3 cheers for the wonderful job bugs(wasp) does to figs

Thanks for the update, Steve.  I know Pat Schafer pretty well and will send him an email.

Just to add to the fun....... Zingarello Nero

To my eye does not match either:)   I would assume posting the picture is fine and would be deemed "fair use".

Wills, I agree, it's not an obvious match for either.  The leaves have a jagged edge that the Zingarella (RW) does not have and the lobes are somewhat different shape.  On the other hand, it's hard to be 100% sure about anything with figs (especially with a photo of just one leaf) and the environment can have a subtle effect on leaf morphology as well.  Thanks for posting this though.  If anyone else has any fig literature that shows Zingarella/Gypsy please post it.

Dennis, do you think presence of wasps might affect leaf shape?  I would guess development of seeds, etc. would demand greater resources from a tree but wouldn't have thought that this would have affected leaf shape, but who knows?

Where is it that says Sal'sC needs pollinated?
I've read all the old write ups on it that I can find.
Should I just assume it needs pollinated because
of where it was named?

Doug

No, SalsC or Zing./Gypsy does not need to be pollinated as they are common figs.  Dennis' point was that if they are pollinated it will change the character of the fruit for the better.  I haven't tasted either one, pollinated or non-pollinated, yet.

Thanks, that makes more sense.


Doug

I noticed something funny in the photo that Wills posted.  All of the text is in Italian except for "Note" at the bottom.  When I attended a conference in Italy there were several English words they use since they apparently have no Italian replacement.  Ones that come to mind now are "coffee break" and "tree climbers".

WillsC, what book is that?

Btw, Adriano has it on his site

http://www.adrianosfigtrees.com/NewFigs.html

I searched for "Zingarello Nero" and got a few interesting results. One of them:
http://www.actahort.org/books/798/798_23.htm

Fron there:


Over the past fifty years there has been a progressing decline in fig cultivation in Italy, particularly in Puglia, where there are about one hundred fig denominations known, in small orchards scattered throughout the region, not yet evaluated and classified for their genetic similarities. A group of 38 genotypes were compared over 363 AFLP loci generated by 14 primer combinations, and 115 polymorphic descriptors were found. Besides confirming the high genetic variation of Apulian fig germplasm, the results identify hypothesised cases of synonymy, such as Petrelli, S. Giovanni, Bianco d’Oria, S. Antonio (and “Delta3”), as well as novel cases, such as: Dottato di Sava – Dottato Marchese di Cosenza; Fico Nero di Crotone – Fico Troiano; and Fiorone della Regina – Zingarello Nero – Rosso di Triggiano.

Greenfig,

I don't know:)  I will ask, a friend just sent the picture. 

Greenfig,

It is Paolo in Puglia book.

Thanks, WillsC!
It took me a while to decode what you said but I think I found the book.

Is it this one?:
http://www.gravinalive.it/eventi/10430/event.aspx

Francesco Minonne, Paolo Belloni e Vincenzo De Leonardis "Fichi di Puglia"
(full title: “Fichi di Puglia: storia, paesaggi, cucina, biodiversità e conservazione del fico in Puglia”)

I just copy and pasted it from the email he sent.......made no sense to me either.  

Pat Schafer replied and said that Dick Watts didn't get it from him.  Pat didn't elaborate further but I'm guessing he doesn't have the variety.

Somebody's memory has likely faded slightly in 20 years.  That's why I'm writing stuff down! :)  My dad turns 90 tomorrow and remembers things that happened ten and 70 years ago very well but forgets what he told me yesterday.  That just happens with age.

The figs on my Zingarella-RW are finally starting to get ripe.  We've had quite a bit of rain so the first one I picked is starting to split. This particular fig was heavily shaded so it still has a lot of green on it. With the cool weather, and the fact that I picked it a bit early, I wasn't expecting it to be very good but it wasn't half bad.  I think next year the figs will be more in synch with the season and will hopefully ripen earlier.