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My First Home Grown Fig!

Here is my first grown fig - a Green Ischia I bought from Lowes.  This is a small plant that I just recently transferred to 3 gal.  This plant had 4 small figs growing on it when I bought it and I pinched off all but 2.  

The taste was ok - fairly sweet, but not with a lot of flavor.  Is there a reason this fig didn't develop the nice red interior that Green Ischia is supposed to produce?  Maybe because the plant is so young?  

The eye sure opened up as it got closer to being fully ripe - living in Florida as we are about to enter the rainy season, this concerns me.  

Hopefully this is the first of many for me. 

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Congratulations

looks wonderful. is it breba? looks like it was on older wood. i remember USDA/UCD Ischia Green having more red pulps.

Congrat's on your first fig!  Are you sure you have a Green Ischia and not a White Ischia?

It must be a breba.

I got it from Lowes, so who knows what I got.  On the tag, it said "flavorful red flesh". 

Nice....and so many more to come. Congrats!

That is Italian Honey. Bland is what I thought of it.

you'll have lot more figs soon, and you being in zone 10, Italian Honey might get plenty of sun and improve over the yrs. 

Sorry for using the B word, I don't like LSU Gold either. 

Maybe you can take the pics to Lowes and ask them for another variety.

Somebody you know will probably like them if you don't, taste is personal.

  • jtp

Regardless of variety, first figs feel like victory. Congratulations!

Very happy for you!  Hope I can do a similar post sometime this growing season.

Is it possible it is Green Ischia and since the plant is so young, that the red pulp hasn't yet developed?  Or is the pulp color what it is no matter what age the plant is?

unless the growing condition is really off, it shouldn't change the color. and looking at the pix, the fjg looks fine.

Congrats on your first home-grown fig!  Exciting times :)

Hi m5allen,
Congrats on your first fig.
You are lucky to get figs on such a small thing, so the taste not being tremendous is not a surprise to me.
The brebas of this year are made with the resources dumped/pumped during the season before.

IMO, plants in small pots have it hard to make good figs because it is harder for them to get all the required and needed resources at the right time.
I would pot up and let it grow this year - harvest what comes- and expect much better taste next year, if you are feeding and watering this small thing properly this year.
Of course, trees in ground are easiest to feed and water ... in my clay dirt zone7 at least .

As for the strain, I don't know those - so can't help id.
From the pics, the outside of the fig looks great - the inside shows stress or a not completely ripe fig, and surely a combination of both.
Be patient with your trees , "Rome, was not built in one day" .
(I would) Give your trees 3 years or 4 before calling the jury .

  • Rob

Both of the figs in the photo are breba.  For most varieties the breba is inferior to the main crop.  They're usually just teasers for what's to come a couple months later.  I don't see any main crop fig embryos on your tree yet.  But in FL you've got plenty of time, so just keep it watered and you should be fine.  Tree looks healthy. 

If you bought it at a big box store then you did well just to get something that resembles what was labeled, even if it's not exactly right.  Be glad it's not brown turkey. 

  • Rob

Oh, and if you're worried about rain, in a pot that's easy to control.  Just put some sort of a cover over the pot, just leaving the stem sticking out.  This is probably only necessary towards the end of the season when the figs are approaching ripeness.  Could use something white or reflective to bounce back some of that summer sun and keep the root zone a bit cooler too.  I know there are some folks on this forum who are near you.  Could ask them about what they do to successfully grow figs in your climate. 

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