As I've watched a huge variety of cuttings come up, I am constantly surprised by the leaves as they emerge.  Some of them are very much the same, but I have a few cuttings that are VERY different from their brothers off the same trees. 

I know in some cases that leaves will vary from plant to plant, but I have cuttings of the same plant showing different leaves entirely.  I will share some of those in the following posts for you to see, so what I'm talking about, hopefully it will make more sense.

All four of these are Conadria.  All have the exact same leaves except the one on the left.  Notice how different the one on the left is!  All of the others which share same shaped leaves are tip cuttings.  Maybe the starter leaves are different when dealing with tip cuttings and middle cuttings?

Here are some Marseilles VS Black.  I realize that two of them are small - they have good roots, but just started to break last week.  The one on the left is also MVSB. 

Holy cow!!  Look at how different the leaf on the left is!  The two on the right ... those are what I normally see on Marseilles VS Black trees posted by others.

Finally, I've also noticed how similar  some cuttings are to one another.

Here are Gino's Black and Sal (Gene's).  Can you tell which is which?  ;)

(Hint: The middle one is Sal)

Side note:  MVSB, Gene's Sal and Gino's Black almost seem to have the exact same leaf.  Has anyone brought up the possibility that these three could be the same variety?

Hi Satellitehead,
A while back i believe there was a discussion on scion being cut from the top , middle and bottom of plant. One and my memory is not good was said to be more advanced than the others and would or should something to that effect grow and mature fuit sooner than a scion taking from the other part of plant IF i remember correctly , take with a grain of salt please.
If thats true as i dont know really then it could explain the one leaf that looks kinda like i mullberry leaf might be a the younger type and the ones more developed could have been the more mature type so when propagted it takes on that .
I wish i could find that thread it explains it pretty could.
I think it Al ( Tapla ) was the person that mentioned it. If you run across it please post a link i have yet to find it.

Edit: By the way i would like to say those are some beautiful looking plants and thanks for posting the pictures of them.
Best Health
Martin

Hi Satellitehead,

You will notice some variations in leaf shape on the same tree, but there is almost always a more dominant leaf shape.  Leaf shapes are how I particularly distinguish the different varieties by first glance, I keep everything marked so not to confuse varieties, but even when all my trees are outside and not looking at the name, I can tell the difference by leaf shape, bark texture and color.  Bark color and texture I have noticed also varies from different varieties at times, not always.  What you will do is notice the leaf shapes when the tree is mature, at least a couple years old, they will be more (true to variety) and that is when you can make a good judgment as to the dominant leaf shape of a particular variety.  Some of the varieties I have like the Negronne, Valle Negra, had a Ronde de bordeaux but it didn't make it, these trees look very similar leaf shaped, but if you do more observing, you will find the differences even between these trees.  Natalina and from what I have seen Hardy Chicago are very similar shaped leaves also. I will compare them this year, also with my Mongibello which is just fresh from Sicily, which I believe in the original ancestor to HC. Once leaf shape in particular I am going to check out more closely is the Celeste. 

When rooting they will look very similar on alot of varieties, but best to start judging by leave shapes when they are at least 2-3 years old.  Yes, leaves on the lower main trunk will generally always be very misleading as they are never the right shape.
Ciao
Thanks for sharing

Excellent Satellitehead, I can't stress enough what you are doing, work with one varitety at a time, Mark mark mark those varieties, hate misidentification, causes lots of troubles, excellent job. Keep up the fantastic work.

Jason i found the post i mentioned here
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fig/msg070007054857.html

3rd post down Tapla does not mention the leaf shape as it comes out but that some scion like from the top of plant being older will flower/fruit faster than the lowest branches (youngest ). Perhaps because of scion cut from lowest and being youngest the first couple leaves come out like the mullberry shape and scion cut from the top part come out more mature with lobes. I have seen this on my newly rooted plants as well but never gave much thought to it as plant continues to grow the leaves get there lobes .
Its just a thought but i cant be for certain i never tried purposely to see if thats how it is or not.
He does mention the lowest branches cut for scion have the highest strike rate in getting roots and the highest top ones cut have the lowest strike rate for rooting but will fruit faster . From reading that post i wonder but cannot be sure again never tried it but scion cut from lowest branches would root faster than scion cut from the highest part of tree you think ?
Im sure most of us had some scion root pretty fast and some take forever least i have , perhaps also it depended on from where it was cut?

