I have 3 unknown figs that were once variegated but are now completely green.

Anyone have experience with this?

They have not been in excessive sun, but they have lost all signs of having been variegated.

For example; one was grown from a cutting that had all variegated leaves but after rooting all growth was completely green.

The other two had variegated leaves the first year but after dormancy they came back green.

All 3 are from the same mother tree. The mother tree has some variegated branches and some with all green leaves. These were all grown from scion wood that had variegated leaves.

My only thought is to just keep and grow and see what happens but if anyone has any ideas I'd appreciate the input.

Thanks,
mgg

Was it variegation or FMD?  :)    It's fairly common to lose it.

variegation

Mgg Were they Jolly Tigers? 

They are unknowns.

I was kidding about the FMD.  It is common to lose variegation.

Why?

I have never heard of an unknown variegated.  Nope!  It's Jolly Tiger or nothing.  Who tricked you?  Ebay?  Amazon?  Craigs List?

If you want variegated, buy the known, and pay the price.

LOL!  I am not into competition!  I am the only drama queen in this house, and I will NOT be outshined by a fig drama queen called Jolly Tiger.  Let the high maintenance go to me, not he...  The only variegated I have is Panachee.  Good enough for me.

Suzi

Suzi,
 
I did not buy them.
They were given to me as a gift.
When they lost their variegation the owner gave them to me -- I did not even pay shipping.
I would not characterize this as me being tricked.
If they are Jolly Tiger that's fine with me, but I'd rather they be a new variety as that would be more fun.

As far as you being the only drama queen, . . . if that's how you see it, . . . I think there are more accurate adjectives. 
It's a bit sad you feel you need to chime in negatively on this thread.

Michael,

I don't know all about the figs with variegated leaves or fruit but I think it was Martin that mentioned that the figs with variegated leaves ( Jolly Tiger ) tend to lose their variegated leaves when the plant grow to a certain size.

He mentioned that the best way to continue this pattern is to cut solid/reverted leaves off down to the last variegated leaf. This way it can continue to grow the variegated leaves or fruit.

Do you know if the fruit is striped?
There are quite a few figs with stripes. Dark and light ones.

Good luck

Rafed,
thx.
I don't know a lot about these figs as they were a gift. They came from a very nice lady who grows just a few figs. She has 2 much larger plants that have retained their variegation. They are unknowns.
She's baffled about the loss of variegation and sent them to me hoping I might help her find a reason for this "greening up".

I don't have Jolly Tiger and just replaced the Panachee I lost 3 years ago. I'm not very experienced with the variegation factor and was hoping someone here on f4f may have had a similar experience or a deeper understanding then I do. I have been researching a bit over the last week and it does appear that loosing the variegation is more common then I'd initially thought.

I was hoping someone may have insight into a possible way of reverting them back or whether trying to reproduce these might produce a variegated offspring. I'll grow them out anyway to try and ID them. I don't know about the fruit. I'd love to get some of the figs with striped fruit as the pictures I've seen have been impressive.

I hope Martin will see this thread and add his vast experience. 

Hope all's well with you,
mgg

Could be light, heat, soil ph, virus. I'm not an expert, but I've had plants have or lose their variegation due to these factors.

Mike about Jolly Tiger , i spoke with Asiatica nursery owner years ago before buying mine from him and asked many questions about it.

If and when a set of all green leaves comes out on branch there to be cut to 1 node below to keep
variegation otherwise the branch continues all green leaves .

Some branches but not all will have 1 all green leaf and opposite that 1 variegated leaf and what happens when fruit set at those leaf axil's 1 fruit will be variegated and 1 will be green corresponding to each leaf.

Some branches will also have pale green leaf come out and as leaf grows to full size will turn a beautiful yelllowish .

 I have propagated an all green plant and it stayed all green never reverting back.
I destroyed plant eventually.


In closing plant is very simple to keep its variegation and a beautiful one at that - my personal opinion.
Its my opinion like panache cultivar its classified in the group of plants called Chimera's.

