Good evening everyone.

I went to Pike's today and saw a beautiful Black Italian fig plant that looked very healthy. I tried looking for more information while I was there but I couldn't find much information. I did not pick it up because I wanted to ask everyone here if they have had any experience with this variety from this nursery. The nursery name is GreenLeaf in TX. Any advice on this variety would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I bought an "Italian Black" from Star Nurseries in LA earlier this spring. It is 4ft+ and was in a 3gal pot. I planted it one month ago and it has about 20 small figs on it now. If it takes 70-80 days for them to ripen, then I should be eating them about the end of July here in zone 7b.

I searched online for info, very little on either "Italian Black" or "Black Italian." Considering all the problems with fig names, I would guess its 50/50 if they are the same or different. One guy in LA (who has lots of strong opinions) is adamant that the two are different.

But otherwise it is too early in the game for me to say much about my Italian Black.

Thanks! I think I read your post when I google searched for this variety. Both pots that they had unfortunately didn't have any figs on them and the leaves were really dark green (is that a good thing?). I'm still debating on this one; I'll go back a take another look in a week or so. If it's there I'll pick it up, if not then it was never meant to be I suppose. Thanks again for the information on ripening :)

I ordered a Black Italian from Wellspring recently, and I've also been searching for info about the cultivar as a result. Mine is described as an heirloom, so it could be the same as Italian Black. They project a smaller tree about 10 to 15 feet, but it supposedly likes to grow shrubby. Sounded like it might be good for a container, and I wanted a couple to honor my Italian heritage anyhow. (Got an Italian Honey with it.) Should arrive soon, but I won't really know much about it for a good while, as it's a tissue culture plant. I'm really looking forward to having a fig that is a bit of a mystery actually. Good luck with your fig decision!

I have....they are a great wholesale nursery.  Most of their stuff comes from Brazos Citrus in Texas.  They are legit.

I purchased one from Pike's when they had their recent 20% off customer appreciation sale. Up until that point, all they had carried were Celestes and Brown Turkey, so it really stood out when I walked past! It looks gorgeous, very bushy. No figs on it yet, but it's only had time to put on a handful of leaves since I got it, so I haven't started pinching it yet. The leaves do look very similar to the Black Italian I picked up from Wellspring last year that is still verrrrry tiny.

Thanks, tamarness! My Wellspring order arrived yesterday, and I'll see how much growth I can get on them this summer. Cute little tree. It only has one leaf at the moment, but that leaf seems to match online photos.

Edit: Decided to pot them up since they weren't stressed from their short trip. I always try to gently open up the roots on my TC plants because they notoriously have a rootbound knot at the center that prevents them from establishing a good root system and slows their growth otherwise. My Latarrula is a normal TC plant, but it turns out my Black Italian is a small caliper cutting. That was unexpected. They're chlling in the shade now.

I almost forgot, I took some pictures of the tree I got at Pike's.

 

 

Hey Tamar, that one looks awfully familiar!!! When did you get it? I had dibs! J/k. Something about this variety that I really like. I think what catches my eye is the leaf pattern with the long lobes. So different from the ones I have.

Windowsill Gardens. If you could, would you please post a picture of your new Black Italian. Also, Tamar, do you not put mulch? Just curious...

Heh, two or three Saturdays ago at the Pike's in Toco Hills. I'm also a big fan of figs leaves with long "fingers." You'll see those on several Bordeaux varieties, Paradiso/Genova, White Greek (which I happen to have a small extra of...), and several others that I'm sure other people can chime in with.

As far as the mulch goes, I ran out not long ago. I also keep many of my trees in uncovered SIPs, so I don't find mulch to be that essential.

Savage,
Buy it!

Dennis, you're right, Brazos is a great place and doesn't make me happy that it's wholesale because it's basically my neighbor!

Wow! Great size. I acquired "Becnel's Italian Black" from a certain sassy Texan several months  back. Took me a while to get it going from a cutting and even now it's tiny, but remarkably beautiful and tending to create many clusters of leaves. Looks so similar to yours wonder if IB and BI might be the same (although I have no reference or experience other than this little one). Props for adopting such a beautiful specimen. The leaves really are something.
 

Hey Rick, I got mine from Tim too. Last year I started it from a log and this year it's a 8 foot tall monstrosity. My son was laughing at me today because I was out there telling it that growing that high wasn't going to save it from getting pinched as I was carefully pulling the branches down to pinch them. I actually had to jump for a couple of them but I got 'em all. mwahahaha

Javajunkie, ok, ok, I'm sold. I'll stop by pikes on the way home two Tuesdays from now; the pikes I saw it at was off hwy 9 in Cumming. Heading up to the Chicago area for a little over a week. I'm gonna check out all the nurseries I can find. Maybe they'll have something interesting there...

Tamar, I like small extras :) we'll talk...

I picked up 5 of these from Lowes at the end of last season for 10 bucks each for 3 gallon pots. Great deal!

Something i have noted is that must be an incredibly late season fig, im in the Houston Tx (zone 8a)area and all my trees are loaded with figs and these trees are just now pushing out tiny main crop embryos.
At this rate they will be ripe in October.

End of season? Do you have any experience with Pike nursery? Any end of season sales on figs in the past?

Bumping this thread, as it is what brought me to F4F. :)

My Black Italian had no info besides the name, but was a small, gorgeous, twisty bush with petite but "long fingered" leaves. I just had to have it on looks alone as I had never seen a fig like it. Of the various "Black Italians" and "Italian Blacks" out there the pics and descriptions here are the closest to mine ( minus Tami's, as I can't imagine ever having to reach up to touch this plant, Lol )

A lot of peeps on this thread seem to be in Texas which means I have a ton of questions!

Have any of your plants exhibited a tendency toward corkscrew or generally earth-bound limbs? The picture posted by Windowsill_Gardens looks like it might,but I can't see the structure of the others pictured.

For those of you getting fruit, what are they like second year? Still late maturing? Is the taste improving? What kind of eye do they have?

Anyone have new pics they would like to share?

Thank you all in advance! ^.^

I found a post on a different fig forum discussing black Italian fig. It looks like it might be the one you are describing. Short bushy with long slender finger-like leaves.

Foodplace.info/bountiful_figs/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=502

Bump this thread back up.

Has anyone learned anymore about Italian Black/Black Italian? Mine froze to the ground winter 2014/15, so I only got a dozen fig off it last season. But this year it did fine and I am hoping for a nice harvest. I am still interested in hearing anything others have learned about this fig.

My original plant survived the winter in a large pot on my deck and is leafing out quite beautifully. The cuttings I took in the Fall rooted like crazy inside, making me wildly optimistic... but then I got the flu and they were forgotten for over a week. All but three shriveled up, and 2 of those succumbed to gnats, with the last little trooper teetering on the brink (but having just pushed out a new bud leaving me hopeful, it not optimistic)...

Alas, that all means I only have just the one tree to observe for sure for the next few years, and I haven't found or received any new info since initial search in November. I'd love to hear how yours does this year GeneDaniels.

A little bump for this thread. I bought one of these from a local Lowes a couple weeks ago. The leaves look great. I have it in an 18 gallon pot and it's growing like crazy on every branch. Even just as an ornamental, it's performing great. I hope the figs it produces will be great!

Bump

Hey y'all.
Here's a photo of my Black Italian. It's an airlayer off of Tamars' tree that I got from her last summer and it s looking great.
If any of you has a fruit pic from this tree please post. Thanks in advance.