Nice looking plant you have there Martin hopefully it produces some very tasty figs for you.

Martin, according to the plant and leaves size, your RdB has been very well nourished, you use high fertilizer dose, right?
Nothing wrong! your plant looks very healthy. That is "the art" of fertilizing, the most without damaging.

Here a picture of an inground RdB, it is 4 years old, 7 ft high, and is loaded with lots of figs. You can note how the leaves are less long lobed and smaller than your plant. Figs change their leave shape ans size depending on growing conditions, don't doubt, it is a RdB for sure! It had the leaves like yours.

RdB is a nice and a must have variety, at least in my cloudy climate. It is very productive, early and good tasting variety.

Hi Axier
nice to see your post.
Yes i understand what you mean about the plants. ; )
Many do not yet. Some may post pictures of there young plants for identity but can be confusing as leaves on many fig plants will change somewhat and in juvenile stage often look different than a mature specimen.
Climate , soil,fertilzer can make a difference also i know you know this but i mention for younger growers that
may not. ; )
Thanks for pointing this out with pictures for them
to help understand what is being said.
Martin

Axier,

Very nice looking fig tree you have.

Martin,

I told you once before if it wasn't because of you I would never have given the RDB a thought.
Glad I have one now. I tasted one at Adrianos today and it was very sweet and juicy. It is a keeper in my book for sure.
Mine is still a ways away from producing a good crop but Martin, Yours looks like will be paying off next year.

Keep us posted.

Rafed

Hi Rafed,
i hope to taste a few next month.
Please tell me though were they just sweet was that the first thing you notice or something else.
There are a few others types also but i need to thin some out i currently have if they do not satisfy my taste or perform.
Thanks
Martin

Martin,

First, The inside was dark reddish color. The sweetness was much different than others. I noticed sweet berry like flavor. Almost like taking a tea spoon of jam.

Different than other figs I've tasted in the past.

Martin, I assure you will not be disappointed. That I am willing to promise you.

I hope I was able to answer your question. But my taste buds could be burned out from years of smoking an avg. two packs a day. Almost seven years without a cigg. LOL

Rafed

Thanks Rafed.
Sounds interesting the taste.
Well next month i report back when i get to try a few.
Martin

Martin, that is a very nice looking fig tree. Thanks for sharing that info.

I have two RDB cultivars in my collection. One has leaves that look identical to yours. I tasted only one fruit from this cultivar last year and it was very good tasting considering that it come from a small tree. Unfortunately mine was winter killed this past winter. Fortunately, I have a replacement tree for it.

The other RDB that I have planted in the ground has leaves that NEVER exhibit those deep lobes. I am sure that it is different strain of RDB. The leaf stems are colored pink and thus far I do not have any fruit on my 5 foot tree. Maybe next year........

Dan

Dan, if your supossed RDB never has exhibited those deep lobes, it is not a RdB. RdB always has some leaves like Martin's tree, specially when young, when most of the leaves (if not all) are like a hand with all the fingers extended.
The word "Bordeaux" is used in several variety synonyms, for example for Pastiliere, Negronne, Aubique... so it is easy to confuse.

Yes, I am 100% sure the one I have with the deep lobes is a RdB. However, the other one came from another reliable fignut who claims his too is a RdB. I obtained it in a trade with him. I have Pastiliere, Negronne, VdB, and Petite Aubique in my collection. So in time I will be able to make some comparisons to those cultivars and see if it is the same or different......

FYI, it is the "growth rate" of the leaves that determines the number of lobes and how deep & defined they become. Of course growth rate is significantly influenced by age of tree, fertilization, and pruning. Heavily fertilized trees or new growth that emerge from pruned branches will "grow rapidly" and thus is likely to produce leaves that have MORE lobes and/or better defined lobes (deeper and/or will include spurs) than those leaves that grow on slower growing branches on a less fertilized tree or on a non-pruned tree.

The "rate of growth" of a fig leaf will determine its shape. The faster it grows the more likely it will be more higly lobed (one, three, five or seven lobes are possible) and the more likely the lobes will be better defined ( deeper lobes and/or with additonal spurs). Growth rate affects leaf shape and anything that affects the growth rate can impact the final shape. After watching the growth characteristics of many fig cultivars, I am 100% certain of this information.

