Here are 2 pic of my 2 Black Madeira fig trees.  Temperatures dropped here last week and the leaves on some of my trees started to turn so I  decided to place these 2 trees inside my greenhouse.  Within days, the figs started to get ripen.  Temperature outside this week is low 90s but the evening have been 65.  Since I placed these guys in the GH, the figs are starting to ripen.  The temperature inside the GH is 110 and these tree love it!

thats alot of figs for a tree of that size. Nice pic. Glad that my BM is starting to grow. Hope I get to taste the one fig i have on my tree.

Paully
It may be too late for you to taste it and your son might have tasted it by the time you are back home.

I agree with you that it is a heavy fruit load for a small plant. It may all depend on location with early start of spring growth and a long summer. Our spring growth start in late April and I do see more fig formation in August but I have to pinch these off since there is no hope of it ripening.

Of all my potted trees Black Mad. is the heaviest bearer this year.  I know I should have thinned it but couldn't resist the temptation to leave the figs on the tree. 

Ottawan, you are right --- my son tasted a bunch of new variants. Told me he really like Grantham's Royal & Michal's unknown Greek. I know the Grantham's Royal was huge -- probably the biggest fig I have seen this season before I left. I still need to find time to check out the figs here. I have seen a few.

Pauly,

hi Jack, my son said it tasted very nice. Given that its the 1st crop, I am sure glad it ripens almost all  Desert King figs are done. Meaning I will have a good supply in time. As it was beginning to ripen when I left Canada, it sure was huge, close to tennis ball size then. thanks for the tips. I hope this is a hardy variant. I will keep this in the pot for at least another year and make some airlayers as a standby next season.

I picked my first Black Madeira today, the black one in the photo.  It had a large glob of honey in the center.  The fig tasted like no other fig I ever tasted!  It was so sweet and even the skin was sweet!  Now I know why everyone wants this fig!  However, I think if I had not placed it in my greenhouse, it would not have ripened. I saved half of this fig for my wife.  She loves black figs due to their rich taste.  I hope she hurries home soon.  Man what an awesome tasting fig!  I got 2 2year old trees and 2 that I started from a cutting months ago.  Those cuttings are growing strong.  This tree is definately a keeper.

Dennis,

Oh man! Patience is a virtue but I cannot wait until next year...because I also have two started from cuttings that are going strong and another one that is just getting started.

I see your greenhouse in the photos. I am debating buy or build. Thus I'd like to learn more about what you did and what it cost. I'll search your posts. Meanwhile, if you can PM or email me (or just post here) with some specifics, that would be VERY helpful.

Thanks,
JD

Hi Dennis,

Are you anywhere near the hurricane, or are you inland?  Just thinking of you and others up the East Coast.  Prayers are with you all.  I have family In Virginia and some are in Newport News and Hampton, near Hampton Roads.

God bless,

noss

Sure JD. I'll explain my greenhouse.  I bought it as a kit from Sam's club.  I wanted the one at Costco's web site but it was 200 bucks more than Sam's.  It was $499 at Sam's club online.  When I got it, I let it sit outside for about a month before I started building it.  Why?  Well I realized the base was just as important as the GH itself.  So, I had second thoughts about it.

One day, I opened the boxes and spent the entire day reading and thinking of ways for designing the base.  I went to a website online and got step by step instructions for building the base.  I have a large flat area behind my house adjacent to my deck and pool, so I chose this site for my GH.  The site wasn't totally flat. it tapered downward away from my house about 30 degrees.  So, I rented a sod cutter and cleared the area and rolled away the sod.  Next I dug a trench according to the GH base frame.  You have to build the base frame first in order to build the foundation properly.

The hardest and most time consuming part was clearing the site and building the foundation. I used 4 x 4 pressure treated lumber. But I have to tell you, you have to put a protection barrier between the lumber and the GH base frame because the GH frame is made of aluminum and the chemicals in the lumber will erode the aluminum GH. So, I used 10mil gray tarp that I stapled around the GH, then I screwed the base to the 4x4s. I secured the whole base with 3/8” 2 foot long rebar and large U shaped nails. I placed the rebar 2 feet all around the GH.

Next I finished the frame and started working on inserting the panels. Once the frame is up, the panels only takes about an hour to slide in. The panels are held in place using plastic “s” clamps that slide on. Some folks had problems with these saying a good strong wind blew their panels out. I had this happened to one of my panels but it was my fault because I knew the panels were not secure when I installed them on that one panel and did nothing to fix it. One day, we got a huge down burst of wind from a semi-tornado 3 months ago. That burst of wind should have blown over my GH but I secured it well in the ground. But that down burst did completely snap off my bolted on pop up vent from my GH and blew out that one loose panel. It also picked up my huge 5 burner BBQ grill and threw it across my deck along with 2 large flower pots! I spent 2 months trying to clean out that pool! But my GH remain standing minus the ripped off vent. The moral of the story is make sure the GH is secure in the ground.

My greenhouse gets very hot in the summer usually 10 degrees warmer than outside temps in summer and winter. Last winter temps outside got down to 15 degrees. It was my goal to not let my GH get below 25 degrees. So I placed a small oil filled heater inside that came on if temps got too cold and it worked! I kept all my trees inside my GH except for about 10 trees. I kept them in my insulated garage which did get down to 25 degrees.

I finished my GH with 2 sheets of weed guard and filling it in with gravel and 12 x 12 pavers and sand. To finish off the GH I placed 2 inches of gravel all around it. I spent a total of $1000 bucks on it. It’s only 6 by 8 but it can hold a lot of trees.  If I had to do it over again, I would build it bigger.

Dennis,

I appreciate the detail.

I am thinking of a slanted roof GH attached to my house (so only three glass sides). Thus electricity, heat, and water are readily accessible. I am doing my homework now. Your post really helps.

Thanks,
JD