A couple of years ago I got 10 cuttings of Martin's Unknow from SteveNJ. Come to think of it he hasn't been around for a while. Anyway I got 6 of them to root and grow into trees. I put one in the ground and the rest are still in pots going into their third year. What got me interested in this fig was the fabulous photos Martin posted as seen here.

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/Martins-Unknown-4861509?highlight=martins+unknown

Well this year I have my own pair growing nicely and starting to turn dark. I can hardly contain my anxiety until they ripen. Today I put up some bird netting around this tree to protect the figs. I just have to get to eat these.  





I hope it works out.
"gene"

ps: Martin every now and then I remember the oleander flower trick that you pulled and laugh all over again.

Gene, don't forget traps for those with long tail ones. It would be interesting to know how they taste in your zone.

Gene,

Will do gents and I'll also get some better pictures if all goes well.

Has anyone else grown and eaten this fig?
"gene"

Gene if you can hold off until fig is dead ripe.

Here as it was in October 2008 in with many unripe figs .
Tree was given away to forum member along with many cuttings to folks.
Main crop you may notice the stem holding the fig is very very short if i recall properly.

and speaking of that flower i still have the disk with some older pictures.

Click to enlarge.

Oh nice pictures.... (sigh) Fig heaven.... I'm hungry

That is marvelously dark. How did it taste? Maybe if you gave away your tree, not one of your favorites?

Today when Linda and I came back from fishing I made a quick check of my figs. When I got the Martin's Unknown in sight, I could something was wrong as I could see something white. As I got closer I saw that one of the large ones had split. My heart sank. When I got closer I saw that it had split clear across the bottom. I reached under the bird netting and picked it. I was really disappointed. Well since I had it in hand I figured I'd just as soon taste it. To my surprise there was no spoilage, souring, and no bugs. The whole fig was eatable. About the taste, it could have been a little more ripe but even at that it was very good. I compare and rate all figs I eat with Celeste as the standard. This fig even thought it was a little under ripe and not as juicy as it probably would have been, was almost as good as Celeste. It was sweet enough and figgy enough but was lacking in jaminess (is that a word). And to top it all off it was a breba. So I give it fairly high marks for now and looking forward to the other one to ripen. The second one has the little star cracking around the eye but I hope it doesn't do like the other. I'm not sure why it split unless it's a characteristic of that fig as we have not had any rainfall over the last few days. The fig was a large as a base ball. I forgot to put a quarter in the picture to show the size but in looking at the second where I had it setting on the netting, the netting squares are 3/4" to give you some perspective
"gene"

Gene,

No pics

I just checked it out and they show up on this end. Anybody else having trouble seeing them.
"gene"

No pic's.

Wow..........thanks for the up-date on taste. By the way are there 2 variants of Martin Unknown ?

Gene, what kind of fish do you normally target ? Sports fishermen for salmon fishing season in my area is anticipated to begin by late July or early August. Most avid fishermen are now targeting lake trouts. There are over 10,000 lakes here.

I think I found the problem. Check it out now.

Paully I have the Unknown, not the Italian Unknown.
"gene"

Nice pic's, thanks Gene

Seeing them now. Lovely colors on that fig. Thanks for the pics and description, Gene.

Looks nice.  Hope the rest can hold it together.

Gene if you like i can show main crop interior i just do not want to impose in your thread.
Biggest main crop fig i had was 4.5 ounces i showed years ago on scale.

Martin please do show us the inside of this fig. In my disappointment about it splitting I forgot to weigh it or cut it to see the flesh.
"gene"

The one dated picture from July is a breba that i missed pulling off and left it to ripen.

Gene - I do not have fig splitting problem here, except 1 year we had record weekend rainfall but otherwise were fortunate in late August thru mid October.
But i can see how in many climates this fig is no good and will split.
I recall faint melon type taste when very ripe and juicy but little else perhaps cause of its size.

Edit: 2nd from left is weigh in ounces.
        4th picture from left is the 1 breba.

Thanks Martin, those do look nice. I just walked by my tree and I see that the cracks at the eye on my remaining breba is starting to grow. Perhaps it's because of the lack of rain here. It's been really dry. We just missed a good rainfall yesterday hopefully I will get some today. It might ruin a few figs but it will set up the rest for a better harvest as long as it doesn't rain everyday.
"gene"

We had 2.1 inches of rain late yesterday with a lot of wind. I made an early round in the trees and found no problems. I did pick the other Martin's UK breba. It was very good, for a breba. It was very sweet and had a nice light fig flavor. Even thought it was cracked it was not soured or spoiled and again no bugs.