Hi, Paul. I used to live above you in upper ulupalakua 3,000 ft at the top of Kanaio. It was pretty dry up there as well if I recall. Kula is a very beautiful area.

Varieties that are fruiting right now and I will post reviews on, in the next 2-3 months, as they ripen are.

MBVS
Sultane
LSU gold
LSU purple
LSU golden Celeste
LSU Scott's black
Wuhan
Valley Black
Strawberry verte
VDB
Italian black(becnel)
Raspberry latte
Grise D Olivette
Italian honey
Celeste
Figo preto
Hollier
Panache
Desert King

Varieties that I have have growing but are not fruiting yet.

JH Adriatic
Baud's sucrette
Ronde de Bordeaux
LSU Scott's yellow
LSU improved Celeste
LSU everbearing
English brown turkey
Napolitana negra
GM 25
GM 125-c
GM 175(Milena)

Varieties that I have tasted thus far.

Brown turkey
Texas blue giant
Magnolia
Kadota
Excel
Genoa
Alma
Peter's honey
Conadria
Flanders
Hardy Chicago

For flavor I like Hardy Chicago best so far, nice rich berry jam flavor, but figs are small. For production, Flanders had over 100 large sweet figs, 1st year from a cutting. For a simple sweet jelly honey fig Peter's Honey is very good.

So far everything is doing ok, I think I'm on track to get ripe figs off all of them in the 1st year. That is important, because I need to know what I should be propagating more of and what is not worth keeping.

I'm sure I forgot a bunch, and I did not count all the unknowns I have and got from, (EBay!) (Walmart!).

Post some pics and reviews as well when you get yours ripening.

Looks great, Sid.  Great to hear of your trials with saucers, etc.

Nice job. 

I like Alma and Peter's Honey a lot!

I'm going with the saucers this year. Just need to find a deal.

Thanks a lot for the info Sid! You've save me years of trial and error. Up until now I've based my planting a off of Ken Love's fig research projects for what works in Hawaii from a while back. There are still more that I will try but you've been a big help. I'm excited to try them.

Right now my oldest trees are only 2 feet out of the ground at 6 months from when I rooted them, so it may be a bit until I see fruit. I'm doing a field of tissue culture starts as well to see how they compare, I assume the growth will be slower, but the bulk convenience and price is too tempting. I'll be sure to post pictures when I do get them fruiting!

Great to here that the Flanders did so well for you, sadly the cuttings I recieved over eBay were subpar and I ended up having to trash them. I'm hopeful the next ones I get will do as well as yours!

By the way, I always enjoy going up around Ulupalakua. The temperature takes a nice plunge compared to where I am. I'm a lot closer to the Kahului heat. I can't complain though because my plants love it.

Any production updates? :)

First rate light skin figs that you might do well to add to your trials include: White Triana, Mary Lane, and Long Yellow (Yellow Long Neck). The latter two might add another flavor profile, agave, and these two also seem to spot the least of my light figs here, hardly at all if not left to overripe. Don't know if you have discoloration problems with light figs there. White Triana though not the best fig here in a short season, also doesn't spot much and like these others has a tight eye, good shape, and really hangs on in all conditions. (That said, White Triana and Long Yellow might not be firm enough in shape to compete with lights like Mary Lane and Kadota type figs. Janice Kadota would also be worth a trial.) Maybe these 3 figs would retain too much water, not sure, but these would be among the first light figs I would trial in your climate. Also any light or dark skinned Bordissot or Col de Dame fig, though they might be trickier and later to ripen.

Current inventory.

Black mission: (500)
Figo Preto: (200)+ more rooting
Panache: (200)+ more rooting
Violet De Bordeaux: (100)
Ronde De Bordeaux: (100)
Peter's Honey: (100)
Wuhan: (100) (accidentally rooted them)
JH Adriatic: (100)
LSU Hollier: (80)
LSU Scott's Yellow: (50)
Sultane: (50)
Napolitana Negra: (50)
Grise Olivette: (50)
Raspberry Latte: (45)
English Brown Turkey (40)
LSU Golden Celeste: (35)
LSU Gold: (30)
LSU Purple: (30)
Celeste (30)
Hardy Chicago: (25)
MBVS: (25)
Sal's GS: (25)
LSU Scott's Black (15)
Italian Black Becnel: (15)
Desert King: (15)
GM 175 (Gozo Gem): (15)
Italian Honey: (5)
Flanders: (5)
Conadria: (5)
Baud Sucrette: (3)
Strawberry Verte (3)
Valley Black: (3)

Eliminated list

White Genoa: (eye to big)
Texas Blue Giant: (eye to big)
Magnolia: (eye to big)
Brown Turkey: (eye to big)
Kadota: (Janice seedless) only good if ripens in July/August heat, poor quality during cooler months.
Excel: Same as Janice seedless needs more heat.

A bunch of unknowns/mislabeled figs got cut.

Everything that I have propagated 50+ (except Wuhan) is my main focus for commercial production. Everything else is still being considered.

Sid, what is going on with Wuhan? Accidentally rooted? Except Wuhan? Is it not one you will be keeping for production? If not, why?

Thanks, Wendy

I trimmed eight Wuhan trees and tossed the branches into the compost pile. I did not like the figs very much the first year I grew them. But felt bad wasting them, in case they do a 180 and suddenly become better. They are very productive, two seedless main crops and a breba crop, which has seeds. They produced about 200 figs each tree in the first year.

I am going to give them one more year to see if they get better tasting. They are still in trial. I will wait to see how the eight in ground trees do. Then decide if I will up-pot the 92 I rooted or not.

Wow Sid, that is quite a list, five years from now many Hawaiins will have the opportunity to buy really fresh figs....sounds like you will be a sucess...

@hIIyhII: Thanks for those recommendations.

I will look to add some of those to my trials. I will have to cut some more varieties before add any more I think. But the Col de Dames, Marylane Seedless, Long Yellow Neck, do look promising from reviews I have read. I don't think a longer ripening time would matter much here.