I'd like to add a Black Madeira to my collection. If anybody knows of a reputable dealer for trees, airlayers or even cuttings of this particular cultivar please let me know. Thanks again, Luke.

Best to put it in the UCDavis list... they have it! 

Luke,

Mine was started from a cutting I got from Jon several years ago. Been a slow grower for be but partly due to me not being home to give it an adequate dose of fertilizer and everything else. But it is one of my best looking figs in my collection.

Jon will be selling cuttings soon so just be on a lookout. He will post soon and will give you time to prepare.

Other than that there may be someone else that could offer to help.

Good luck

not sure about the UCD cutings. they are limited. some people get them, and some don't. also, it seems either members on this forum is getting rather good at rooting or the cuttings from UCD is improving. they are rooting and growing rather nicely of late. i remember when i first joined the forum, Black Madeira was one of those that was really hard to root. didn't have any issue with mine. and i know other members with great success.

i know jon's Black Madeira is more robust after his fertilizer feeding program.

i had one BM cutting from UCD and cut them into 3 cuttings. they were very fresh from them and they grew very nicely last year. weather here in NC is rather hot during the summer and i heard BM loves heat. all my trees are not ready for cuttings, but once it's done, i'll share the cuttings with the forum.

Here's a picture of mine. First ones I have tried. Easy rooting. Started Nov. 16. Five from 4 cuttings. The ones in pots have been in the pots about 10 days. Others slower as I cut the cutting in half because it rooted on both ends. Can't share these yet as they are the start of a small orchard.



Jake

I heard it's a tough one to root.  It's on my UC Davis order, and I'll give it a whirl, but I have so many other amazing figs that actually grow!  I wish I could spill what members have sent me and they are growing, but it's not acceptable.  They were gifts, trades.  End of story.

Suz

Yea it is very hard to root. I killed mine when I begged... i mean begged one from Marius. Sad. After some practice of rooting, I think I may... Just maybe try it one more time. I was horrified the first time but I think I got it.

It takes friggin 4-5yrs to see fruit to ripe so I hear

Jennifer

i saw figs on my Black Madeira last year (2012). from the cutting that i rooted that spring (2012). i knocked them off since i didn't want to waste the energy on the fig at that point. i'm hoping to see figs this year (2013). 

The two trees at USDA/UC Davis are not very vigorous.






You can see the whole WEO collection here.

jon,

have they try feeding them ton of fertilizer like you did to see if the parent trees improve? i have been feeding my cuttings regular dose of fertilizer during spring and summer and they are doing very well.

I remember a post Dennis made after your visit, and he said he didn't think the Black Madeira was going to be in the UC Davis orchard for much longer.  His opinion, of course, but I guess it's important to start propagating it and sharing.  Fingers crossed mine comes with my order, and that it roots!  So far, I've gotten everything I ordered from them, but not everyone does evidently.  Their cuttings are often longer than I like, and I sometimes cut them in half.  That way I double my chances of rooting!

Suzi

Pete, I can't speak for what Jon may have heard from Howard regarding fertilization at Woflskill.  However, I know from Jeff who manages the pomegranate collection and greenhouse operations for USDA that for several years they had no funds budgeted for fertilizing anything.  Their budget had remained static of shrunk while their collection sizes and other expenses increased so they were also working with fewer people.  When the new curator arrived a couple of years ago he agreed to allocate some money towards fertilizer and Jeff appreciated that very much but I doubt that they are giving any heavy doses of fertilizer to Black Madeira.  While we enjoy the chances to get to taste fruit of different species at Wolfskill, their mission is not to produce vigorous trees with large crops of fruit.  As a repository, they just need to keep the accessions alive and have material available for distribution.  I doubt they would allow Black Madeira to be lost to their repository.  Besides the trees in the field at Wolfskill, they also have back-up plants in pots of everything at Davis either outdoors or in greenhouses.  They do that in case of some freak weather or other disaster that might wipe out the field collection.  I imagine they also keep cuttings in storage as well.

thanks for the info harvey. i guess you are right. they just need to keep it alive.

Since we are on the topic of Black Madeira:

I have held off on obtaining it as I was told by an NJ grower that it needs a long hot summer to ripen properly.
Any NE or just northern growers have any luck ripening fruit outside, no greenhouse?

