Oh wow...GREAT pictures of this!! I always wondered what it looked it. Silly question, but is there a cure for it?

~ Erin

You will see it more clearly when you succesfully root
any of the UCD cuttings...

Besides the infamous yellowish mosaic color, you will
also see some very deform shaped leaves (mostly longish).

To expand on what George was saying... One of the things I've noticed on the cuttings from UCD which were most affected (leaf deformity wise) by FMV is that they also grow less vigorously than other cuttings. Many of the cuttings have a marked deliniation between old growth (before the cutting was removed from the parent tree) and new growth (since being rooted). If I remember correctly, the Castle Kennedy's new growth is almost half the calliper of the old growth. The Rattlesnake Islands had minimal growth and were much more suceptible to damage from neglect than other varieties. I'm not sure any of the RI will survive this growing season. Both of these varieties showed significant deformation in the leaves from FMV.

However, FMV is not necessarily a death sentence on your cuttings. Tena had spotted and deformed leaves as well, but it had good growth, including two figs (from three plants) which came to fruition.

Erin, the only way to prevent FMV is to not bring home an FMV infected tree.

~james

If you want FVM free figs, stay away from UCD's!
Though I did smu**gle some fig cuttings from EU
that also have it...

Thanks for the pictures!! Yes, you have confirmed that one of my trees is infected. How do I keep this from spreading to my other plants? If I keep the trees separated (x distance) will this keep them safe?

-Steve

My pictures were taken mid summer. All the trees are healthy, with the exception of the funny colored leaves. Three quarters of my 200 trees show signs of the virus in their leaves. Some do have a few deformed leaves, which seems to happen during certain parts of the year, or during certain types of weather. Leaf deformity is seen most often here, in the early Spring, followed by normal leaves, and then a few more deformed leave in late, late summer. One or two varieties seem to have severe symptoms, and sometimes deformed fruit (Black Ischia being one of them). Otherwise, I have seen no less vigor or other issues in any of my trees. Other climates may have greater expression of the symptoms.

Rattlesnake Island has been a slow grower, but has no signs of FMV other than the leaf discoloration.

If one tree has it, everything you have will have it sooner or later, whether they show it or not. I know one nursery that destroyed $10,000 worth of fig trees this year, because their new plants were infected. None of the parent trees had any signs or evidence of the infection. Probably some trees are carriers, just like people can carry diseases and have no symptoms. You cannot prevent it, and if you are going to collect more than a few fig trees, you will get it sooner ar later.

I have friends with eczema, and trust me when I say they have far worse symptoms from that disease than any of my fig trees has from FMV. It won't keep me from being their friend, and I certainly wouldn't want to eliminate them from my collection of friends. Yes, sometimes their skin is pretty ugly, but often that makes them so much the sweeter.

I agree with you, to fight against FMV is a lost war.
Some nursery men support that all the figs are carriers of FMV (except young trees born from seed), but some varieties never show the symptoms. In any case, except for very few varieties, the vigor and yield is not affected. In that case it is only an aesthetic problem.

One example to corroborate this, Mundani, an experienced spanish orchardist and grafter, has one fig tree with 8 different varieties grafted on it and, curiously, only the Panachee variety shows symptoms sometimes, the others not. Obviously, all the tree is infected.

I will can prove this the following spring because I have successfully grafted this season one adult fig tree with 9 different varieties and I know that some of them have FMV.

See more comments about this here:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fig/msg0603493424910.html

Here is a link that might be useful: is mosaic virus carried in all fig trees?

Here's a leaf that just dropped from my 9 inch tall rooted cuttings. I think it's got the FMV. Can anyone confirm?

It was growing fine while in semi-shade, although there was slight lighter colour discolouration. But since I moved it to full blazing sun for about a week, the leaf seems to have deteriorated and eventually dropped off. Was it the heat stress that exacerbated the problem?

Probably just shock from the move, or the end of the season (it is Fall, afterall), or a combination.

Hello,
I just purchased a Black Mission from a nursery it's from Monrovia it has whits spots on the leaves and some look like crispy burnt edges does that mean my figs infected with this virus should I try to return it?Thank you

FMV is a subject deeply debated in this forum. Please, do a search with the key words "FMV", "Mosaic" or similar.

Don't try to return your fig on account of FMV. As far as I know, none of nurseries guarantee figs free of FMV, if so they are dishonest. They couldn't guarantee it.

In any event, FMV is considered a minor disease.