Another fig nut is born. I don't know what its like in WI. Here in the desert once they start fruiting production usually more than doubles each year. Even more when when they mature and go from one crop to two crops or more. Violetta de Bordeaux is one of my best producers and very tasty. Looks like you picked three of the better figs for your climate. I don't know if they will ripen both breba and main crops where you live though. Hopefully someone more local will read this and answer that for us.

You're right Thisisme, I have just become a bona fide fig nut. How many fig trees do you have?

You must have a long fruiting season. Our season is short and is already over. My Atreano gave me about 10 large juicy figs with more small ones on the tree that won't ripen. My VdeB gave me 9 with 1 or 2 that won't ripen, and Italian Honey gave me 3 with a few immature fruits.

Looking forward to more figs next year. They were sooooo good.

You're so right about the VdeB. It is very young and very productive and I am very happy with it.

So far only the Atreano has produced brebas and then dropped them, but it, too, is a young tree, only 3 years old.

Nut, did you try oiling the fruits that wont ripen?

ejp3, no I haven't tried oiling the fruits. I kinda forgot about that method. Thanks for reminding me of it. Will try it on the VdeB. The other figs are probably too small for it to make a difference.

Do I need to oil the entire fig or just the end?

citrusnut I started the year with about 80 fruit trees. More than half are fig trees. We have a looong fruiting season for figs. I have two little Atreano trees I rooted in the spring. Still to young to fruit. I hope they are as good as I have heard.

When most people think of figs they thing of Fig Newtons. They have no clue what a fresh fig tastes like or what one taste like when cooked in a desert.

WOW, Thisisme, that's alot of fruit trees and alot of work. Are most of them immature and just starting out or mature and fruit bearing?

I don't think you will be disappointed in the Atreano. It was large, juicy and sweet, but not overly sweet. Just right.

Until this summer, Fig Newtons were my only experience with figs. So far no experience with cooked fig deserts. Maybe next year.

Thank you all for broadening my horizons. I've learned so much.

Hi citrusnut, about half are mature trees. It is a lot of work. Definitely more than I can handle with my health issues. Thankfully my adult son is becoming more and more willing to spend time helping me.

Citrusnut:

Now you are going to have to change your screen name to "FIGTRUSNUT"....lol..

I am afraid I am going to be next fig nut if I can grow just one fruit on mine by next summer..I keep hearing of how good they taste, but never had one...

Where do you get a good size Altrano?

Hi Thisisme..:-)

How in the world do you grow figs where you live in such a warmer climate? Do you have to give them temporary artificial chilling periods? Would an Altrano be a good choice for me up here in Massachusetts?

Thank you so much guys..I love this site

Mike:-)

Hi Mike, Figs have an estimated chilling requirement of 100 hours and they love hot weather. Like citrus, in a northern climate they need to be protected during the winter months. Varieties that produce good fruit in the south may not have time to ripen fruit in a northern climate. All of the varieties Citrusnut planted are considered to be good in short season climates and would be suitable for you.

In the last 3-5 years figs have been featured many times on quite a few cooking shows. Its created a lot of demand. Those of us who have been growing them often choose to grow our own from cuttings from reputable sources. Those sources include forum members and Encanto Farms February cutting sale and The UC Davis National Clonal Germplasm Repository. Figs tend to be fast growers. Because of this many of us are content to grow out cuttings from a reliable source rather than paying for a tree that we will not find out is mislabeled for 2-3 years.

A lot of trees sold retail are miss labeled. The reasons for this are varied. Most fig trees have the same leaf pattern until they reach a certain level of maturity. Figs can taste different and even look different depending on climate. Given these factors its easy to mislabel a fig. Even worse some greedy wholesalers and even retailers put whatever label on a tree a person wants to pay for which really screws everything up. After getting burned many times a lot of forum members have chosen to buy or trade trees and cuttings from other collectors/forum members.

I looked at a couple of the places believed to be reputable and they did not have an Atreano for sale. Violetta de Bordeaux and Hardy Chicago are not hard to find. There are several reputable nurseries that sell them. I could recommend Edible Landscaping and Peaceful Valley among others. I have three mature Violetta de Bordeaux trees in 7.5 gallon, 15 gallon and 25 gallon pots. I plan on taking cuttings from them and selling them on eBay where I have over 1,000 positive feedbacks and no negative feedback. I plan on listing them in the spring. Many forum members have these varieties though. If you started a thread and asked where you could find trees or cuttings I'm sure you would get a good response. There are lots of good people here.

I'm sure one or two forum members would have an Atreano for sale. In the dormant season you may even find a kind member who can send you cuttings for the price of postage. Even I have a surplus SMALL Atreano rooted cutting I acquired from a reliable source.

Finding good sized fig trees may be hard to do. A forum member listed some large trees not that long ago and some lucky local person snapped them up. It is not uncommon to order at fig tree and get a 1-3' whip. A 4'-5' tree is not unheard of but they are hard to find from a reputable source. Talk about small. There are plenty of places that sell fig trees in pots that are 2 3/4" X 9" and the trees are only 6-9" tall.

Thisisme: I just sent you an e-mail.
Aw, wow..

Thank you so much Thisisme...Thank you for so much information...You are very supportive and I am very happy to have someone like you here and everyone else here!

I look so much to getting an extra tree or two..
One for my very sick Father and myself...

Mike

Thisisme, that was a great synopsis. What do you with all that fruit?

Mike, I bought my Atreano from Jung Seed 3 years ago and just got mature fruit this summer. Jungs describes it as "a natural dwarf, ideal for growing in large contaniners". For me, it likes to grow out and flat from the base and I keep wanting it to grow up. It is a slow grower but good producer. Mine still has fruit on it that is too small to fully ripen this year. Too bad. Anyway, I do recommend this fig from Jungs. It comes well rooted and potted in a 1 gallon pot, just order early in Spring cause they sellout fast. Buying a rooted and established plant can give you a nice head start especially since it is so slow growing.

My other trees I got as rooted cuttings from a nice person on another forum. Violette de Bourdeux is a really great one to get cause it very prolific. Mine gave me 10 edible fruits on a 1 year old plant. That was fast. This would be a really good one to start from cuttings because it is such an eager grower.

How long have you had your Italian Honey? Did you say it was a 5 foot tall tree?

Mike, sorry to hear about your sick father. I pray all will be well soon.

Hopefully, next Spring will bring lots of fig cutting for you. Someday my trees will be big enough to share cuttings, as others have shared with me.

citrusnut I eat them. Not all of them because I share them with my wife and a lot of birds. I go out each morning and pick figs. Some days there arrant any. Most of the time there are more than we can eat in a sitting so we set them on the counter. If they dry out we rehydrate them and eat them another day. As much as harvests have grown from year to year I think next year we are going to have far more figs than we can eat. I'm thinking we are going to have to start making jam and start looking for some fig recipes. In my book having more figs than you can eat is not a bad thing. More like something to strive for.

Just for everybody wanting to find an atreano fig, I believe One Green World is selling them now and again in the spring. I will wait for the spring because I prefer to plant bareroot.

Thisisme, it is very nice of you to share your figs with the birds.

I have read that figs have lots of potassium and calcium and other things that are good for you.