That’s the fig in my neighborhood that gets loaded. They trimmed it last year, ignore the (I think apple or pear behind it that’s leafed out) but I’ve never seen it have dieback. No clue what variety it is.
Please give us another picture in a month, I don’t see any leafing out at all yet. That said they have a lot of blockage from wind as well as warmth coming off the house there, that kind of thing makes a big difference. I don’t think the variety matters much as long as you have known hardy varieties. The best one for me has been Celeste, it gets a little less dieback.
I just buzzed my figs to the ground yesterday, they are 100% dead on the tops and I see green buds near the roots.
1 Like
Exactly same fig situation here: six showing tiny sprouts; two no action yet.
I’m in 7a and I have a similar problem, so I decided to change my strategy. I think people in our areas need figs that are cold hardy AND produce early AND produce well AND produce on time after dieback. There are few figs that have all 4 of these qualities, but I’ve compiled a small list of them that I’m testing on my property:
Col de Dame Gegantina (midseason, but meets the other criteria)
Kellie Unknown
Marseilles Black VS
Takoma Violet
4 Likes
Probably most of the Mt Etna varieties plus Campaniere, Florea, Teramo, Des Tres Esplets, Ronde de Bordeaux, Celeste, Iranian Candy.
4 Likes
NYC is a bit different from most Zone 7 areas, but there are plenty of trees like this one that show no dieback and produce reliably every year. This one has several branches between 3–5 inches in diameter and yields tasty figs.
Thats impressive. The combination of the house on the one side and the fence on the other sides looks like it did it.
One lesson I learned on how much a house can help is when I was growing blackberries by the house. Some of the canes would keep their leaves all winter long, even down to 0F.
2 Likes
I’m completely new to growing figs, I’m planning on possibly getting either a Violette de Bordeaux or a Lola Martin fig, I’m located in southern Ohio right on the line of 6A and 7B and was wondering if anyone in this thread would know which one would be more suitable in terms of cold hardiness/fruiting on new wood after dieback, or if anyone would know of another fig variety that is easily shippable and better suited.
Any feedback/input would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks!
VdB is less hardy than average. I don’t think there is a massive difference though, most years either all my figs die back or none of them. I never grew Lola Martin.
2 Likes
You might also want to look into Celeste. I have mine in a pot though, even tho it stays outside. It died to the ground/pot with our few days of single digits.
I do fairly well with my Celeste in Richmond VA. It’s even in ground. Died to the ground the first or second year, but has handled the last 2 winters without protection like a champ.
1 Like
Ended up going with the jumbo Lola Martin from Gurney’s as I can’t seem to find anything hardier that’s still in stock. Gurneys describes it as a “Hardy Celeste” type so I’m hoping that with a little mulching/burying over the winter it’ll be okay. I’ll update with photos of how it arrived once it does.
(Also meant on the line of 6B/7A in my last reply)
I have 3 figs in the ground between my house and my neighbors. While you would think it would offer some protection, I know from putting temperature sensors there and other places that the cold settles and gets trapped between the houses, so it is frequently a couple degrees lower than other places on my little suburban lot.
This is my JH Adriatic coming back from the roots. I was surprised to see it die back, since it is supposed to be quite hardy. But this winter, with the persistent cold was worse than others in recent years.
My Chicago Hardy was mauled by rabbits when we had the “snowcrete” for a long stretch and they got desperate. They had stripped the bark for about a foot on each of the trunks above the snowline. I cut back below the damage, but maybe it was damaged by cold as well since it is just now coming back from close to the soil line and non of the trunk stubs are showing life.
The third tree in that area is a Briguglio, a local family heirloom type. It is very tasty and also provides a really good breba crop. It is a green fig with red center, but isn’t a regular Adriatic type. I describe it sort of as a cross between an Adriatic and a honey fig. It didn’t show the slightest dieback.
The JH Adriate and Chicago Hardy were just planted last spring, although they were fairly large plants. Maybe they would have been fine if they had been growing in the ground for longer. The Briguglio was planted a year earlier, so was probably more established.
5 Likes
Does it have splitting issues in the rain? If not I’m keen to hear more, seems like a great mid Atlantic fig variety
Is the main crop good too?
It isn’t a big splitter and it is certainly better than many others I grow in containers besides the ones I have in ground. JH Adriatic definitely splits more. I gave cuttings to a few members here years back and I know that Redsun (no longer active here I think) posted a glowing review on one of the fig sites when his fruited. If there is a downside to the variety I would say it is inconsistent productivity. The breba crop is good and it can have a good regular crop as well, but it seems to prefer to be a larger plant before fruiting and I haven’t exactly cracked the code of what it wants to consistently have larger harvests. I’d say I get 50-75% of the production for main crop that I would get on a JH Adriatic, Hardy Chicago, Celeste, etc. On a good sized tree that is plenty really, particularly since it is consistent and doesn’t split much.
In the past I had shared it with an avid fig grower in New Mexico (or maybe Arizona?) who had tracked me down to get it after reading a report of mine on the old garden web. He grew it in a container for several years and I think gave up because he wasn’t getting good production. I don’t really fertilize the in-ground figs, so maybe he was fertilizing more and it stayed more vegetative. It may just be better suited to growing in ground and letting it be a larger plant.
I gave away some cuttings this past winter at a local fig event, so hopefully more people will be have reports soon.
3 Likes
Is the Fig‘s name and Old family surname? Would be fun to DNA and see if it’s unique or similar to something else we know
2 Likes
Yes, it is the family name. It is one of those stories of a family member bringing over a cutting in their luggage a long time ago I believe.
I started growing it at least 10 years ago when I visited someone running a small backyard nursery who said they had tried many varieties and settled on Celeste and Briguglio for our area. They got their first plant from someone in the family and may have either known a family member or just bought one when one of the members was selling them locally. The combination of reliable breba crops, good flavor, cold hardiness and a main crop that ripens early enough here is pretty nice.
I really don’t know if anyone in the family is still growing it at this point, which unfortunately happens.
I just looked and Redsun’s comment is still up, so you can see more there. I have also posted some photos and thoughts here various times, so search should turn those up easily since it is a unique name.
https://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-home/1434525-briguglio-hidden-treasure
6 Likes
Here’s the Lola Martin fig, planted it about a week ago in a well draining spot, its been hot wet and humid every day since then and it has put out new leaves, I’m not exactly sure on its preferred growing conditions but I was under the impression that figs liked it hot and dry so I’m happy it’s growing.
1 Like
You may want to check into LDA. Most of my figs died to the ground this year, which isn’t really surprising due to a low a bet below 0F. In fact, some of my Asian persimmons (especially the younger ones, but even a couple big ones) had significant dieback.
But, I have at least 3 LDA (at 3 different properties in 2 towns) which have only minimal dieback. All 3 of them have other figs of various types nearby which died to the ground. If it was just one, then I would have assumed chance and/or a favorable micro-climate. But all 3 seems like more than coincidence.
Combined with large, tasty figs, I’m surprised I haven’t heard more about it.
This last one looks more bare, but that is just because I don’t have a current pic. The warm weather in the last couple weeks has really gotten things started.
One other thing to add- I’m not sure if this is coincidence or not. But, in all 3 locations, I would actually say the LDA had the less protected location. In the 1st one, it is near the front steps, composed of unheated blocks, unlike the brick of the building which the Verte is in front of. In the 2nd and 3rd pics LDA is by the corner of the building, rather than right next to a wall.
If anyone is curious, the fig in the 1st and 2nd pics are on South facing walls, while the last one is on a West facing wall.
1 Like