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Native de Argentile 2014

Lordy Harvey those look good!
Suzi, you have the ability to have the wasp like Harvey said, you could have a caprifig somewhere in the way back out of the way and reap the benefits.

That photo looks 3-D, Harvey. Nice! I'm happy I have Zidi, now I just need the wasps.

So if I purchase a Zidi tree, it just carries the wasp with it? 

Suzi

I haven't studied the caprifig process a whole lot because it won't work for me here without a greenhouse. The answer to your question is no, Zidi doesn't come with the wasp. You get a caprifig, which for the most part are a crappy leathery fig which are no good for eating(usually), but they (I think this is how it goes, not 100%) are the male flower and have 2 crops per year, I think one they over-winter inside the figs and the next they lay eggs in, which hatch and carry pollen to the common and san pedro type figs. The thing I'm not sure about is why they even need the figs we eat, maybe it's a gathering place for breeding(?), like I said before they won't work for me so I'm not going to study up too much on it.
You could either keep your caprifig in a pot, or you could plant it somewhere out of the way and supplement it with some water until it is rooted strong enough to forget about.

Oh, I forgot the potentially most important part. If you start one from a cutting, when yours is big enough to make figs at a certain time of the year(not sure about that either) you have someone send you figs containg wasps and hang them in your fig trees. They will do their thing and then find your caprifig to continue their cycle in. Or, as Harvey mentioned, you can have someone airlayer a branch from a caprifig which has figs on it already, and they should be ready to do their thing when the time comes. I think.  :)

Suzi, ditto to exactly what Calvin said.  Contact Harvey....he will be happy to help you get started in your area.

OK, first I need to get some Zidi cuttings.  I didn't even order from UCDavis this year, but I'll do it next year.  Once I have a couple trees producing figs, I'll contact Harvey.  Here's to the wasp!!

Suzi

Hi DesertDance,
In your area, since you're in Cali, there should be wild fig trees and some are caprifigs - it can be 50 km away , but still there should be some.
If you find some in the wild now - usually near rivers or a source of water - , In May or June, go there for some branches with figs and put them in a jar of water in a shady spot near your trees, the time for them to release the wasps.
Once the job is done, you can either go ahead and root them or just discard them and go back next year to the same source.
You could as well ask for "croisic" at UCDavis. "Croisic" is a caprifig that is supposed to have edible figs at some point .
So, take your bike tomorrow and go caprifig riding .

Aren't all persistent caprifigs edible?

Anyways, I think Suzi should get UCD 200-28 caprifig.  That way, she'll be likely to have awesome volunteer figs.

Suzi, I should be able to help out next year.  The few cuttings I got from my tree this year are being grown for myself to expand my herd.  I don't know that I'll ever get to 50, but I know I want a lot more than 1.  Along with some Bursa and Lampeira Preta, I'm hoping these may be top market figs.

For persistent caprifigs, I don't know how good 220-28 is.  When I met with the fig breeder a year ago he suggested hobbyists work with 271-1 which has 228-20 in it's pedigree.  See http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/acc/display.pl?1000411  I have it ordered.

I also ordered Capri Q which is also persistent, after having tasted it at the Wolfskill tasting last August.  See http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/acc/display.pl?1003190

If breeding isn't in someone's plans, I suggest trying to find a caprifig that just bears fruit the best so that you don't need a particularly large tree to meet your caprification needs.

Thank you Harvey!  I'll get in touch with you next year on the caprifig issue.  Thanks to the rest of you who gave caprifig suggestions.

But this thread is actually about the excellent Native de Argentile which needs no wasp to be delicious.  On this Valentines day 2015, my well rooted cutting went into it's own 5 gallon container along with one LSU Scotts Black and two Norman's Yellow.  They will receive morning sun and afternoon shade while it gets used to life.  When they go dormant, they will go into a gopher basket on the property to live life in that spot in full sun.

When you root cuttings in ground, you can't really see how many roots it has.  This one had plenty!  The two Norman's Yellow had roots, but kinda sparse.  LSU Scott's black was also well rooted.

Suzi

Hope we both get fruit on our plants, Suzi.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong...but isn't the correct spelling Hative and Davis just got it wrong somehow?

