearing
Marseilles VS
Yellow Neches
White Greek
Stella
Sal’s
Igo
Falls Gold
Trojano
Black Tuscan
Blue Celeste
Barnisotte Black
Black Ischia
Black Sicilian
Tony’s Greek
Vicenzo
Longue D’aout
Panevino Dark 6
Many I have no idea? Yes figs can taste a lot different. Also for me, where I live top varieties have to be cold hardy, and have an early ripening season. For Example a much sort after cultivar is Black Madeira. It has a long ripening season and if cool in the fall taste is known to be washed out. So here even if I got some figs they would be far from good. Flavor would be lacking, So it’s a dog for me! I need figs that can survive at 35F or a little lower. When i mean survive, I mean do not die to the roots. Many will die to the roots at 35F or could. Or have some damage. I don’t have that much experience so many that are said to be cold hardy may not work well, or have a long growing season and not ripen. So I need to experiment to some degree. I developed a list, and it is extensive. Plenty of good cold hardy types.
Figs like most fruits vary a lot depending on growing conditions. I’ve seen that in spades at my location. Conditions and culture vary hugely across locations. And many lists are tilted towards less than ideal conditions, ie short seasons, cold winters, humidity, and excessive rain.
Here Strawberry Verte belongs on the top fig list. I was not impressed at all with Celeste or Blue Celeste. Vista is OK. I’ve got several others on that list but don’t have an opinion yet.
Yeah i think some of the cold hardy ones like Celeste behaves like Black Madeira does here! They need the cold. For example in the fall Hardy Chicago once it senses cold, all the figs ripen that are left rather quickly too! The long season types actually slow down in the cold. At least that is what i saw reported. So the mountain figs like Celeste are going to be better here. I’m sure some exceptions too.
I’m going to keep mine in pots, and take cuttings for experimental in ground plantings. it seems a huge number of figs will produce even if frozen to the ground. I know Scott said many didn’t do this, that were supposed to, so who knows? I also hear they should be three years old before putting in the ground. I don’t know if Scott did that or not?
Also if you take the time to bury the whole tree it should survive. i saw photos of a 20 foot tree the guy buries every year! It must have good figs to go to the trouble of burying a 20 foot tree yikes!
Any common fig should be able to produce figs after being frozen to the ground. San Pedro type figs, such as Desert King, only produce a common breba crop on 2nd year wood.
Most varieties are not able to ripen fruit after freezing to the ground here. Some will not have time to ripen more than a handful of figs before frost and the vigorous growth makes the figs lower quality. Some varieties tend towards weedy growth and do not set figs reliably after freezing.
I found the source for the list, it is almost 8 years old. I know Herman2 has selected more favorites since then.
Yeah a good point. Why I need hardier types that will resist freezing to the ground, especially not in my garage in pots!
I would think too, winter damage in zone 9 is not going to be like winter damage in zone 6. Even peach trees struggle here. Scott which is in zone 7 I think is ready to give up on in ground figs. He mentioned trying Wilt Stop this year, not sure if he did? I sprayed my figs in the garage with it!
You’d be surprised. There are people in the deep south who have trouble with their trees dying to the ground each year because they are actively growing with soft growths when a freeze hits. Trees can get into a vicious cycle of rapid growth followed by freezing each year that needs to be broken before they can adopt a mature growth habit and go dormant soon enough to survive the first freezes. Soft growth means the larger trunks and branches that would normally be lignified enough to survive winter are filled with runny sap and are therefore vulnerable to freeze damage.
In containers they usually go dormant sooner than inground trees cause their roots cool off sooner, if they have soft growth though the rules still apply though and variety does not matter one bit.
It not only varies from variety to variety, but from trees of the same
variety and even the same mother plant. I have 2 Dwarf Brown Turkey’s
that are planted next to each other and come from the same mother plant.
Each year, one dies back to the ground, while the other doesn’t. But they
both produce great fruit. Go Figure!!