Two years ago I had rooted a plant that had leaves like mulberry plant. I had lost the tag so I tagged it again as Mulberry leaf (Unknown). The leaves staryed like mulberry at least until mid-summer and then I did not pay attention the leaves shape. It was stored dormant and next summer none of the leaves was like mulberry plant leaves but had nicely lobed leaves like many other fig varieties. Maturity brought its dominant leaf shape.

my favorite above is the wierdo MVSB leaf (2nd picture, far left plant)

the shape makes me happy. 

Jason i see were you said it make you happy looking at that leave.
I wanted to say my favorite leaf on your plants is the mulberry leaf hope you dont mind me saying that about your plant.
Why i say that is it reminds me of the innocent times as child my brother and i went across the alley by grandma's and would sit on an old wooden fence and eat the mulberry's which had same leaf all over tree. Its been so many years since i had a mulberry and probably that was when i ate one last.
I will get a chicago mulberry tree they call em here when we eventually make our move thats for sure. Just not here and not now.

Martin, we have some mulberry trees out back.  They've been here for 20 years or more, much longer than my house has been built.  We don't get to eat them, squirrels get most of them.  I see mulberry leaves a lot. 

I have a weird attraction to the 7-love (5-lobe, two thumb) leaves, and the large serrated edge leaves, which is why i think i like the weirdo MVSB leaf so much.

Jason, here are some pictures of young leaves. Ventura on each side and Chico Strawberry in the middle. Same shape but the Chico Strawberry is lighter but might be due to the fact that it is not in full sun yet.  "gene"

Sue thanks for the Chico Strawberry and thanks Steve Miller for the Ventura.

Martin, here are some more pictures for you.  Various pictures today from the sun tray are here:

Here are some of the plants in the storage bin "incubators"

Here are some very poor pictures of the pants in pots - they broke dormancy or terminal bud when bringing them inside after leaving town for a little while...so I left them inside.

And I know it's not the top side, but I enjoyed waking up this morning and finding that big fat white noodle in the bottom of this Sal (Gene's) cutting.

Same Sal cutting in the last post, 4 days later.  Big rooty mess.  ;)

Hi Jason,
i think those plants pictured in the thread will enjoy the weather you hopefully will have this coming season.
I forget are you going to grow them in containers or inground .

Jason, don't you just love it when a plan comes together? Nice looking starts.

First couple of years we're going to be in containers.  One or two are eventually going to end up in the ground, depending on what we like.  I plan to plant the extras of some varieties throughout my neighborhood for friends and neighbors who are interested and like figs.

How much better can it get?  A neighbor that fills his neighborhood up with figs?  ;)

Good neighbourly thinking, Jason.
Just a notch above that is Adriano's concern for a whole nation:
"....Our mission is to have a fig tree in every household in Canada....."
@   http://www.adrianosfigtrees.com/index.html
 

Jason thats very nice of you to do that.
I gave my elderly neighbor years back some to taste and he stated he always liked figs. No problem i gave him a at the time my eldest plant a brown turkey which died following year in his shed, then i gave him a 3 year old sals which died in his garage last season (long story) anyways now he will get a second season Violet de bordeaux that i store in my garage for him and will continue to do so this way he can enjoy figs along with me sharing mine with him and his wife. A youg boy across the street  ate one last season and wanted a plant he loved them i said ask your mom if its ok which he did, he now has a dark portuguese. Yes its fun to share with the neighbors and i will try a few more neighbors in the future as my plants allow it.
Best Health

One good part about being down here is the lack of real need to cover them when planting in-ground.  So, I think if I get them in pots a couple of years, then thoughtfully plant them in the ground, I don't need to worry about people killing them.  We have roughly 8 trees in the neighborhood right now, I want to make that more like 28 ;)

But yeah....I would never give a neighbor a potted tree.  I give away heirloom veggie seedlings every year ... if people would not let me plant a tree in the ground, then they don't get one ;)