I have, in my backyard the second season I got 3 figs, first in late september and the second two in mid october, I would definitely recommend it.  It was pretty good, only the first time it has fruited but still pretty good, I imagine next year it will be better and the year after etc.  I am thinking about putting it in ground here even.

Of the 4 trees I rooted off one UC Davis Black Madeira cutting, I kept one here in a pot. First figs were September 2010 (just a few), this fall it had 20+ figs.  It is about 8 feet tall.

Since black madeira doesn't seem to be so vigorous, I wonder if that makes it a good grafting candidate?

My plans are to graft one of two cuttings I have headed my way.  I did that with a pretty small cutting of some other rare seedling I got from a friend a year or so ago and it worked out well then.

I'm impressed when I hear of folks like Scott that get a vigorous tree.  Scott, was your source of cutting from Davis or Jon?  Have you done anything special with fertilizing, etc?

My understanding is that a grafted plant will tend to have the growth characteristics of the rootstock with the fruit/blossoms of the scion.  I'm attempting to graft a black madeira node onto a vigorous brown turkey I have, but we'll see how that goes.  I am yet to have a graft take on any plant.  :-(

Grafting a low vigor variety onto a strong rootstock will not necessarily make it grow vigorously but will usually give it the best chances for the genetics it carries.  Sometimes there are incompatibilities between varieties (in some species, at least, I'm not sure about Ficus carica) which will reduce vigor.  I had some challenges in succeeding with my first grafting attempts about 20 years ago or so but after getting a few tips haven't really had trouble with any grafts.  Some people have told me that I'm a very good grafter but I think it's just understanding some basics and having some experience to know what to try.  Garner's Grafter's Handbook is a very good resource book but understanding callus temperatures is something I don't think it covers.  I need to spend some time some day to put together some good grafting tutorials on video.  My attempts so far aren't of great quality and I need to work with someone to do good videos while I'm doing grafting.  I have a Youtube video (just search "white sapote grafting") that was shot with an inexpensive camera and it still gives a pretty good idea despite some portions being out of focus.  Some people really have trouble with white sapote grafting for some reason but mine worked out well and figs are pretty easy (easier than most, I'd say).  Wait until bud break before trying and take some steps to prevent the scion from drying out (use Parafilm, Buddy-Tape, bag it, or, if in a greenhouse, keep humidity up).

This is true, some trees did not look as strong as others. IMO, Black Maderia and Black Ischia were pretty close to the same height and size. Both did not look that healthy compared to others. I think the A side trees looked the worse. There was one Black Maderia that was in really bad shape. But hey, you know figs are hady trees. These tree could be fine. But some like Panachee, Zidi, and a few others were over 15 feet tall and just flat out gorgeous!

Jon, remember that one Calvert tree that died but had a tiny shoot coming up? I asked John at UCD Calvert and others. He said a fair number of those trees were planted when they were root bound. He said if the trees were planted without the root bound the trees would be stronger and more upright; which explains how some of them had huge knots at ground level. It still bogs my mind to see all those trees growing in that hard clay!

Hi Harvey,

That was a UC Davis order. Since I only got one cutting I took a chance and cut it up. Of the 4 trees that made it, 3 were vigorous and one struggled with FMV, but has now shaken it off and is about 5 feet tall (my dad has it). The tree that I kept was the most vigorous of the 4 and has never showed FMV. I followed Jon's over-fertilizing theory and it seemed to work well on them. Mostly lime, 10-10-10 (a scary amount), a little super phosphate, and a small amount of magnesium sulphate.

I will try to root some more from it this year, so we will see if that was a fluke.

Scott i cannot believe how time flies when you sent me 1 of those 4 Black Madeira's you rooted
back then.
Its doing well here and the figs taste is best in my yard to date - again many thanks.

Thanks, Martin. Seems like yesterday, doesn't it? I'm glad to hear you are getting some figs from it. That Sal's EL cutting you sent me back then has turned into one of my favorite trees.

I thought I would share my Black Madeira (KK)  with everyone. I started the cutting on 11-16-12 and moved it to a 32 oz cup on 12-15-12. It is really doing well for me.