Dan

I am completely agree with you. If you see my RdB tree, it has the leaves less lobed. It has more leaves to nourish and, on account of this, less vigor.
However, all the RdB I have had, always had long and well defined lobes when young, like Martin's tree.
My first RdB, in the above picture, was from Baud nursery. After, I bought two more from different sources in other French nurseries and they were identical to the first.
Whatever it were the growing conditions, when young, they always had the RdB standard leave shape.
I insist, if you second RdB never exhibited lobed leaves it very probably is not a RdB.
RdB is an easy variety to identify.

It has never exhibited a lobed leaf pattern even when heavily fertilized......so it must be some other unknown black fig. Thanks for that information.

Dan

Thanks everyone for compliments for its always appreciated.
Axier i think i mention before my wife is from Spain.
I was out eating some figs of other trees today and looked at Ronde and saw several smaller leaves 3/4 up tree that look different and like yours as well Axier. Yes it only a juvenile like my Grise Olivette the leaves are big and sure to change.
The parent tree of mine is from Baud.
The fertilizer i use is 24.8.16 miracle grow at half strength.
Oh
for Rafed
if you ever see Adriano again politely tell him the Santa Cruz Dark is not a breba only plant per his listing. I have a UcDavis that i propagated myself and matches descriptions on other sites i visited and now in 2nd full season is ripening main crop this year - early this season the few breba on it drop off just like my other plants do here.
On other site im documenting this process and first one is almost ripe and others soon to follow. We dont have that fig wasp here to pollinate but its always welcome. I may post a picture on this site also . ; )
Martin

Hi Dan
i wanted to ask in above post and forget.
I see you mention pastilliere.How old is it and
if yours is holding its main crop and getting ripe.
Mine has dropped all of them but 1 that did get ripe in its 2nd full season.
Martin

Martin,

My pastilliere tree has been in the ground for over two years. It was top killed last winter and again this past winter. However, it has grown vigorously to a 4 foot tree this year. Figlets have formed on each leaf node. However, the first two figs near the ground quickly turned brown/black then fell off. Too early to tell if any of the others will ripen. This variety does appear to be tender in my yard. Vernino is growing next to this one and it has quite a few figs that will ripen for me this year. This will be the first year it produces figs for me. I am anxious to taste both varieties. I will let you know if Pastillier ripens for me.

Dan

Thanks im curious if yours drops them or holds them along with anyone else that can post here about same plant.
In link if you have not seen it is the 1 that ripened for me i posted on this forum.
Martin

Here is a link that might be useful: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fig/msg0808145015973.html?5

I completely missed that posting. It looks like the meat is stained a bit and its pulp appears to be jammy.....nice.

Dan

Yes it was a little stained not lot but there , the taste after i ate first half confused me its like you know when you smell something but cant recall in mind what that smell is but say to yourself i know this but cannot recall, then i ate second half and remembered it was slight mulberry taste . I have not picked a mulberry from a tree since i was a kid and just dont see them anymore at one time they were all over.
Anyways the second half also brought out a very ever so slight melon type taste a honeydew one. Seed crunch was plentiful and very um not like crunchy mouthful but a fine fine crunch i suppose because the seed were very tiny .
But this was just 1 fig on a very young tree.
The trouble is for me if it continues to drop most of its crop i cannot keep it.
So next season i get to see how it performs.
This is why maybe someone with an elder tree has some more information on there trees performance.
Martin

Would you believe that this year was the first time I have eaten a Mulberry. I always heard about them and finally got a chance to taste some. I was surprised to see that they come from a tree and not a bush. The old nursery rhyme song lyrics about going around the mulberry bush not a mulberry tree.

I am having a problem with my two 6-7 foot Hunt trees (from two sources) dropping their figs before ripening. I have yet to taste a fully ripe Hunt fig. Since it is supposedly a very good fig for our area, I will remain patient with them and give them some more time. Thus far I am disappointed in Hunt's performance.

Dan

Dan,

That's troubling to hear about your Hunt trees dropping their figs! Do they think they're Celestes, or something? Maybe they don't do well in this heat either and it just didn't show up before this. Not good news. Are the trees young?

Thanks,

noss

noss,

Actually my Hunt trees have been in the ground for several years. FYI, a fellow fignut has found a fruiting Hunt tree in our area. He indicated to me that the variety is very productive, good tasting, a non splitter, and produces two crops. We were supposed to go visit that tree last week but that didn't pan out.

Dan

Well Dan, I hope you do get to go see that tree and are able to get some cuttings from it to grow. Please let us know how they taste and how the tree looks. Can you take pictures of it?

noss