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fig variety?

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.199867773393745.47977.153618648018658 need some help on id of this fig.  Can't decide what it is, so I am turning to the experts.  Leaves deeply lobed, fruit is green, white inside, somewhat sweet, but rich fig flavor. I am a newbie, and not ashamed to admit it!  Also has heavy breba & main crop.  Very vigorous.

I believe it is White Marseilles (aka all the others).  I was at Park Wholesale (S.C.)when I purchased it, which was definitely east coast.  However, they had labeled it something dwarf...and these trees are at least 20'.  

I just purchased a white marseilles from Jon, so it will be interesting to compare the two.  

Lattarula/Italian Honey (my guess)...

I've never met an IH that was rich and figgy, only very sweet like honey, so I'd toss in Kadota as a possible if your taste notes are accurate.  This is supposedly the fig used to make Fig Newtons.

Definitely not sweet like honey, but good all the same.  It has fruit on it from early March until November, does that help any?]



Those are White Marseilles.  I've picked my first crop 3 weeks ago.  Second crop will ripen soon.

I vote for Blanche a.k.a. White Marseilles too. Hard to make out the eye though and the leaves look different in the picture of the tree so maybe clearer pictures of the different leaf types and the pulp and eye would help.

here are photos of leaves & eye (sorry I couldn't get a clearer image of the eye, camera is acting up.)  The fruit is ripe.

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  • Click image for larger version - Name: eye_2.jpg, Views: 60, Size: 220356
  • Click image for larger version - Name: leaf_1.jpg, Views: 48, Size: 279108
  • Click image for larger version - Name: leaf_3.jpg, Views: 38, Size: 298331

Still going with the Blanche. With the new pics, it has even more of the characteristics associated with Blanche.

I have eaten several Blanche/WM/IH.  None of them are "rich" or "figgy".  I realize that I am putting a lot of value in the description the OP is providing, but I still argue this is Kadota, since it actually is known for having "rich, figgy" flavor. 

Jason,

Condit's description for Blanche and Kadota has them both as "rich and sweet". However, most of the other descriptors match Blanche more so than Dottato/Kadota. Descriptors such as "thick, chaffy scales"  and "medium-large open eye" would rule out Kadota.

I must be getting some crappy figs down here then ;) 

Noted on the scales and medium-large open eye... and to that note, the large open eye is a dead-ringer characteristic of the varieties everyone else is suggesting, and it is also something that is sorely missing from the pictures I'm seeing in post #7

Blanche/Lemon/WM/IH all have a eye large and "furry", almost big enough to sink your pinky into it.  That is a very tight eye posted in #7.   Not indicative of Blanche/Lemon/WM/IH.

It is just that:White Marseilles,aka Italian Honey.
It doesn't have a wide eye like you said.
The leaves are like no other cultivar and can recognize it from a thousand cultivars mixed together.Also the fruits are exactly like my IH,White Marseilles.
If you have a IH ,Wm,with an eye as large as your pinky then you do not have an IH,aka WM.
No Offense satellited!


Thats just great, My Doçe, lattarula, Ficazzana, St. Anthony Marseilles EL, Unk. Portuguese White , Unk. Funchal & Mario's Unknown all match the above pics in leaf shape & fig's. Although they dont all ripen figs at the same time they are all green skined with white pulp.

How about them 'ribs' on the green skin?

Aren't they typical for the IH (fig types)?

I'm glad to see that all of y'all are having as much trouble determining what it is as I am.  The fruit does have ribbing, & the eye is closed even when ripe. Dang sure can't stick a pinky in it or even a pen cap for that matter. What is "scaling".  Maybe I can get a closer determination when I understand that term.


I think another important fact to consider is that it really does have fruit on it continuously  from just after leaf out until a frost.  It  seems to have 2 main crops following breba (but could be that I have an extended growing season here), the first main crop is ripening now, but another will appear in August. Then a smaller crop carries through to frost.  It has never been damaged by anything other than hail, it seems impervious to heat or freeze (planted on the north side of building)& we had a 10 day long period of below 28 degree weather this February (remember the Super Bowl?).  I remember because that's how long my water was frozen!

I have another question.  Some of the trees I have purchased this year have FMV.  Can planting trees a certain distance from one another prevent transmission to another tree?  I haven't seen the mite that transmits this disease, how does the mite move around, etc.?  Can someone send me some links on the biology of the mite?

Thanks,

Beverly
Texas Zone 7B  

Good point George:It has the ribs on too,and it is another mark of Italian Honey,WM,which no doubt it is.
Beverly:If you buy fig trees in the growing season,with leaves,on,and potting soil,then,fig mites  might be imported, to Texas,and live in your Orchard till next Winter,when they will die of frost.
While they are alive,trough the Summer,the fig mites,can spread the Fig mosaic virus to other trees,but once they die in winter the chain is broke and no more infestation in the future.
This fig mites are sensitive to frost,and live only in climates with very mild Winter,like southern:,Grece France Turkey,Italy,and Central California,tropics etc.

Here is my Doçe from Madeira Island wich Im pretty sure is white Marseilles.





Ficazzana from Grimonut. Didnt make it over the winter








Both these figs do have ribs early on and even when ripe. My Mario's Unknown is smaller in size ripens atleast 3 weeks earlier and turns smooth when ripe and is they were all perfectly round hopefully I can take pictures this summer not sure if that just happened that year as it was my 1st season with it . Last main crop fig was picked 3 weeks earlier than the 1st ripe ficazzana last year.

Beverly,

Here is some required reading for fig enthusiasts:
Ira Condit's "The Fig". I have a Word document copy but it's too large to post and I forgot where I found it.

Ira Condit's "Fig Varieties: A Monograph" http://www.scribd.com/doc/24859273/Fig-Varieties-A-Monograph

Gustav Eisen's "The Fig: It's History, Culture, and Curing" http://www.archive.org/details/figitshistorycul00eise

As for what "scales" are- they are the little fish scale looking things that surround the eye of the fig and even leading to the flower area inside the fig.

Ok, check out this one that I posted last year:  http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=4827429

That thing had a huge eye.  I heard White Honey, Italian Honey, Marseilles, Lemon as an ID on that one.  Clearly, that fig does not match this one to any degree.  IH doesn't have an eye as large as the originally posted fig here.

@Herman, no offense taken!  Please, always feel free to be candid with me.  You know I will always speak my mind (right or wrong) and I hope you never take offense to that either. 


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