Jon has a Panache where half reverted to all green and it has never regained variegation.  A Panache at Prusch Park in San Jose has done the same.  This sometimes happens with variegated Ae Ae banana pups.  I've not heard of a plant that has lost its variegation regaining it.

Thanks folks.
I appreciate the effort.
It looks like there's not a lot of chance my trees will revert back.
Perhaps they will produce a great fig anyway.
I will root some cuttings just for the heck of it and I will keep the trees for at least a couple years.
Perhaps I'll be able to figure out why taking cuttings from this plant has failed to produce variegated offspring or has produced offspring that reverts so completely.
If so, perhaps I can ask for cuttings and try myself.
As there are 2 larger still variegated plants I'll try and get a few cuttings in the fall, and perhaps by then I'll be able to ID this fig and understand better what's happened.
I wonder how many fig varieties have shown variegation.

Do you know if the branches of the other parent trees are striped?  If so, it's probably Panache.

I do not know about the branches but the fruit is striped I believe and it's a Japanese cultivar (Jolly Tiger?).

My understanding is that a variegated tree is a chimera, a union of the cell populations of two different varieties in the same tree. If the tree loses variegation in a branch, the more pale population has died out there. There should still be both populations lower on the branch where it once was variegated. Pruning to that lower level should restore the variegation.

Bill
TN

Bill,
I wonder if that means I could cut branches off at the main trunk, root and re-get variegation? All three plants I have show zero signs of variegation and are small (in 1 gallon pots). Perhaps as they grow I'll luck out and there will be a return to variegation and with proper pruning and luck rooting I'll be able to get a variegated plant. The folks who own the older plants that these plants are from - or their donor plant was from - still have their variegation in tack. I'm still a bit confused as to why a variegated plant would come back all green after dormancy. 
Thanks.

i think the cutting will come back all green, but if you cut back to where there was variegation, the new shoots should be variegated

Bill

Bill,
There is currently no variegation at all. Last year these plants were all variegated. I'm a bit confused about what you're saying I should do. 
I appreciate your advise - I'm just not sure how to implement it. 
thx

Do you know at what level of the trunk they were variegated before. Are you sure they were variegated before? If you know what part of the plant was variegated, and you prune back to that level, the variegated portion should sprout new variegated shoots

Bill

Bill,
I can only go by what I'm told. I was told they were variegated. I was sent these 3 plants in the hopes I could help solve this mystery. I certainly don't think the info I've been given is inaccurate. 
I will try pruning but it will be a guess.
thx

Mike i went back and read the whole thread and notice you typed in short

I did not buy them.
They were given to me as a gift.
When they lost their variegation the owner gave them to me .


If thats the case in my experience with the Jolly Tiger cultivar one i purposely propagated all green it never reverted back .

Martin,
I'm very interested in helping the person who sent these trees to me find out why they lost their variegation and find out if it can be reversed. Once these trees are big enough to take cuttings from, etc., I'll try the few things that were recommended and perhaps I'll (we'll) learn something new. Perhaps not, but it will be a few months before I can act.

As far as keeping the trees if they never show variegation again -- I certainly will. I'm more interested in the quality of the figs then in the appearance of the trees when it comes down to allocating space for a new variety. Unless the figs are bland or don't perform well I'll add these unknowns to my others. Who knows -- maybe they'll be a new and excellent fig.

If it turns out they are Jolly Tigers then that's just fine with me as I've read the figs on the JT are quite tasty. If it turns out they are something new then hopefully they'll be worth keeping. 

Do you think the figs produced by the Jolly Tiger are of a quality that warrants keeping that variety even if it looses variegation or is the reason for keeping Jolly Tiger mainly the oddity of variegation?

I'm hoping to get the contact info for the person who has the still variegated tree the mother of my trees (still variegated) came from and that should shed some light on the ID.

Thanks,
MGG