Great day, 600 miles round trip but well worth it IMO.  The operation there has a great orchard and Dr Johnson was great in his very informal discussion and Q&A session.  There were great figs for tasting and good cuttings.  One question fielded by Dr Johnson was whether or not one should take and start cuttings in the summer, no problem was the answer.  He also said that FMV was not a big deal and there was no further discussion on the subject.  Lots of discussion on rust but I missed a lot of that so maybe some other forum member in attendance can fill in the gaps.  Kinda surprised on the fertilizer question and answer in that he did not seem to really recommend fertilizer other than once a year and said that beautiful leafy tree did not produce as well as stressed trees.

I got lots of cuttings, LSU Champagne, ORourke (Improved Celeste), Hunt, Hardy Chicago, and last but not ,east, a cutting called "Native Black" this is a fig from the Bachnell Plantation that was originally from Italy but was closely held with them only recently being "leaked" out.  The Native Black fig is not ripe enough to eat right now but the fig itself is beautiful.

Pictures will be posted later.

Thanks to LSU, Dr Charlie Johnson, Stacy, and all the other staff for putting up with all of us, 60 or 70 by one estimate.  Porta-Potties would be nice next year.

Sounds like a great time.  Wish I could have gone   :)

Fantastic! Thanks for the first update.

I can't wait for the rest of attendees to post pictures and videos of the event. I would really like to hear what Dr. Johnson said about rust.

Here are a few pictures.  It was very informative and I met several forum members.  It looked like about 75 people in attendance.  The trees were in rows with each variety marked.  Dr Johnson talked and answered a lot of questions.

Danny that sounds like this one (dont know) from Durio nursery but have seen that available for a few years .

Native Black - Possibly originally from Italy, this heirloom fig has been grown on the Becnel family farm in Belle Chasse, Louisiana for over 100 years.  It produces very dark, purple-black skinned figs with dark red pulp.  It is the Becnel's second favorite fig next to 'Smith'.

@martin - I have a picture of the figs, though not ripe, it may be a clue, will post tomorrow

502 miles round trip and I've been up for 30 hours now.

The big announcement from Dr. Johnson is that they are releasing a new variety. They have not named it yet but it is identical to Scotts Black. He cautioned that it is identical to the Scotts Black growing in their orchard but may not be identical to the one in your garden since there are multiple versions of Scotts Black in circulation.

I cannot begin to express how great this event was. It didn't hurt that I received a very nice LSU O'Rourke about 2 1/2 feet tall. This is not an O'Rourke/Improved Celeste NOT it is the real deal from LSU so it is just an LSU O'Rourke. Some other give aways were three LSU Purples and a LSU Gold.

One of the uglier fig trees was the Hollier pronounced "O lay A" The A has a long sound. Even more uglier than the tree were the ripe figs. The taste was nothing short of incredible. To my untrained palate I tasted citrus highlights. It was very rich and complex. Slightly pasty and very figgy. After tasting this one I told everybody to find the ugliest fig on the tree and eat it. No one was dissapointed with it.

I'll write more later.

EDIT Here are afew pictures of the fruit presented. Unfortunately many varieties were not ready due to long cool Spring.

I am so glad you guys had a good time. Native Black is a good fig. I got a large one from Dalton about 4 yrs ago.

And those of you questioning O'Rourke....zoom in on the leaves. Looks exactly like mine. Yea!

Danny, Chapman, and Charles,

Thanks for the update. I look forward to hearing and seeing more about the day.

Hollier is pronounced o-lay-a. Thanks for that.

ol' yay

That's it I'm going to "study" at LSU now. Time to choose a base near the campus. 

Noss, thanks for all the info on the LSU Fig Field Day. I really wanted to attend but having some health issues. I am still planning for the one in Charlotte and San Diego.

I have tried to compare the leaves on my Orouke (JR) with pics above. What do you think since you saw the up close and personal?

Also, I have a Thibodaux that will fruit later this summer and will try to remember to post pics and taste results.

I can understand no fertilizer in clay or good soil, but in pots it is necessary. Correct?

My Orouke pics

Mike,
I don't think that those are leaves of an O'Rourke, probable more like one of the Improved Celeste. I have an O'Rourke that came from LSU and the leaves don't look like that. In fact that the first thing I did when I got to the LSU field day was to find an O'Rourke and check it out. The leaves on my tree and those on the LSU trees are exactly alike. The picture that LSU published with it's release to me is not representative of the actual leaves on the tree although we did find a few that were almost like the LSU release photo as shown here.



The following photo is a little more like most of the leaves we found on the LSU trees. These are from my tree. The center lobe is like a oak leaf and the thumbs on many start to turn upwards.



If your tree is an Improved Celeste it is still a very good and productive tree.

"gene"

Gene, thanks for the pics, comparison and explanation. I'll have to give JR fits. (just kidding)

@ Darkman, I like Hollier pasty like texture & certainly taste. Talked to our fig guru Adriano and he
agreed that it is a very good fig. It is one of the very few trees he planted in-ground. Currently main
crop on my Hollier is loaded.

Regarding the Hollier, it looked like a fig that had tried to succumb to fruit drop, but never quite made it, so it only half-plumped and only half ripened, then looked all wrinkled and sickly mottled yellow-brown, maybe ready to go on and fall off after all.  any. . .   second. . .   No?  Okay.  I'll, cautiously, try you.  Pretty darn good! 

It was interesting to hear dr. Johnson dismiss the fig as substandard during his talk and again as he walked the orchard.  Such an ugly fig is "unmarketable", a testament to the (necessary) mindset of those who run experimental ag stations with limited resources.  Backyard figgers have the luxury of different priorities.

