Picked my first Black Italian fig yesterday. This fig was so ripe and out of this world excellent! Gave half to the wife. Scale of 1 to 10, it was a 10.

*drooling*

Dennis.
Great looking fig, enjoy. Is that black Italian from JR?
Vito

great. My first ripe fig is still hanging on the tree --- Martin Unknown. Wife gets to
have the first fig of the season.

Your tree must've been inside during the winter. I do not have a single ripe black fig here in TX. If you are able to give the first fig a ten, then the rest should be off the scale.

Does it remind you (taste wise) of any other fig, Dennis? Not many pictures of this one floating around! So any additional info would be nice!

Oh goodness that sounds wonderful and I have not heard of the "Black Italian".  Pray tell more Dennis.  Waiting for figs in AZ...

Vito, I have 4 of these. Every year they put out. One is in the ground....1 is in a 5g pot inside my GH. The other 2 are in half whiskey barrels side by side right up against my house. This fig came from my whiskey barrels. Surprisingly these 2 in barrels were not winterized inside! I bought a bunch of frost blankets and wrapped the 2 trees together with 2 blankets. I wrapped 12 others in whiskey barrels just like it. I fertilized good and all look amazingly healthy this year! These trees came from Brazo Brothers Citrus Nurserry in south Texas. These trees are about 6 years old. I give them a special brew every week. But I don't think this stuff is making it produce. It is making the tree stronger and the leaves shinier. I don't have a clue where my Sicilian Black is from JR. I haven't been too nice to the figs this year. The job got me coming home late. All I have time to do is water, set traps and kill those I catch.

Every year, my BIs put out and I get every one! I pinched early this year but I have more figs coming in.

My Green Greek is loaded this year! It also gets some special juice. You should have seen this tree 2 years ago. It dropped all it's leaves while inside a 10g pot and it wasn't getting any water to the root system. So the tree started drying up from the tips downward. I repotted it in the middle of summer and few it daily. Tomorrow I'll show you how it looks today.

I have some growing inside my GH with figs on. I need to post pics from it this weekend.

Thanks Dennis. Your figs always look great. I would like your recipe for the special juice

Dennis, Nice to see what they actually look like.

I'm on the 4th year now with my tree and it finally has produced two breba this year. No signs of main crop figs at all, despite a good amount of new growth. I decided last night that it's going to produce or I'm going to kill it trying to kick start it into producing. Ended up giving it a half handful of triple phosphate, a double dose of Jack's bloom booster fertilizer, pinched it back again, and recited some explicit words about it not growing. Tree just doesn't want to give up the goods.

How old were your trees before they started producing?

Those look like Italian black from durio's nursery. My tree took a long time to produce as well, but it was worth it. Last year was the first year I got figs and they were very good.

>Is Black Italian available in two crops or just one crop ?
>My 2nd year Black Italian do not have any fruit yet, People said this variety is growing very slow and mine is exactly like that. How about yours ?

My coworker bought black Italian last year spring for $80C 3FT, It is 5FT tall now, She lives at town house with small garden and only want a fig tree in pot, She was very disappointment that it doesn't bear fig at all, She doesn't like easy growing "Desert king", I bought her " Olympian " $15C / 1.5FT and hoping that it will bear fig early next year.
 

Hi Ricky : I bought my 5 ft Black Italian from Art Knapp in Richmond last May at C$49.99 and I got only a few figs in August, but this year, I have not seen any figs at all even the tree itself looks healthy. I followed your adv to put some cheap Tomato fertilizer (water solution) but still no responds. Hope that I may get some in July/August .

Dennis, your fig looks yummy.

I have an Italian Black, Louisiana Heirloom that I got from mgwillis55 @ ebay 2015. I sure hope it produces figs like yours. It has two main trunks about 4 feet tall and 1/2 to 3/4 inch caliper, but no figs yet this year. At this late date any figs produced now would probably not ripen before winter.

I have an Italian Black, this is its second year in the ground. It produced a dozen or so very nice figs last year, this year it is COVERED with figlets! Last year mine tasted a bit like HC, but stronger berry taste. Really god fig and the tree was only 2 years old. 

Ok Dennis I'm convinced. Just got back from Houston and got me three new fig trees. (As if I don't have enough)
I will post each one in the right forum. But was told that the Italian Black (Brazos Nursery) is a very special tree. Here's what one site has to say about it.

Italian Black Heirloom fig grown in Belle Chase, Louisiana for over 100 years. It was found near New Orleans and is thought to have been introduced to the area by Italian settlers. Nearly jet black fruit with a deep red pulp. Produces an early crop on old wood, and a summer crop on new wood.
Ripens in July. Closed eye.

The tree is a nice size specimen, but maybe root bound as it did not have any fruit.

Sas! Yes, that's the same write up I've seen too. It's amazing! You're going to love it.

My Italian Black (Brazos Nursery) tree makes a very late fig Oct,Nov, and even Dec. It was slow growing the first couple of years, with low fruit to tree size ratio. This year we have had crazy rains and has grown into a 20'x20' tree. Hoping to get a good crop this year.

Dennis,

Just saw a Black Italian by Greenleaf at whole foods. It appears that the leaves are slightly different perhaps more elongated that the one I have from Brazos Nursery.
There's a chance that my Brazos tree is heat stressed. Not sure if they are the same or not.