LSU Purple. Received and potted a shoot with roots on 22 March 2011 (Thanks John D). Two hundred four days later, yesterday (12 October 2011), we picked several dead ripe, sweet, juicy, tight eye, thin skinned, decent tasting (not watery due the two day drizzle), excellent crunching figs. If LSU Purple gets better in ground and with age...Can't Wait!.

They are an excellent fig.  I had two growing in ground in Texas.  Died to the ground both winters we lived there (weird winters), but came back each time.  Was my first fig and an excellent introduction to the world of figs :-)

JD
I admire your patience in waiting to reach this ripening stage. My LSU Purple change colour to dark and then take a while to ripen. I squeez it frequently to check if it is time to eat it.

Akram,

If not for this sequence of events:

1. Martin's beautiful posts of dead ripe dark figs for inspiration +
   
2. A return to Annie Bee's high tech gadgetry post that introduces the use coffee filter covers to hold off the birds temporarily (they usually get one of every six that I cover this way because the filter falls off an exposes a ripe fig) +
   
3. Two days of nonstop drizzle and waiting for 48 consecutive hours of no precipitation before picking them +
4. A fortunate circumstance to have more than two figs ripening at the same time thus we could 'afford' to let the birds get one or two,
   

Jimmie,

Beautiful figs!

The only problem I foresee with fig protectors made of paper is wind and heavy rain.

I tried foil and it rotted the figs (don't know why that happened unless water got trapped in the foil)

Surprisingly, I found strips of bird netting held around a cluster of figs to be quite effective. I thought for sure they would peck through the netting, but they didn't.

Huh... Birds, what are they good for?

.Frank

Now I wish I never gave away My LSU Purple those sure look good. Jimmie seems your finally beating the birds to get the ripe figs good for you. I wish I had the same luck lol lovely photos by the way.

JD....those photos belong in a magazine!!   You can see the sweetness just dripping off of them.   Look wonderful, and TASTY.

Thanks!

Frank,
I tried the coffee filter earlier in the season and it was horrible because of the heavy rain. Given the recent drought and lower humidity, the filters have been an excellent choice. All of the figs I have posted were once covered by a coffee filter and two clothespins. About 4 hours after the two day drizzle-a-thon was over, the filters were dry and not sticking to the filters. The only thing that stuck was the honey oozing out of the LSU Purple figs. I would recommend it as a good late in the season solution. I tried the bird netting. The mockingbird in my neighborhood would rather risk being Harper Lee-ed by getting caught in the netting just to peck partially ripe fig. Go fig-ure.

JD, those look mahhhhvelous, and I expect it won't be too long before the taste catches up with the looks. My LSUP (same source as yours) isn't quite as far along--it's just over 4' tall with a handful of little figs that won't have time to ripen--but I'm expecting great things from it in the future.

Hi J.D.

The LSU Purple really does get better.

We have had ours in ground for probably close to 10 years now, and every year the flavor and productivity have been better.

I'm sure there is some limit to this, but so far the LSU Purple ages like fine wine.

It is a real winner.

Best wishes my friend.

John

Those look downright yummy JD...  I have high hopes for LSU purple to do some heavy fig production in the next couple of years... removed and potted up  5 4ft long air layers about an inch thick from my Gainesville plant.... can't wait for the fruit orchard to materialize...

LSU Purple is still ripening very good fruit.

Totally mental, JD! Some of my trees have started going dormant except my VdB and LSU Scott's Black. We've had temps down to 32.but these trees still have a few figs trying to ripen. They were good.

I planted my LSU Purple in the ground so I didn't get but a few this year. But next year should be a good year for it.

JD those look great. It nice to get a taste this late in the season. Today I picked another Preto which was very good and a Black Ischia which was the best one yet. Sorry no pictures this time. I ate a China White yesterday, the last one on the tree, and it was almost as good as the earlier ones.
"gene"

It's very well, I want to get some cutting,but there are not planting in CHINA.

Looks great Jimmy! This guy needs to get added to my collection..I tried rooting a c couple of cuttings last Spring and had a 100% failure.. the LSU Golds I got at the same time did fine. 

As advertised, LSU Purple is prolific. Its DNA tells it bush but I prefer a tree. The great compromise is five tree-trunked shoots with green figs just like this one. The LSU Purple fig veterans note that once it is planted in the ground, it gets even better. Wow.

Can you post a picture of the whole tree?  I just love your photos.

Thanks JoAnn. My potted trees are kept close together thus I tend not to post photos of the entire tree because it is difficult to delineate where one tree begins and the other ends. LSU Purple is one of the easier one to photograph. The other reality is that as I move further away to try to capture the entire tree, the limitations of my camera become more prevalent.

Note. The tree has three trunks, not five. Two were removed in the Spring - one because of position and the other for shape.

Very nice looking tree. I have LSU Purple also, but not sure it will be able to produce as well here in Philly. My tree is not as big or full as yours.   

From green to red (current state) to green to deep purple to very good...



as of Friday 22 June

From a little research and talking to a few growers in the north, this is a cultivar for the south and much warmer climates.. Does poorly here in the New England area according to the few I know who have tried to grow it..

JD,

Excellent pictures! Seeing them makes me wish my LSU fig, that I thought was a Purple but now think it is a Gold, was a Purple. Mine has about 9 - 12 trunks with some getting close to six foot and is three years old. Next year should be a good year for it whatever it is!

Hi Noss.

The LSU Purples are green until they start to mature.

That is normal.

Best wishes.

John

Pardon any confusion. The image in post #21 is simply to show an outlier, an oddity; not the norm.