Having said that, I enjoyed the fig, and I have grafted it to my tree, but it did have a bit of a slimier texture than i prefer (may have been somwhat over-imagined in light of the fig's apppearance) and the flavor was good but not over-the-top-wow-me.  I wouldn't recommend it to anyone as their only tree, but easily one of 3-5 if looking for variety in tastes.

The best fig I tasted was the LSU purple, and it was very good, but it was also the only one that had loads of fully ripened figs, so I don't think a fair comparison was had.

Enjoyed meeting everyone.  I worked till sundown on my grafting.  I came home with cuttings of

Hollier
LSU puple
LSU Champagne
Hunt
Marseilles
Scotts Black
"Native Black"
O'Rourke

And some Paw Paw seeds for lagniappe

Others in the orchard were

Celeste
Brown Turkey
LSU Gold
Hardy Chicago
Alma
Kadota


About six small 2-3' trees from the Dead Cat series

did I miss any?

Dead Cat Series?

Dr Johnson explained that some remaining trees from LSU's research plot were destined for bulldozing and he sent out a student to take cuttings for posterity.  There was a dead cat by the trees that day, and the resulting cuttings were designated "DC-1", "DC-2" etc.

A few random noted from LSU fig day.  First it was great meeting with everyone and finally putting some faces to "website" names like noss, "gene", cajunB, bobby, darkman, dkirtexas, chapman.

So here goes my random notes:

Some of the fig varieties were not ripe.  Dr. CJ seemed slightly disappointed that not all the figs were ripe for us!

LSU purple - fairly plain tasting to me (and there was plenty to taste, probably the most productive tree at the time).

I believe Dr. CJ said most of the older trees have been there at least 15 years.  His top three were Champange, Tiger and O'Rourke.  As Gene mentioned O'Rourke has the five lobed leaves.  Dr. CJ gave us a tell tale sign of a Scott's Black.......dark red interior. 

RUST: As noss mentioned once your tree has rust there isn't much to do except let nature run its course.  A tree that has rust is infected internally by that point and spraying isn't going to help.  Some fig trees in the orchard will loose their leaves three times in a season from rust which may lead to a loss of the fig crop.  I did note most trees had a good dose of rust, Smith looked the worst and was later confirmed by Dr. CJ as being the most susceptible to rust.  Scott's Black and LSU Purple are most resistant to rust.  Best thing to do is either burn or dispose of in garbage bags to try to stop the rust cycle.  You may beat rust with spraying before it appears but there is no guarantee it will work.  Rust appears on the top of leaves and Cercospora appears on the bottom of leaves and is usually orange in color.

Fungus Gnats:  use less peat moss!!!

Have a fig tree that doesn't ripen figs:  the tree needs some stress, so cut back on water and also fertilizer.

best time at LSU to prune the fig trees is Aug and Feb.

I asked about LSU purple being somewhat resistant to RKN.  Dr. CJ confirmed that LSU Purple has some resistance to RKN and O'Rourke is good at resisting RKN too.  The soil at the LSU Ag Center was described as loamy so there isn't much concern with RKN there.

Alma:  from noted handed out at the field day, Alma is susceptible to rust

Hardy Chicago: susceptible to rust and may defoliate several times in a growing season

Celeste and Marseilles are also susceptible to fig rust

Scott's Black: LSU ID is L 55-2-66

A couple of observations that stuck out for me.  Alma seesm to be heavily veined, white in color.  Gene pointed this out too.....O'Rourke shows striping similar to Tiger as it begins to ripen.

Enjoy, more photos to follow soon.

A note on fig rust.

This is another fungus so it is controllable with Fungicidal applications however there are none approved for figs. I'm not sure why this is but I suspect that it is purely a function of money. The tests to receive a certification may not make the balance sheet balance with projected sales to fig tree owners. Most everyone knows about fig rust and expects it to occur. Most everyone still gets figs and just excepts it as part of the cycle. Dr. Johnson was very clear that the loss of leaves will delay the ripening of the figs. I know there is a video by a blogger that suggest that removal of the leaves will hasten ripening. This is not true according to Dr. Johnson. Additionally he explained that the cycle can be slowed by cleanliness in the orchard. Prompt removal of fallen dead leaves which are full of the fungus spores will help. I am not sure if the fungi expel the spores before or after the leaves fall or both. A more thorough understanding of the rust fungus life cycle is needed

I asked Dr. Johnson if at a certain point in the year where it was known that the smaller figs would never ripen prior to Winter would it speed ripening of the larger figs to remove the small ones. He said he did not believe that it would. I can only report what he said.

LSU Purple

I must admit I was a bit dissapointed with the taste. It wasn't bad I guess, I was just expecting better. I will qualify that by saying that when I got to that section of trees I think about seventy mad fig marauders had scavenged it fairly well. So I may not have tasted the best it had to offer and will reserve judement till I get another chance.

Fig tree identification

Dr. Johnson was clear that when looking at leaf shape one also need to pay attention to the leaf vein structure. He said it is just as important.

The four Hollier trees were only four or five years old.

Thanks everyone for the updates and the pictures. I'm especially interested because of the LSU cultivars growing in my garden. I have noted the comments on ignoring rust, and can say that I was able to keep it at bay last year with a Bonide (OMRI listed-Organic) copper fungicide. If ignored, it definitely will affect the plant growth especially in a short growing season.

<edit> There are no fungicides currently labeled for Figs. The fungicide was labeled for everything but figs, but instructions list use on all garden fruits and vegetables up until harvest.
 Bonide_l811.pdf
 bp-69-w_PerdueUniversity_UsingOrganicFungicides.pdf     

Noss,
OMRI stands for Organic Material Review Institute.

Hi Pete,

Are you saying the OMRI copper fungicide is labeled for use on edible figs?

That would be a fantastic find!

OMRI  = Organic Materials Review Institute