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Breba figs 2016

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  • pino
  • · Edited

The main crop figs are coming on strong.  While waiting here is what some of my breba figs looked like for 2016;

It has been a tough year for 1st crop figs due to the extended heat 25 days of + 30C with no rain (May-July).  Many brebas dried up and dropped and many of the ones that ripened did not match the quality of last year. 
 
First to ripen around July 4 were 3 Petite Negri and a Sicilian Red followed by Portugal Dark and Fico Bianco.  They were OK but not great the heat took its toll.  They were not juicy, sweet a la raisins except the Sicilian red was juicy and nice.  The 3 Capelas Azores were a little juicy but only slightly sweet and little taste. 
On the bright side were the Red Sicilian, Desert King and Black Sicilian.  These figs were full of flavor and very sweet with the Sicilian Red tasting the best of this bunch.

Enjoy the photos and comments welcome. peach bb sic black IMG_4065.jpg

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What a haul! You did good.

Hi Pino.
Great looking brebas,I only had one breba this year, I had a lot of brebas on my Fracazzana rosso and one by one they all dropped. Your Capela Azores looks like my long D'Aout.do you think it could be the same?
Vito

@Jerry - thanks I wish I could share them over the internet!

Figs are great and in z6 with select varieties I have fresh outdoor grown figs from July - October. 
Much to my delight this year with the intense heat and drought it is also a banner year for cherries, all sorts of berries and walnuts and if the weather holds it will be a vintage year for wine grapes!    Now it is peach time and although smaller than usual they make up with excellent taste this year! 

@Vito - This year has been tough on the 1st crop the only figs that seemed to enjoy the intense heat and drought were the 2 Sicilian fig brothers (black and red). 
The weather is getting back to normal now and the main crop figs seem to be coming along nice and probably early.  Looking forward to these.

Capelas is Adriano's fig.  I saw his planted in ground against the house and it takes up the whole side and loaded with figs.  He said it is a great fig in ground for the north.   I grow mine in ground during the summer and dig up and bring in for the winter so this way I get some brebas as well as main crop.  It is getting too big now so I will leave it in ground.

I also have Melanzana AF which I was told also looks like LdA and it is definitely different than Capelas.  The Capelas has SMOOTH edge leaves similar to Brunswick but not it is not Brunswick either.  Adriano said it comes from Azores. 
Also his LdA is not the same as these 2 figs. 

Here is a leaf photo.
capelas IMG_4144.jpg 


Great job, looks like your getting a good amount even with the heat!

What a harvest, Pino!  Beautiful!

@Becky - thank you
The heat coupled with the drought has been a challenge but I think it is behind us now.  Looking forward to a nice remaining summer and fall.

Thanks Meg - Having see some of your fig postings I am sure in California your fig harvests are going to be huge!

Vine fig breba. 
This fig was found in Montreal by a F4F member and said to be of Greek origin. 
 
Last year had many great quality main crop figs and this year I was rewarded with a nice breba. 
The previous night welcomed heavy rain plumped it up into a nice size but the weight cracked the top of the stem so I picked it a day or 2 early.  
it was excellent very sweet with lots of flavor. 
Looking forward to many more figs from this fig as it grows.
vine IMG_4126.jpg 

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  • pino
  • · Edited

Sicilian Black brebas (fiorone).

This 3 year old tree produced the most brebas this year. 
It has 5 scaffold branches each branch with 2-4 large brebas on each branch!
Last year his brother Sicilian Red produced more.

These 2 fig varieties are very similar and both produce delicious fresh black figs in July in zone 6. 
More productive and better tasting than Desert King which is also a nice fig for this area.  These figs extend the fresh fig season into early July so don't need to wait for the main crop figs to start in a few weeks.
 
The black Sicilian fig has a very sweet complex taste, a little seed crunch and chewy and strong figgy tasting ostiole.
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Pino
These are very nice  figs and brebas
Congratulations

Francisco
Portugal

Pino, your tree has 24 on each branch?  Wow!  Very nice.  Congrats!

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  • pino
  • · Edited

Quote:
Originally Posted by Smyfigs
Pino, your tree has 24 on each branch?  Wow!  Very nice.  Congrats!

Hi Meg,
To clarify there have been a total of 18 breba figs on this Black Sicilian fig tree.
There are also a similar number of main crop figlets so to me that is a nice producing 3 yr old fig tree in a 10 gal container.

Sicilian Red brebas (fiorone).

This 4 year old tree in a 10 gal container last year produced over 20 brebas. 
 
