Good evening one and all, I picked my first Italian 258 fig moments ago.  Since it started raining the other day, I moved the tree under my deck so it would not get too much water.  This is one of my largest dark figs yet.  It is a little larger than my Black Maderia figs picked weeks ago.  Interesting though this fig has a strong rich flavor.....kinda like a cross between a Black Maderia and Ronde de Bourdeaux.  It was very sweet with a lingering flavor.  I saved half for my wife to taste when she gets home.  Thanks for watching.  HOW BOUT THOSE FIGS!!!!!!  Cheers.

Dennis, have you heard of the other super tasty "I" series variants like I-376 and I-395 ? Supposedly they are better than the very nice I-258.

Hello Paully, I have not heard of the "I" series variants.  I need to look into those.  thanks

"I" is short for Italian, you can view the various number variants in the I section of the fig variety page:  http://figs4fun.com/Var_I_info.html#ITALIAN88

Been called a lot of nasty insulting slang things other than Italian growing up but never "I"

Hey look at the "I"
Yeah come a lilttle closer to get a better look at the I !!!  

To me its not short for Italian but being lazy to type out the word.  ; )

Thats right im cranky cause my fig trees are spent of there figs.

I think that Paully22 refers to the following:

http://www.crfg.org/chapters/golden_gate/Italian%20numbered%20figs.pdf

Yes - no its not Paully i ve seen these things before i dont know it kinda irks me that its just not spelled out.
It would be like in Jon variety page listing all Italian types as IT or when the Spanish Missionaries brought the Mission fig saying yea the Sp's brought the Mission figs from Spain.
To me it looks insulting but who am I .  ; )




 

The so called "I" series denotes "Italian". It seems the person  who brought these fig variants cuttings from Italy had lost the sheet where their names were recorded and hence labeled them with numbers. 

Bump

For those whom have not tasted this fig.....it does have a unique taste, texture, shape and sweetness.  There is another fig out there called Italian 88.  I'm on the hunt for that one.  I know UCD has it in quarantine.

I-258, another fig that i'm looking for that's hard to get. i heard it's similar to Black Madeira and Figo Preto. 

yes, the "I" fig cultivars. You don't see members commenting on those. If I can find them, I buy them.

Italian 215 is good...

I will have that soon

Jennifer

HARVEY! Don't tell me that MAN!!!!!! ARGH!! My heart just dropped!

Ok......I'm calm now. Ok, Jennifer keep me in mind as your tree grows. Thank you! I appreciate it.

Sorry, Dennis! :) Did you read the Italian #88 comments in the link in post #7?  I saw the tree at Prusch Park today and it is indeed vigorous but the fruit must not be impressive because they don't bother to take cuttings from it for the CRFG scion exchange.  I scored plenty of nice things, though.  The one thing still on my "wish" list came off today. :)

Thanks Harvey. That fig might do great in my climate. You never know. Well, I haven't updated my wish list but the one fig I can not find besides the Italians is Valle Negra. That's another one you don't hear about. I need to start looking around for it. I'm willing to pay for it too.

Dennis, I was with you but bought Valle Negra from George on eBay.  Paid way too much, but I had to have it. :)

Ok. Thanks Jennifer.

You know Havey, I THINK I have 2 large Valle Negra fig trees. I won't know until this summer. I think these trees were miss labeled.....time will tell.

Dennis, can you please post a photo of your Italian 258 leaves? Thanks!

Havey!!! What's up man????

Sorry I missed your question on my Italian 258. I got figs from my tree this year, none last year. We are smack dead in Fall in Charlotte. Most of my trees have dropped their leaves including I258. My tree only has 3 or 4 leaves. The leaves on my tree are very different from most figs. The leaves are wide and fat. Here's a few pics.

Nice looking fig Dennis I have a young start of this one. Thinking Martin is a bit too sensitive, I is perfectly fine way to denote Italian, in my mind, but what do I know. 

BLB- LOL

I - 258  - lol
sounds to me like an Interstate such as

I-290
I-294  Here in Illinois


Course one could take    I-258 into I-95  down to Cape Canaveral depending on where your coming from and bring some
Italian desserts along the way instead of I-Desserts .
 
Borrowing a line from Dennis
How Bout Them Figs !

Yeah!!! How bout those figs!!!!

I love my I258. It's a rare one and yes...sensitive. I'm going to have to wrap it this year, otherwise our 20 degree temps will burn it and it will struggle waking up. The same goes for my Martin's Unknown. These 3 are very similar, Martin's Unknown, Weeping fig, and Sal's Corleone. All 3 split when it rains. All 3 ripe figs look the same too. I have all 3 growing in my orchard. Martin's Unknown is the only one that dies to the grown every year and grows back.