I’m exited about the FDM cultivars from Thierry in France. His fig orchard is almost as famous as the Pons’ orchard. I have five of them with a sixth coming. Which is pretty much all I’m interested in. Beautiful figs. The best fig I ever grew here is Col de Dame Gris. Wow!! If I could get ten of these a year only I would be in heaven. Different strains exist and I have them all. All the CdD figs are very late ripening and extremely tasty better than Black Madeira if you ask me.
Some FDM images
Labritja
Ouriola
Pichoto interests me because it is fairly early and can dry right on the tree. It looks dried out turning a dead looking brown. I added all of these FDM figs last year. Also it is a small fig. Many don’t like them, but small figs always taste intense to me. Taste for this one is rated outstanding. The original mother tree is in the Bandol region (France). It was almost lost. Now growing all over!
Risoulet - Another fig from the Bandol region which is known for it’s dried figs but mostly for wine.
This too can dry on the tree.
The most sought after FDM fig is Cessac. It is very late ripening.Not a good fit for me, but I want to try it anyway and set up a trade.
This is an interesting website and is good to tell you where wild figs and the wasp may be found. When hunting for individual trees, check the find date, particularly if it is located in a wilderness preserve or state park. California actively removes wild figs on public lands. For this reason I’d never report the location of a fig on the website. Yes they are invasive and can displace natives, but…
Some figs don’t need much summer heat.
Desert King is good up here
but it’s a soft sticky fig- often attacked by the hornets.
Id like to try one of those California wild figs if you think you have one that ripens early.
Drew, I haven’t done the perfect experiment, which you propose, bagged and uncaprified vs. unbagged and caprified, but I have grown the same variety in my yard over the course of several years and tasted it uncaprified in years I did not bring the wasp in, and in the one year I did. Plus, some fruit don’t get caprified even when the wasps are around and they ripen during the peak of the season, when caprified ones of the same variety are ripening.
Trust me, caprification can make a huge improvement to some varieties. And virtually none to others. But for most fig varieties I have tried, provided the wasps didn’t bring in nasties with them that cause rot, a caprified fig is superior to an uncaprified one. Particularly if you enjoy fruits with some acidity to complement the sweetness. For me, ensuring the wasp visits my figs is a pain in the butt and will some fruit to rot and others to split. Yet I will still work to get them to my yard, because they take some figs to completely different levels of excellence.
Really good info thanks! If I ever obtain a caprifig I may try to pollenate for flavor! I need to read up on possible ways to do it. Any suggestions welcome.
I have never hand pollinated them myself. I have read about it and know there are people out there who do it. I think the old tried and true method is a sewing needle stuck in a cork, some fluff put through the eye of the needle, stick that in the eye of a caprifig with mature pollen (has to be a persistent one to have mature pollen if it is grown without wasps), then stick it in the eye of a receptive stage common or smyrna fig.
I’ve grown quite a few figs from seed of some wild Turkish fruits. I wonder if any of the seedlings will be worth planting in my region.
Pacific Northwest, Puget Sound lowlands?
Lots of variables there. Seedlings are always a crapshoot. The source genetics are unlikely adapted to your environment. Also, sex determination in figs is governed by more than one gene and there are caprifigs which are homozygous dominant for male genes. What this means is some males donate pollen which can genetically only produce males. As far as I know, these homozygous dominant caprifigs are not well described in the environment so one never knows.
For CA wild figs this means, if you are in an environment where you only find seedlings which are caprifigs, there are likely homozygous dominant males present. If you’re in an environment where you find females, you are in an environment with caprifigs which are more friendly to our project of generating new and tasty female figs.
Common vs. Smyrna is controlled by different genes.
I’m not sure I understand what you mean Ruben.
It sounds like you’re wondering what the seedlings of homozygous dominant male caprifigs crossed with females would be. If that’s right, then the first generation would be all caprifigs. You’d have to bring in more females for the next generation, then you’d get mixed results depending on the genes of all the females that were introduced.
If I wasn’t clear, what I meant was that we don’t have good records of what caprifigs were imported into which parts of CA. And we didn’t have the genetic understanding then that we do now. So the only way to know these homozygous dominant males in the environment is to recognize that you are in an environment where the wild seedling finds are heavily skewed toward males. You don’t find many or any females. From what I’ve heard, I think the Fresno area is like that. But, from what I’ve heard, it sounds like the Santa Barbara area has tons of wild seedling females. So if you want a caprifig, get cuttings from Santa Barbara, not from Fresno. I say cuttings due to the recent presence of the Black Fig Fly in Santa Barbara. You don’t want that!
I agree is hard to get common wild figs. Having said that the first seed I grew was common. And in my collection are numerous wild common figs that were found.
The wild seedlings I have are
Boysenberry Blush
Cherry Bourbon
Exquisito
Holy Smokes
Honey Plum
La Joya
Rodgrod
Thermalito
Valley Black
Surge Unk. (most likely wild)
Santa Claus Lane
Los Santos 2
Lagrimas
Common vs Smyrna genes are separate from male vs female genes.
Have you tried any on that list yet @Drew51? I’m also growing a handful of those and a few others. Ones I’m growing on your list that I’m excited to try are Boysenberry Blush, Thermalito and Santa Claus Lane. I’m also really excited for Feather River, Cherry Cordial, Raspberry Cream and Raspberry Tart.
I had a few “Caprifig “ that I got about three years ago from Phiggy from Ourfigs and last year I got figs from couple of them and they ware really good, now whether those are truly Caprifigs! I don’t know? But below are the names of what I got from her.
Interesting. I’m not familiar with those. I think I’ve only tasted an edible summer crop off of one caprifig and it had that cucumber/figgy flavor. Nothing special. Interesting you have some tasty ones!
I would report back on those if they develop any figs this year and if so post some pics.
Couple years ago went to California to visit and while I was there I had the opportunity to visit few places where there was plenty wild ones and come across a few caprifig Males that they ware over 40 feet tall and some female caprifigs.
@AaronN I just re-read Storey 1975, which describes amongst other things, the genetics of “maleness” in figs. A key point that I think you missed is that homozygous male caprifigs can only be produced from caprifig x caprifig crosses. These are thought to be exceedingly rare in nature, with viable seeds typically only coming from caprifig x female fig (common or smyrna) crosses, which result in 50% male and 50% female progeny on average. Caprifig x caprifig crosses were achieved by human intervention: hand pollinating caprifig flowers in the lab, while keep the wasp away and doing what it normally would, depositing an egg each female flower, destroying any chance of a viable seed developing. If what Storey wrote is correct, you wouldn’t find large populations of homozygous male caprifigs in nature. Virtually all caprifigs would be heterozygous for the male and female genes, resulting in progeny from crosses with female figs that are 50:50 male:female. At least that’s what the paper says.
hornets.