This fig variety is great for me in zone 6 since it helps extend the season.  The breba figs ripen earlier started around July 3.  figs are  delicious dark red/black figs very sweet and pleasant taste difficult to compare but one of my favourites.  I would give the taste 9.7 compared to 10 for JH Adriatic.  The main crop ripens late but it is definitely worth keeping for the brebas.
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Where do you get the 10gallon containers to grow your figs in? Will they be able to stay in there for ever? I have one fig in a container on ny patio and I notice that it is growing better than the two that I have in the ground.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cynthia24
Where do you get the 10gallon containers to grow your figs in? Will they be able to stay in there for ever? I have one fig in a container on ny patio and I notice that it is growing better than the two that I have in the ground.
Hi Cynthia
My containers are purchased at a local nursery supplier JVK.  
An alternative 10-12 gal container could be a plastic trash can with appropriate drainage holes drilled in bottom and sides.  The ones with wheels are really convenient to do the fig shuffle.

The fig tree could be maintained to live in that size container.  The regular maintenance would include every 2 years when the tree is dormant you take it out of the container, root prune, refresh the soil mixture and prune the branches so it is balanced with the roots. 

I can't find the web site for JVK. It must be a Canadian company. I did locate a 10 gallon plastic trash can for 6.99 online at Amazon. So what if it is bright yellow. If the inground one doesn't do well this year then I'll put it in the can and move it onto my patio. I'm in Orlando, Fl. and it gets very hot here in the summer and this is the first year that they are growing.Perhaps that's why the inground one isn't doing that well. Thanks for the trash can idea.
Really you are 102 yrs. old?

Hi, I am Vincent from Malaysia. I saw some of your brebas are oval shape, aren't they. Somebody told me that brebas mostly are long shape, but still got some with oval shape right?

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These are the figs grow of my tree`s old trunks. Are they brebas?


@Cynthia some times I feel that way but I have a ways to go yet..lol

@Vincent there are thousands of bifarous figs that produce bith 1st crop and main crop and some a third crop. 
I don't know what all their 1st crop (breba) figs look like.  In my collection there are long ones, oval and round ones and are all delicious when let to ripen fully!

Your fig photos look interesting.  The stems look like a few years old.  That may be the way 1 yr growth looks like in Malaysia? 
They are probably breba figs but check with someone knowledgeable that grows figs in your location.

In temperate climates figs produce 1st crop (breba) figs on last year's wood in spring and main crop figs form on this year's new growth in summer. 

Hopefully someone with experience in your climate will comment.

Thanks! Because a fig expert in my place told me that brebas are long shape, and I get confused because mine one of this tree is oval shape. Do you have pictures of your oval and round shape brebas?
In Malaysia, it is hot through out the year, my fig tree grows very fast. I started plant this fig tree Jan 2015, now it is 1 year and 8 months old, looks big right?

I like your scenic background as well.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vincent_Kam
Thanks! Because a fig expert in my place told me that brebas are long shape, and I get confused because mine one of this tree is oval shape. Do you have pictures of your oval and round shape brebas?
In Malaysia, it is hot through out the year, my fig tree grows very fast. I started plant this fig tree Jan 2015, now it is 1 year and 8 months old, looks big right?
Sorry I guess I am not understanding your question. 
Posting #9 shows what I consider relatively round figs when compared to an LdA or a Dalmatie.  Figs are not perfectly round since they have a stem and some neck. 
Good luck with your figs.

Hi Pino. Congrats on your season sp far. Everything looks wonderful!

Love that your Sicilian Black and Sicilian Red produce early in your climate. Where are they from?

Capelas looks very interesting. So glad it priduces early. We just added one to the collection. Ours is from Harvey and I wonder if it came from Adriano.

Quote:
Originally Posted by nycfig
Hi Pino. Congrats on your season sp far. Everything looks wonderful! Love that your Sicilian Black and Sicilian Red produce early in your climate. Where are they from? Capelas looks very interesting. So glad it priduces early. We just added one to the collection. Ours is from Harvey and I wonder if it came from Adriano.

Hi Danny
The Sicilian fig brothers (black and red) came from an old (90's) Sicilian gentleman in Niagara.  I was told he brought them from Sicily but there are so many old Italians (Sicllian, Calabrese, Pugliese, Abruzese, Napolitan ...) in Niagara and they all have interesting figs and they exchange trees all the time.  

I did some postings on F4F last year and the Sicilian black was identified as the JR strain. 
I also have Sal's Corleone from a known source and the figs and leaves look identical.  However the growth habit is different.  The Sal's is a slow grower and only puts out a breba or 2 while these 2 grow like weeds and pump out brebas like crazy.   Even this year with our 100 yr record heat and drought these figs didn't lose any breba figs. 

Quote:
Originally Posted by pino
Sorry I guess I am not understanding your question. 
Posting #9 shows what I consider relatively round figs when compared to an LdA or a Dalmatie.  Figs are not perfectly round since they have a stem and some neck. 
Good luck with your figs.

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