My one year old Latarolla have a few breba . Are they a good breba or should I pull them off to save energy for the main crop ?
Thanks,
Kerry

I am in a warmer zone than you and almost all of mine fall off.  I do nothing and they "self prune". 

ed

My Lattarula (aka Italian Honey) is four yrs old and kept in a large pot. From my experience its breba is not worth keeping. I took them off my tree cople of weeks ago, it had over 200 brebas. Since your tree is young you need to take them off so it can conserve energy in growing. 

Thanks Ed for the info on your latarolla. I will follow your plan.

nkesh, that is good to know about Latarulla(Italian Honey) as my tree of that also has some breba.

I am also wondering about the 1 year old Atreano (RR) that has breba.
I remember somewhere Herman said that they were ok , but I think he knocks them off. Can't seem to find that old post.

At least my 1 year old Desert King RT has a dozen breba that look good.

Just saw Tim's post on his Areano RR.
I'll look forward to seeing what he thinks of the breba.

Hello!

Today I came across a local nursery with what appears to be a Lattarolla/Italian Honey tree. Much to my surprize, it had ripe fruit falling to the ground. The tree is about 15' tall with twin 10" diameter trunks. The fruits were delicious! I offered the owner $5 for an almost 3' cutting from which I started 8 cuttings. I was even able to introduce a little girl and her dad to fresh figs (he was about to give her an unripe one!). Looks like it has had ripe figs at least 2 weeks judging from the amount of shriveling on the hanging and fallen fruit. How cool is that?! Fresh figs by start of May!

more pics...

go4broek,

I like the nice tight (closed) eye of your fig......bugs can't get into that one!

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

Dan,

It was sooooo good! Been a long winter. May have to go back and buy some fresh figs from them. The owner was under the impression it was an Alma. She did not even sell potted plants from it and it is growing right in her nursery. She did have one fig type. An improved Brown Turkey that had leaves unlike I have seen on any fig. Basically shapeless and small. Tag said the fruit are colored like  BT only the size is very large and they are flavorful and the tree is bifara. Think I will go back for one.

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/file?id=1130121

Pami,

It's actually the bag in which bed sheet sets are frequently sold. Makes an excellent mini greenhouse for about 8-10 cuttings in the 3" baggies.

Thank you Ruben!!

Awesome pics Ruben!  Awesome pics!  Are you sure those figs are Italian Honey?  I thought Italian Honey figs turned yellow and were medium size.  Those figs are large!  I could be wrong though.  Those figs look really good and are really green. My IH is around 4 years old now.  Mine was in a container but this year I planted it in the ground right next to my Peter's Honey.  Here is a pic of the figs that came off my tree last year.  I want to see if these 2 figs are the same!  Cheers!

Dennis, ripe the figs range from greenish-yellow to yellowish-green. I picked some more today. will post pics once I get home. The size could be because they are breba. As for comparing the two figs, they should be different since Peter's has an open eye.

EDIT: added another pic/detail. The average weight of the 3 figs was 46.1g.

This morning I went to visit two large (15-18 ft. tall)  Italian Honey trees that are growing in my area. They have lots of brebas figs but none were close to ripening. Will be going back in a couple of weeks to check the taste of those brebas. I seem to recall that the breba figs from these two trees are good tasting and worth keeping. The owner could care less what they taste like.......as he does not like figs.
--------------------
Also went to visit an unknown dark purple fig that originated from France. The owner's late husband had brought this particular fig for her when he was on business in France many years ago.  She loves the figs from this tree and it has lots of sentimental value to her. Last fall I tentatively ID'ed  her tree as Violette Dauphine. She fertilized the tree as I suggested to her and this year she has a very nice crops of figs. However, I did not see any breba figs on her tree.  She even has a ground layer going on one of the branches.  Layering is something new to her too. I will be going back often to visit this tree to try to make a positive ID and get more data about this particular unknown.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

Wow Ruben, those look great. Great find! I'd be interested what the main crop looks like too!

