Had a productive and enjoyable time.

They have had a light crop this year, and a very early season, all weather related.

Most interesting thing was some of the figs that were standouts 2 years ago were nearly inedibly bad this season.

They are scheduled to plant the new fig orchard block this fall, with all new trees. Preparations are well under way.

Harvey,
You managed to make a nice photo with your sticky fingers :D

People get disappointed when they order Ischia Black from the USDA and don't receive it.  Don't bother ordering it anytime soon.  They have one tree in the ground left and it has one shoot about 12" tall with several about half of that.  The rest of the tree is dead.  The duplicate is gone.  There is one more tree in a pot for the new block.  Here is a pretty lousy photo I took of it.

 

Why did it die?

FMV, I assume.  I believe they had been in decline for many years.  If my trees were large enough for cuttings I would be sharing.  Would be great to get this accession cleaned up and FMV removed.

Many on the trees were severely damaged or affected by a very cold winter approx 1990, which caused sever dieback on many trees, and also damaged bark on the trunks of several trees.

If it can happen at a place known to be the "Fig Paradise" then there is no safe haven from Mother Nature.

Well just saying, but 20 years to recover ... that is more than enough time. Mine recovered in 3 years .
So, probably problems are more to be linked to lack of cares or pest damages .

I was supposed to to Davis with my mom this weekend to visit relatives. This stupid thing called "life" got in the way of those plans. Her cousin did grape research at UCD before he retired.

Jon, is that how you guys camp out there?

jdsfrance:

 

james, Yes.  Just us, the trees and the figs. You have to go into town for other food, bathroom, etc.

Yes, they have 4-5000 grape accessions.

We also had a few "fresh from the tree" pistachios. Not my favorite, but interesting to see the many variations in the many different accessions, and see how they grow.