Black Madeira is really productive and usually vigorous. It's a shame I don't get many. Almost worth moving to a longer summer. I have one in a 20" clay pot (thanks Jon) and four in 5 gallon buckets that I prune every year to almost the soil for cuttings. The red lines is where it was pruned last year. If you click the pic it should get bigger.

http://i.imgur.com/AXNYsPb.jpg

Great Looking BM. You have a very vigorous looking strain. If I may ask, what kind of soil mix is it in?

When do you see your first ripe ones?

Beautiful tree.  Do you use the hardwood bark mulch that's in the background for your soil mix?

Next yr try leaving one tree only lightly pruned. According to Harvey's recent post that should give you earlier maturing fruit.

Or grow Preto, or get a greenhouse, or shuffle more in spring....

Amazing to see such thick mains  in a 5 gallon bucket. That is one healthy looking plant!

Here's my in ground Black Madeira from Keith. First picture from 2014 the rest today. 8 ft tall 6ft wide loaded with figs.
Thanks Keith!!!

@Petechanr Pete!  Wow! 8 Ft by 6 Ft in ground Black Madeira from KK?  Did I say "Wow"?  I think you need to trim that a little for its own health... I can send you the address to mail those cuttings to...  hahaha...

No, I've never used any kind of wood product in my soil, I read a while back as it decomposes it can mess with the nitrogen.

http://www.nola.com/homegarden/index.ssf/2014/03/does_wood_mulch_deplete_the_so.html

I've had good success with waking them up 3-4 weeks early inside but haven't done it in a few years, maybe next year.

This is their 5th year. Every year I usually pull them out, shave about 2 inches off the sides, 4-5 inches off the bottom and put them back in.

There is this Sushi/Japanese place in town that throws them out every couple of weeks. They also throw out square 4 gallon buckets from Pickled Ginger, I stocked up :)

 

Your welcome Pete. Secaucus must be good for BM, You're only 10 minutes east of me,  never thought of putting one in the ground.

Dollars to donuts the radiated heat from the brick that the BM is fronting really help the plant to thrive and be as healthy as it appears... and of course, all the TLC that Pete must give it.... Something like that, I'd probably try and drag it to my bedroom at night to protect it...   lol...

Beautiful trees!  Started my cuttings this past winter, so no figs this year.  But this definitely gives me something to look forward to.

Thank you for sharing your soil mix formula.

Vigorous indeed!  I managed to grow a cutting originating from your strain and it's growing about 4 to 6 inches a week here in Southern California with no signs of slowing down.  

I will confirm on the vigor of Keith's strain of Black Madeira. The one I received from him via EBAY has grown over 6ft tall on year one ( planted in compost) and has about 20+ figs on it. I've even managed to get an air layer off a side shoot near the base.

Now if the figs would just ripen......

Regarding wood chips, bark, etc depleting the soil.  The wood products don't deplete the soil and tie up the nitrogen unless dug into the soil.  Using the products as a top dressing or to protect the soil from the sun and help maintain moisture is a great method.  Consider how a forest works.  Trees drop branches, leaves etc and the layer begins to break down on its own.  Worms and other 'critters' bring the decomposed material beneath the soil where it is further broken down and digested by the plants.  God's design is marvelous.

Now, being a newbie here.. just how do I get a BM start?  Anyone.  I have 4 starts of other plants I have received from locals in my area.  I have tried the BM but no cuttings were available.  I'd love to get one going.

Thanks

In re the pine bark.  Maybe I misunderstood what I read.  I though that pine bark was different than wood mulch and that the pine bark didn't steal nitrogen from the soil, that it helped with drainage and enhanced the soil as it decayed.  It's a good thing that figs are so forgiving.  Same basic soil mix, including pine bark in the mix, and I've got baby trees from the same mother tree from 1 foot tall (started in December) to 4 feet tall with figs growing on it (started in May). 

Still learning.

I think a lot of people overlook the water source too, especially in places where it rains a lot. Here in San Diego we have terrible hard water that comes primarily from the Colorado river and the plants are never as green as your beautiful eastern figs.

I try to use collected rain water as much as possible to overcome this but we only average about 10 inches of rain a year!

Joe,

I had ripe figs on 9-24-2016 but that was from my 55 gallon Sip. First figs from the in ground mother tree was 10 days later and continued till last week of November. Harvested about 40% of the total. I'm putting few more of the 55 gallons in ground this year. They didn't do as well as the in ground, Lots of splitting issue and flavor not as intense as the in ground.






Charlie,

Yes, that's where yours came from.

Wendy,

I'm doing what Herman taught me, dried leaves and a cage covered with tarp