Those figs are larger than the IH figs that I am familiar with.,,,but they are brebas.  Also, IH usually has "serrated edges" on all of its leaves. Looking at this fig a second time, I thought it might be a Conadria or EJP's Latturulla (sp?). Just went outside to check my Latturulla and it has leaves with 5 lobes. So we can rule Latturulla out.

I still like that tight closed eye!!!  Will be interesting to see pictures of the main crop figs.....

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

Dan,

The parent tree did have some leaves with 5 lobes but the vast majority were 3. If you look beside my thumb in the picture with the trunk you will see one. Or the leaf at the 2 o'clock position near the pic of the leaf. Also, if you zoom in on the margins of the leaf pic you will see that it is edged with pointed teeth angled outward which is the definition of dentate. Some of the leaves have more crenate (rounded) margins. As for the color, Condit describes Italian Honey (a.k.a Florentine) as having pale green skin with amber flesh. Lastly, we must bear in mind that this tree is probably older than any of the ones our members own and the leaves are subect to change with time and even early season vs. mid-summer. btw, I did go after that unusual improved BT but the darn nursery was closed today! An hour off my life I won't get back!! LOL will get it tomorrow.

go4broek,

I see what you mean.  The main crop will tell us more.

FYI......If you read Condit's description of the Florentine fig you will see that it first arrived in the US in the Alexandria, La. area.  I got cuttings that originated from that area and one day I will be able to see if it is the same cultivar as the two large IH fig trees in my area.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus 

Dan,

True. Unfortunately, Condit did a poor job of documenting the characteristics of the Florentine/IH/Latarulla in his Monograph. It would be cool if we could see pics of yours tho. Thanks!

Hello again!

I am still trying to identify the fig I found on post #6. The list below are possible candidates I have found (and ruled some out). Anyone have any suggestions for possible matches? The second list is for viarieties that may match but I have not yet found documentation to rule them in or out.

RULED OUT:

LATTAROLA/ITALIAN HONEY? NO
HDARI/HDADI? NO
PINGO DE MEL? NO
WHITE OC? NO
BLANCHE D'ARGENTEUIL? NO
WHITE RUSSIAN? NO
GENOA? NO
324-2? NO
333-1? NO
341-1? NO
GREEN ITALIAN? NO
ATREANO? NO

POSSIBLES:

LSU GOLD?
OREGON PROLIFIC?
SAN PEDRO?
EARLY WHITE?
FICO ZANA?
FLORENTINE?
GARNSEY WHITE SEEDLESS?

Thanks for your help!

Ruben:Your fig is not Latarulla nor is it Italian Honey.
The leaves are different from Italian Honey.
you should not keep searching what it is,and ID ,it because most likely it is a hybrid of Celeste!.
Both Texas U,and LSU U,were working to hybridize Celeste so there are a lot of seedling selections to be found.
Just Be happy the selection is early good tasting and,with a close eye.
This is what Matter and not the name.
Happy Gardening

I agree with Herman2.......

When you have one that ripens early, tastes good, and with a CLOSED EYE to boot. You have a winnner no matter what the name. Like I've stated, the two large Italian Honey trees that are in my immediate zone 9 area have brebas that are not close to being ripe. When they do ripen, I will post pictures.....unless somebody beats me to those trees. The owner could care less.......


Dan
Semper Fi-cus.

Herman and Dan,

I know what you mean and appreciate the help, but I enjoy the detective work and feel there are already too many "unknown" figs out there that are only contributing to the excessive confusion and renaming/synonymy of already- identified varieties. I don't want to add to that confusion. I actually have several other figs that do not match any of the hundreds and hundreds of known varieties I have researched. I realize that it is possible that they will remain unidentified when all is said and done, but I want to make every effort to not "re-invent the wheel". Thanks again!

go4broek
Then you will be a very busy person doing that.