Good day, I posted a picture a few weeks back of my 2 Black Madeira fig trees.  Here are some additional pics.  The flavor and taste of this fig is really good and very different, like now you've tasted before.  No figgy taste and it oozes at the eye like Strawberry figs.  It is a large fig and very awesome tasting.  On a scale of one to ten it is a ten but comparing the taste to Ronde De Bourdeaux it is also a 10.  I just hope the others on my tree will ripen before the season is over.  Enjoy.

Braggart!!

Just kidding.  Jealousy got the best of me.  Mine has one leaf more than it did this time last year for a total of 4 leaves...but it just popped out a single tiny figlet.

C.J.

Dennis, congrats on getting that beautiful fruit. How old is your tree? Thanks for the pictures.

Very nice Dennis, when I have room for one more this is the fig I will try to add again. Did you grow from cuttings? Hope you get to enjoy many more

Hi Dennis,
were you afraid that a bird or something was going to eat that fig , i ask because it looks a little early.
Interior picture would have been nice to see but thanks for posting what you did i appreciate it.

I think he's growing them inside a hot house if I'm not mistaken (earlier posts about Madeira liking heat).

These were grown outside in our poor excuse for summer, this year.

















This is another variety which has bucked the cool summer and is ripening on time or earlier than usual, which is borderline bizarre. In a warmer summer, with its hot and warm cycles, it doesn't ripen this early.

Yes, it tastes even better than it looks: roll on the floor in ecstasy good.

Hey Jon what do you mean by its another variety? Is that not a Black Madeira fig?

It means that other varieties have behaved similarly this season.

Ahh now that I re-read what you posted it was pretty obvious what you meant.

Well, it feels good to brag!!!  Hehehe!  Thanks everyone!  My tree is about 2 1/2 years old.  I added some additional pictures of the inside below.  This fig is so unique!  It has a huge gob of honey inside!  I bought these trees from members of this forum off eBay last year!  Martin, I grow the trees outside and when I placed it in my full sun greenhouse, the figs started to ripen!  Next year I will do the same but place the tree in the greenhouse earlier.  In my opinion it has to have a lot of hot heat in order to ripen. 

Jon pictures says a lot!  Look at the honey inside!  Mine was like that too.  Very nice pic Jon!  The taste is just breath taking!  cheers!

Here's another pic

Thanks Dennis for explanation on what your doing, your pictures when i click on thumbnail come out very blurred on my monitor not sure how it is on other folks 17 inch monitor.
What i find very interesting is Jons statement about his weather and i even mentioned few times this season how is summer seems to have been unusually cool.

Dennis what caught my interest was when seeing Jons temps there almost daily on newscast made me think a "normal summer" here is comparable or maybe even a little warmer.
Yet he mentioned his Madeira ripened on time and perhaps even earlier and important he mentioned this

"Yes, it tastes even better than it looks: roll on the floor in ecstasy good."

Snaglpus,

It does need heat and longer season.

Martin,

We are having our warmest weather of the summer, currently, but still I am surprised that they are ripening so well. The point was that SOME varieties which are usually longer season or late ripening are ripening early this year, so some reason, and some are ripening well despite the cooler weather. Some are actually later. This was confirmed both by the experience at UC Davis this summer, and with na commerical grower in the central valley.

Further, the characteristics of ripeness have really changed this season. Many varieties are fully ripe before they look as droopy or wrinkled compared with a normal year. I(would have expected the opposite. The BM pictured above, with few, if any cracks, no wrinkles, and still fairly firm, would never have been as ripe inside in previous years.

It should also be pointed out that BM, while ripening fruit, as shown, id also still adding new growth and setting new figs (which have no hope of ripening).

Hi Dennis
how is your Madeira doing this season .

Hi Marttin, both of mine died last Fall. I have no idea what happened. They just dried up and went to heaven. I am starting all over again. Now I need to seek cuttings from UCD.

But I did get lucky and successfully root 2 Black Ischia. The only thing I did differently this year was placing them in a bottom watering pot. I think they will grow nicely in my area.
Cheers,

Any idea's how they might have died ?

Martin, I think both trees had too many figs and ran out of energy to produce. Both trees were full of figs. Both trees died at the same time. The leaves dried up, then the figs dried up. I buried it.3 wks ago. So, my next tree, I will remove half of the figs. If I get some cuttings, I will start them hortizonally. I did that to one Kathleen Black cutting in January. Today, I have a 5 foot strong tree in a pot! The tree is almost taller than my in ground tree.

Looks good Dennis. And thanks for the reminder that Black Madeira 'loves the heat'. I think you first made this statement towards the end of last summer when you placed it in your greenhouse. I have a Fico Preto that I will place in a similar environment to see if I can hasten the ripening process.

wow - i wish you had some of these to snack on!