Great thread. It's amazing how adaptive figs are (and perhaps are not) to their climate. One variety can taste wonderful under certain climate and conditions, and another bland or even poor, etc. ). I am staring at these cuttings I have now wondering which will survive my particular habitat, which will thrive, and which will not make the cut. Going back to the beginning, it's too bad about HF. I have found their customer service to be very good, products from horrid to great, with most in the middle/average. Of course, I haven't had any items drop shipped that were damaged, so they haven't had the opportunity to disappoint. 

JC Figs, I have an idea. Send me $100, and I will send you back $100 and every single free cutting I have. I promise. 

Yes and year to year the same variety can even taste different, which makes it difficult to cull one thaf may not produce.

jc let me be clear...

I do not appreciate the nasty uncalled for PM you sent me and you can forget about my offer for cuttings and I would recommend everyone else avoid dealing with you as well.

i read it wrong my bad when you said what state was i in thought you meant like mental state but the begging part was wrong

This can not be for real members, be careful.

what are u takin about i just registered for this forum why would i send people nasty emails .

Extremely cold tonight and the heater in the greenhouse cant keep up, down to 41 in there.

I did grab two figs tonight, a green and black ischia.











The green ischia was spectacular for this time of year. Very jammy with a strong hint of berry, that is unusual for figs ripening in the cold. The black ischia was decent, somewhat sweet with just a bit of flavor.

I also started my first cuttings of the year that came from a trade with Dan. I am going to try Rich's perlite method to see how it works out.

The figs in the greenhouse continue to ripen, although the plants are now showing signs of being affected by the cold... No new growth, yellowing leaves, etc.

Tonights menus was a Sodus Sicilian and an JH Adriatic. I also had another green ischia.





First up was the JH Adriatic. It was a beautiful fig with a bright green skin and dark red interior. It didnt get very jammy and wasnt very sweet. Maybe a 5/10.



Next up was the Sodus Sicilian. It continued to impress. Its texture reminds me of those fruit candy slices you get at a candy store. While not incredibly sweet, it had a very tasty flavor.



Then came the Green Ischia... I will let the pics speak for themselves...





Yeah, it was spectacular! Sweet jammy berry flavor.

I have a bunch of new varieties of cuttings rooting, some in perlite pots, the others in sphagnum moss. I will let folks know which does best. My search for a true martinenca rimada continues as the ebay auctions have gone well out of my price range!

Our Battagglia figs from Bill M looks a lot like your GI. It's a great fig and is much different than our Viollette de Bordeaux and the Red Greek we have.
A plate of these 3 really seems to span the fig spectrum... Berry, sweet and strawberry.

I agree Rich. People tend to get stuck on rare varieties, while common green ischia and vdb are two of the best figs out there. I do wish that my green ischia grew faster though. It is almost as slow as my black ischia.

Looks good, Nick. You gained about a month, right?

Speaking of warming up, Nick you can really add a great deal of heat to the main house with an attached green house or sun room. That is if the structure is on the south side and gets unobstructed sun all to most of the day. As long as the sun is out, our sun room heats the entire house. I just thought maybe you could use that for a little more ammunition.

Great thread, Nick.  Lots of good varietal info here, can see what a difference that greenhouse has made for season extension!   My own long-term fig plans call for an attached greenhouse/conservatory.

cis I tried that and she countered with the fact that we would have to cool more in the summer haha.

Yes, it is very important to have a door to close in the summer. I open the doors from the house to the sun room early in the morning to get some fresh cool air, but by 9AM I usually have to close them. Mid day in the heat of summer, phew...I don't even want to walk through the sun room, it's like Arizona in there!

Thanks for all the good pictures, and good job on the Sodus, it looks like a fig that should get around.

What a difference a day makes...

I picked three figs for Thanksgiving for our guests to try... From left to right, Black Ischia, Sodus Sicilian, Figo Preto.



The preto was amazing as usual, a deep strawberry flavor that makes me want to burn all my other trees and grow nothing but pretos and black madeiras!



My Father actually preferred the Sodus Sicilianas the preto was too sweet for him and didnt remind him of the figs his grandfather used to grow.

The black ischia was good, but really misses the heat.

Then today, after two days of cloudy cold weather, I picked a black ischia and a barnisotte...





They were semi sweet and lacking flavor. More and more of the trees in the greenhouse have started to go dormant... It wont be too long now.

A few more figs tonight including my first Col de Dame Blanco!





















The cuttings are continuing to root in both perlite pots and sphagnum moss. A few of the cuttings in perlite pots are showing some green, but one has shriveled and none are showing roots at the sides of the pots yet. I did have some mold start to form, so I shot it with some water with a drop of dawn and propped one corner of the bin open with a pen and it seems to have corrected the problem.









I also have a few rooted plants going, a Black Madeira, a Vasilika Sika, and a Lake Spur.

I miss eating figs, a greenhouse would be so nice to step into out of the cold. You are still picking some very rich looking figs. What did you think of your first CdDB? I had my first this year, it was good, but i don't think it reached its potential. Wasn't at the top for taste as I hear it should be. The two Preto I picked were my best flavored this year. The peaches and cream description of the Sodus Sicilian is delicious sounding. It wil be nice to hear more about this fig, and more reviews as others try it.

Mike in Hanover, VA

The CdDB was very good. My Green Ischia still beat it though and I had another GI tonight which was just as delicious. The cold weather really doesnt bother it much.

The new power bank I put in the greenhouse keeps tripping letting the temp drop into the thirties and making the trees drop their leaves. Even the Sodus Sicilian has started to drop leaves, although the ends of the branches have fresh leaves and new figs. It's a powerhouse for sure, although I think I am going to try to get it to go dormant now, so I can spread a couple of cuttings around.

I checked the cuttings in the sphagnum moss tonight and a few are sending out roots already. I'm beginning to think trying Rich's perlite pot method may have been a mistake over my old ways, but still too early to tell.

Another plate full of figs!

The Green Ischia was still delicious. The JH Adriatic was smooth and fruity. The Figo Preto was AMAZING! Even with the cold weather it was jammy with a berry punch on my tongue. I can't wait to have pretos and madeiras ripen together next year :drool: