Hi - I saw this Figs at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It is many trees, mostly named varieties. 

Do these leaves appear have FMV or some other virus disease? these photos are from different trees planted in the same area. It is interesting people speak so much about Viruses but most Figs I have seen in Brooklyn and in Milan show healthy leaves. 

I Cobble Hill I ran into this fig tree- some goddfella Italian American told me it was 3 plants with 2 varieties. it was given to him 6 years ago as a small plant. It is a tree from Naples. He told me birds get most of the figs, anyway if I go back in September he would give me some cuttings. It showed no disease and had a lot of figs on its branches.

I wanted to take his photo - he looked like some old timer character from a movie - he had an accent when he spoke English, but his standard Italian was not too fluent - he was from Bari and nearby area like most of the old Italians in that small section of Brooklyn. Actually the figs I bought in Milan all came from Puglia, the region of which Bari is the capital. I would guess lots of good figs there.

But interesting all these trees of immigrants have no signs of virus, while at the Botanic Garden and fancy named cuttings you may get from UCD or whatever are plagued by it.

Stefano, I would say that the first 3 pictures of leaves look like FMV. It doesn't appear to be a severe case so the trees would still produce figs and grow otherwise normal. If he gives you cuttings, take them. You might have an unknown variety. Good Luck!

Stefano/Herman...

Very comforting to know that the FMV mite gets killed in our climate.  So if we have clean trees, they will probably stay clean, and not be contaminated and weakened by this virus.

As far as I am concerned, UCD, and some wholesalers/retailers are no different than a modern day "Typhoid Mary".  I don't care if the cuttings are for "research", or, whatever...they know damn well that their stock is spreading disease.  That's irresponsible, period.

I would  never grow anything from UCD, or other known contaminated sources.  I just cancelled an order from Edible Landscaping.  I asked if their stock shows symptoms of FMV.   They told me ALL figs are contaminated with FMV.  That's bull-s_ _ t!   I could care less how rare a variety is.  I rather spend my time growing clean, unknowns, from ethnic neighborhoods, rather than waste my growing space on weak, soon-to-be-dying trees.  But hey, that's just me.

Frank

Yes, that is FMV. Some varieties exhibit more symptoms than others. Additionally, symptoms seem more severe in the cooler weather of spring and fill.

The first 3 photos are Figs at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the last 3 look healthy and are the Cobble Hill fig from Naples. Is Sept a good time to start cuttings?

I grow orchids too and I hear most collectors dispose even expensive plants if they show signs of virus infection when they bloom. I agree with Frank. I think an institution like an university should distribute only healthy plants and get rid of infected ones - unless healthy specimens do not exist anymore. 

If people stopped trading virused plants probably the FMV could disappear.

Yes first 3 picture display fmv.
I understand some want FmV free plants were all different.

With that said if you have a UcDavis Ischia Black i would be glad to pay your shipping cost to send to me.  ; )

Now you are talking.
I wrote a post before and deleted because I figured you show figs from Private people in NY city and pretend they are clean.
But now I see that the first three are from Bot. garden and last three from private houses.
Yes I can see the difference.
The explanation is easy.
The figs from Botanical garden were ordered from large nurseries which could guaranty the cultivar is what it say it is,but they came with an extra item:fig mosaic virus.
That is because the wholeseller of fig trees grow them, where the Acaria fici live,in ideal fig climate,so their mother tree is infected ,by the work of the spreading vector.
The private trees in NY,are from private places.small backyards in Italy,where the figs are not infected,and once in NY will never be infected,the vector not be able to live in NY in Winter.
If a fig tree came from Southern Italy with fig Mosaic virus,it usually dies in a few years from cold and disease,so it is like natural selection at work.
Only healthy fig make it to be one hundred or older in age and they are the one that people take cuttings from to start a new tree.
That it is why the Fig trees growing in private gardens in NY are healthy,and the ones in Botanical Garden have FMV.

I wonder if FmV is present / common in SOuthern Italy. I saw a tree in Milan that was very large and all the leaves had some discoloration. But not yellowish like those at the Bot. Garden.

I am wondering if someone grows a tree with FmV here in the USA if it would infect sooner or later healthy trees nearby. 

In Southern Italy they have mountains - so even if it can be mild at sea level, cities like L'Aquila have cold spells and blizzards in the winter. There may be Southern Italian Figs that grow in cold climates. Isn't after all Chicago Hardy a Sicilian fig from Mt. Etna via Bensonhurst Brooklyn?

Shouldn't a Botanic garden grow only healthy plants virus free?

I am sure some form of FMVirus,exist in southern Italy,but mostly in large orchards and less in Backyards.
These clean fig trees in NY,were imported from Backyard trees in Italy and if from northern Italy,the chance of being healthy is more possible because the Acaria fici can't take cold climate.
The same explanation is valid for Mount Etna type fig trees imported in the US,as the fig was collected at higher altitude where cold spell in the Winter exist often.
I also have knowledge of one very clean Hardy Chicago,cultivar I traded with someone in this country ,that lives in Central Ca.,and after a year when he sent pixies of the clean Hardy Chicago I sent originating from Lacota Michigan,the new plant was totally infected with visible Fig mosaic virus.
This was in total contrast to what has been the old thinking that some varieties like Hardy Chicago are immune to Fig mosaic virus.
They are not,I know now,from having seen the results to exposure.
That was 5 years ago,and my old plant is still here going strong and absolutely healthy.
That tells  a story right there.

I read that it takes a single mite feeding to transmit the FMV. as mites are carried by wind, I think if someone has an infected plant sooner or later the healthy ones would be affected. I wonder what is the range of the Aceria fici (or ficus) and if it affects other species of Ficus or other plants in general.

"Black Mission is the most seriously damaged cultivar; Kadota and Calimyrna are the least affected. Ficus palmata, or trees derived from seedlings having F. palmata as the male parent, appear to be immune to mosaic. The fig mosaic is vectored by the eriophyid mite Aceria fici; feeding by a single mite is sufficient to transmit the virus to a healthy seedling of F. carica. The virus can also be transmitted by grafting, but it is not seed borne.

Whatever the UCD is pinpointig is allwayes about the fig trees they grow in The Central Ca Climate.
They have no interest in finding out how fig tree does in colder  climates,or if fig mites live or not in frost prone climates.
If you want to take as valid the experience of people growing fig trees in cold climates,then I can tell you the fig mites does not survive here over the Winter,if you do not take it as fact,then you are out of luck because nobody in Ideal climate of fig growing was doing research in cold climates.

Herman - 

I read somewhere they found the mites that carry FMV in nurseries in the UK. The mite may not survive the winter but the eggs might. 

My point is that having a diseased plant may infect healthy plants no matter what the climate is. Was reading that hybrids that have male Ficus palmata in them are FMV resistant. What varieties have F. palmata parentage?

although I had read on figweb.com that some consider F. palmata a synonim of F. carica or a wild form of it.

this is my Kathleen's Black.



and this is my VdB.



Would you say they have FMV? by looking at mature leaves, you won't see the FMV. but if you take cuttings and root it, it will show FMV. why? stress.

here is KB air layer. new leaves that came out has FMV.



here is the VdB cutting that i rooted.  



get a cutting and see if they are truly FMV free.. my bet is on that it's not FMV free.

Pete - so on your grown trees there is never sign of FMV? only on cuttings? would be interesting to know how FMV affects trees. 

Sounds a bit like herpes in humans that get a cold sore on their lip when stressed out and then the virus goes dormant for a long time.

I am wondering if there is an interest of eradicating FMV and if it is the same virus that affects tobacco and tomatoes

Pete, my VdB started last week with those reddish orange leaves I haven't pinpointed it yet but only 2 so far.

grown tree during the early spring, sometimes show misshaped leaves, but i have not seen those blotches. i'm not certain misshaped leaves are due to FMV. it can be due to some damage during the winter storage or frost bite.

all i'm saying is, never trust people who says that their tree is FMV free.. like good old russians used to say, 'trust, but verify'.

i also have heard from other that their UCD cuttings will show lot of FMV and will not grow. they do show FMV, no doubt. all 5 different cultivars i have from UCD shows FMV on the leaves, but they are growing very well. including Black Madeira and Calvert.

can this be due to early fertilizing, and long with very hot and humid weather we have here in NC? i fertilize the heck out of my 1 gal pots from the moment they were uppotted from the cups.

i have also heard that some saying that FMV on their tree goes way after the tree mature. they are not going way, they are just getting settled and the symptom is hidden. like you said, like cold sores. virus can not be cured. they can be controlled to certain point. if i remember my micorbiology class from college, virus are made of some sort of RNA.. this can be get into the system and can be duplicated all through the system. you can't get rid of it. think STD/HIV.

Pete this may be a very faint sign in your first picture that i marked.
You can view best yourself in bright sunlight by looking under the leaf to see when this faint.

Also

Click to enlarge and look in marked box first picture is natural, second picture is inverted and marked as well and you can notice the spotting which is  different in color marking in that box as opposed to other all other leafs marking which is just rain drop spotting and not anything else.

Click to enlarge for best viewing.

martin,

i already know my KB has FMV :) all my trees been going through hell last weeks.. rain, then 98+ temp.. rain.. leaves turning yellow and falling off.. i'm surprised that the FMV is not more noticeable.