I've heard stories of people having problems with their Kathleen black setting or keeping fruit. I guess I am one of the lucky ones. This is this trees first year in ground.

Ryan, is this a breba or main?



This is my one breba this year   

Nice, unfortunatly I lost my KB cuttings this spring. Im in a similar zone just over the Texas border so I imagine my results would have been similar. Ive also read many reports about problems with KB so I wasnt too upset when I lost the cuttings. Is it too late to be upset?

Mike, it is off of this year's wood so it is main crop.
Rob, I didn't taste it yet but I will be sure to let you know after I taste them tonight.

Ok, I will wait to be upset until we hear back from you!

Nice photo and beautiful fig. Please take photos of the inside. Thanks for sharing!

Very nice!

Ryan, that looks great - are you sure it is Kathleen's Black?  Sorry, just joking.  The signals that cause KB to set fruit as opposed to make new branches is a bit of a mystery to me.  Last year I put mine in the ground in late May and I had a large number of figs setting last summer.  Unfortunately they didn't ripen in time before the cold weather came.  So I thought this year I would get a lot of figs.  Unfortunately, it froze to the ground.  It's growing like a monster now and has two trunks about 4 foot high.  I pinched about a month ago but all is see is new branches at every node - no figs!  Wait 'til next year I guess.

Well you guys, it is definitely a keeper in my yard. I'm not good at taste profiling but it was the best out of a few celeste, Lsu tigers, rdb ' s and Lsu gold. 

Steve, I know you was joking but I'm just about positive it is KB, I bought it from Herman last summer and I trust him even though my KB is shaped a little different then mike's. 

Ryan and Mike: Very nice figs and photos. Thanks for sharing.

Best,
Tam 

Oh ok, I just looked at mike's picture again and just noticed that his is a breba, so that explains the different shape.

Ryan, they should be the exact same tree because mine came from the same place

Hey Ryan,looking forword for mine to set fruit next year......looks good

You won't be disappointed Brian. 
Mike, then our trees are the same, my tree didn't set any breba figs to compare, how did that breba taste?

Ryan-

Are you sure that these figs are not breba figs?  The small branch on which these figs are growing from looks lignified, and the terminal end shows very little, new, green growth.  I would have guessed that it was last year's wood.  Also, where are the leaves?  Did you  pinch off the surrounding leaves growing near the figs in order to get sun to shine on and ripen these two figs?  Main crop figs usually grow from leaf nodes on green wood, but the leaves are not there, and the branch is dark colored....like older wood.

Just confused, so I thought I'd ask.  But then again, you are in LA/Zone-9a......your trees are months ahead of the northern fig trees.

Good luck with this variety.  So far it looks like it is doing well in your location, and with your skills as a grower.


Frank

Thank you for the inside photo - nice fig! I have KB as well but it has not produced figs yet.

Ryan, this is what I said about this fig in my thread.

Kathleen's Black, like last year it was a disappointment. Not very sweet and not a lot of flavor. Maybe a 6 on 1-10 scale.

Frank, when I put the tree in the ground this past spring the main trunk just forked off to two branches. It put on a lot of growth the first couple months and then slowed down. The wood isn't completely lignified, it looks like it is in the pic though. I didn't pinch anything on this tree.

Mike, that's too bad that your KB was a disappointment,  mines was sweet and good. Hopefully yours will get better.

Thanks Ryan....I needed to ask. 

Looks like this tree will get better and better as it puts on some age, as will the taste of the figs.  Maybe growing in the southern states with some heat, and a longer season, will be the elixir that this variety needs to unlock her charms.  Honestly, I don't read too many raves from the northern growers where this variety might be difficult.  Probably a good fig south of Wash. DC.

Continued success.



Frank

I think you are right frank, thanks 

It looks good Ryan.  Thanks for posting.

Good looking fig Ryan and good photos.

Quack master,
That fig looks just like the black mission I picked yesterday, only obviously it tasted better, I may have to replace my mission with Kathleen's black. Of course I do have a Scott's black cutting going, so maybe that one will turn out to be the replacement...thanks for the pics