Not sure Harvey.  I just bought it off their list by that name, and JD made me drool with his photos of the fig with the same name.  I do live in the correct climate, so it should do well.  If you have some source for that name, I'll call it that or AKA.  I just love really good figs, whatever they are called.

Suzi

Suzi, see this discussion at http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=6099097

Seems like folks in less than ideal climates haven't done well with this fig but it grows well enough for me and comments from those who have eaten it (don't recall if I ate it at Wolfskill or not), support it is very worthwhile to grow if you have the climate.

Suzi,

I ordered several Capri cuttings from UCD last year and all are growing well. I do not need this many capri trees. I also have 3 Zidi trees. If you are interested in them, PM me.

Sue

Would like to thank Sue for her generous offer.  At the restaurant last night, enjoying our Valentines dinner, I gave JD a lesson on caprifigs.  He seemed to understand except he knows how scared I am of bees, so why would I think wasps would be safe?  LOL!  Anyway, he agreed to take that nice drive to Ramona, pick up two 5 gallon trees, and stop to taste wine in Temecula on our way home.  I sent Sue the message, and we agreed I will pick them up.  They are too heavy to ship for sure!  I'm taking one Zidi and one Capri.

It would be great if I could get some fertilized figs, and not mind if the birds dropped the seed on the big ravine.  Be nice to view wild figs instead of tumbleweeds!

I'll be in touch, Harvey C!

Suzi

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  • JD
  • · Edited

Since this discussion has veered into another lane, will someone (Dennis, Harvey, Suzi) please start a Carpi fig and/or Zidi thread? This is one of just a few threads about NdA - principally by Martin (Dieseler) - so it would be nice to keep this thread focused on NdA. Thanks.

Okay, Dennis, you got me in trouble!

I wish had been able to remember to taste this fig while at Wolfskill last August.  I need to plan my attack better next time.

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  • JD

No trouble for you Harvey.
Maj DJ, you sir, are the one in trouble.

Ha ha ha ha ha!  So!

He hehehehehehehe!

Sorry JD!  I am sitting here laughing trying to type this note.  Yeah, we did get side tracked off the subject line.  Well, Harvey, I did not miss NdA last August!  I think you missed a lot of trees there!  The second day there was great!  I think I took some more photos of NdA.  Let me look around and see if I can find my pics.  At the moment, I got pics scattered everywhere!  Bought an iMAC a few months ago and between it my phone, my IPAD, and my camera....the pics are some where.  I'm in the process of moving all my pics and files onto my Apple 2T time capsule.

NdA figs' exterior color look a lot like UCR 160-50 and St Jean at UCD.  They have a greyish red color when ripe.  But the NdA at UCD is a dwarf tree.  It's not as small as Black Maderia or Black Ischia but pretty close.  Both UCR 160-50 and St Jean are huge 20 foot tall trees are UCD so I know they are not the same.  I just wanted to share what I noticed at UCD.


Dennis, I didn't know it's a dwarf tree.  Thanks for the info.  Mine is so aggressive, but still a baby, and I thought it would be big like Verte.  How tall is dwarf in your thinking?  That will help me decide where to plant it. 

I never answered Harvey's question about it's name Hative or Native.  Since all of us obtain ours from UC Davis, and that's what it's called, I'm sticking with Native de Argentile.  Less confusion that way.

Do post your photos ASAP!

Suzi

I've been watching my one and only fig on this year one Native De Argentile gradually ripen, and today it was gone.  Upon further looking, I noticed it lying on the ground under the leaves.  I grabbed it, rinsed it off, and tasted it.  An explosion of jammy nutty flavor!  I'm LOVING this variety!!

Suzi

I also had the tree and had ripe fruits,and as other people living in the north east and north,I can attest,that,it was not tasty nor flavorful here,and i know why:
Our climate is not enough warm sunny and dry for this cultivar.
It will grow very ,very slow here due to lack of adaption,in cool climates.
Edit note:
Had to add:
Some figs are good almost everywhere,(Ex:,Hardy Chicago,Marseilles black vs),some are ,only good in ideal climates for fig tree.

Yes, I understand, Herman.  Not all varieties are good everywhere.  I'm just thrilled that this one is a keeper in my climate.

It's so rich, nutty and jammy!

Suzi

I had some recently as well, very good!


HdA20150803c.jpg 


Wow, those are pretty!

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