I have a 3 year-old Black Maderia, grown from a UCD cutting. It has been a slow grower.
Despite of a heavy winter protection, it died back heavily with only two low lying branches survived this year.

Now it has a couple of brebas, but no sign of main crop figs yet.

This is picture of it a month ago.
 


This is how it looks now.
   

I am tempted to pinch it to encourage the fruiting of the main crop. But I am afraid that it may slow down its growth. Any suggestions?

BM needs looooooooooooong hot summer to show its true taste. i mean loooooooooooooooooooog and hooooooooooooot summer. both of mine, i neglected over winter, died. but down here at 7b.. they were okay. had potential, but didn't hit the mark on 2nd yr baring figs. might give it a shot.. but not going crazy with varieties next time around. 

My 3 year old BM in zone 8b from UCD is also a very slow grower in ground. I'm just leaving it alone. It is about the same height as yours. The type of soil that I have is not helping. My primary concern is to let is get established and adapt to its environment. It may take longer than I expect, but once established, I'm hoping that it would take off on its own.

Thanks, Pete!

Yes, I heard that BM requires ~100 days to ripe the fruit. 6b is definitely not an ideal place to grow it.

Hopefully this summer is going to be relatively long and hot here in MD so that I can have chance to try one or two. The brebas will ripen for sure, but they probably won't taste that good.

Sas, I heard that heavy doses of fertilizer and some lime stone may help to get BM out of the stunted growth. You can try it. It seemed to work here.
The weather in your place is excellent for this variety. Once it is established, you shall be able to enjoy the fruits.

Hey Wayne. Looks like it is coming back strong. Main crop is late to show for me also this year . On all my trees and I have quite a few. The potted trees are way ahead of the game. People say it will be a very hot summer so let's see how it turns out to be.
Thanks for sharing and good luck with your BM. I hope you get to taste a bunch!

Thanks, ChrisK. I wish you good luck with all your figs as well!

Looks like it is coming back nicely.  
I wouldn't pinch it now I would let it grow and get established and train it.  Worry about pinching and fruit ripening next year.

How big was it when you planted it in ground?

Thanks for the suggestion, Pino! It is a good idea to let it grow for one or two more years before doing any pinch. I will do that.

To answer your question: when I planted it in-ground last spring, it was ~1.5 feet.

Wayne,
I'm sorry to say but I don't think in ground BM is going to work in zone 6 unless you rig up it's own little greenhouse/hoop house /high tunnel to extend the season and to give it an early start with more heat.
Preto may do a bit better. 
Newton is in MD and comparing them. I am also here in VA zone 7A.
Good luck.

Thanks for being frank, Michael.

I put the BM tree in-ground just for fun. People rate it so high that I feel that I must have one, even though it is not really a good variety for our climate.
Somehow it makes me feel happy just by looking at it. :-))

Fortunately, I have two other 5-year-old trees (a hardy chicago and a brunswick), which are relatively productive at a young age. Last fall, I also got a RdB, to which you gave top rating for our area.

My black Madeira sat there for several yrs at less than a foot long. It's finally taking off this year with several feet of growth and more normal looking leaves. I have long hot summers and mild winter last 2 yrs.

Just an update --

My in-ground black maderia finally started to send out some nice main crop baby figs.
Seems that the hot weather lately really helped.


 

I hope they have time to ripen! Good luck!

Wayne, I did compare Black Madeira and Figo Preto last year.  Both were grown in containers in Maryland with no help of greenhouse (just the fig shuffle).

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/black-madeira-and-figo-preto-comparison-7063585?pid=1287374899#post1287374899

I was able to get several very nice figs off of each.  The Preto might have ripened slightly sooner but it was a very minor difference, if at all.  However, both had quite a few figs that did not get ripe in time for the cold weather.  My guess is that it will be difficult to get your figs from an in-ground Black Madeira ripe in our climate unless you place a make-shift hoophouse over it early in the spring or have it in a microclimate that holds heat.  Nevertheless, please post your results with those figs later in the season.  By the way, how did you protect it last winter?

Steve, your comparison between Black Madeira and Figo Preto is very informative. Thanks!
And you potted trees look gorgeous!

It has been a hot early summer so far this year. Hopefully you can have a good harvest on these two similar varieties.

For my in-ground one, I would be happy enough if I get the chance to sample one or two later this season.

As for winter protection, I was using "dry leaves + trash can" last winter. It wasn't enough for BM, clearly.

An update on 07/23/2015

 

It looks like the figs are developing well.  With a little bit of luck with the weather you should get ripe figs off of it before frost.

Thanks, Steve! I sure hope so. The weather this summer has been cooperating thus far.

A few days ago, I finally got a chance to taste my first Black Madeira fig.
It was a breba, and only weights about 7 gram, LOL
All the other main crop figs on the tree are still green.

 

Hey there Wayne. I ve been patiently waiting for your BM to ripen since I do not have one( I have a small Preto) and finally here it is but wait, there's more!!!! What happened to the interior pic and taste review? Come on buddy I'm running out of nails.... How was it?

Hi Chris,

I know you are joking.
Anyway, it was really small, so i was not excited, no interior pic taken.

I just ate it. it did have more complex flavor than others, which surprised me.

I finished it in no time. Lol

Well, that's a start my friend. If you get lucky enough with the weather you will taste some really good figs.
Main is always better than breba on common figs.
You could at least have used a dime for size comparison. Lol. That's what I did with a tiny ukn Celeste I tasted a while back. It makes the fig look a lot biger!!!. Thanks again for sharing. This is a very good thread.