I got some green cuttings from a very large tree next to a rental in Carolina Beach today. The tree is huge and looks like no one has paid attention to it in years. No idea what type of fruit it bears yet. I'm going to monitor it over the summer. In the meantime, I've got the cuttings set up to hopefully root per the tutorial I saw on here.

Here is a photo of the leaves from the tree. It doesn't seem to be BT or Celeste, which are the most popular varieties in my area. I suppose it could be just about anything since it looks to have been built around as the island's real estate was developed. Does anyone have any guesses, based on the leaves alone?

http://s431.photobucket.com/albums/qq38/hawk_shaman/?action=view&current=DSCF2015-2.jpg

John

NC Zone 8a/8b

Leaf shape is often worthless, ripe fruit speaks volumes.  My Monrovia Brown Turkey has a bunch of those "mitten" shaped leaves. 

 The following two posts for my in-ground Brown Turkey tree and the general leaf variety of the Monrovia sourced BT (note none are tri-lobe):

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/show_single_post?pid=41210261&postcount=19

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/show_single_post?pid=41210339&postcount=20

For what it's worth, you may see around the middle-bottom of the first post's pictures, it does have a couple of three-lobes that match.

Hope you can post fruit pictures when ripe time comes.

You could get those leaves off of half the fig varieties out there. Leaves will help rule out some varieties (you do not have Brunswick, VdB, etc), but are seldom useful for identifying a variety.

Sorry about the link, Noss. I couldn't figure out any other way to post a photo.

It should be interesting to see how the cuttings and the fruiting progresses. While I realize it is not a great identifier, most all of the leaves on the tree looked like the ones shown, which was kind of exciting to me. I'll post again when I have more data.

John

NC Zone 8a/8b

I airlayered off a branch of my tree that primarily had mitten-shaped leaves.  All branches on the subsequent tree had all mitten-shaped leaves.  I'm guessing if I took a branch that had mostly three-lobe leaves and propagated it, the resulting tree would produce mostly three-lobe leaves.  This can happen with any tree, just another reason that leaves are a bad way to judge variety or uniqueness.

Point taken (again). I'll reserve my enthusiasm until something more concrete is known. Thanks.

John

NC Zone 8a/8b

Thanks for the positive feedback, Noss. I am interested to see how this tree grows. Regardless of ultimate variety determined, it is special for me. I am just happy I found it and am excited to work with it.

I am going to try and get back over to it this weekend. It takes about 40 minutes to get back out to the island. I'm going better equipped for acquisition this time. You have to wade through some brush and thorns to get to the tree, because the property is in neglect. Hopefully, the tree has some suckers or I can get some better cuttings. It's located along a busy road, so there's really no being inconspicuous about sampling, especially since tourist season is starting. Providing it remains unchanged, in the fall, I want to get some dormant cuttings to share.

As far as the big leaf goes, keep an eye on it. Maybe you can airlayer that branch if that continues. It's all fun and experimentation. Take care.

John

NC Zone 8a/8b

Oh yeah. I'm going loaded for bear this time. If I can airlayer, I will do so. Although, I'm really hoping to find a rooted sucker, branch or even a seedling. If not, cuttings it will be.

The problem is that the property most likely will be rented by Memorial Day and then continuously through Labor Day. It matters not that it is rundown. People will occupy every square foot of that island very soon. It's very much a tourist spot.

I already told my wife of my planned quest. She rolled her eyes and told me to keep my cloning to just plants. :)

John

NC Zone 8a/8b

I would avoid seedlings as they are not true to the parent tree. Also green cuttings can root quite well if they are started right away. Check the forum for advice on green cuttings.

I saw a really great tutorial on here, as well as a video, thanks to the members' guidance. I grabbed a couple of quick cuttings last weekend, which are potted up. I want to see if I can get better ones this weekend. If I see a seedling though, I may just grab it for the sake of surprise later on.

John

NC Zone 8a/8b

Good question. Anybody know? Can other insects do the job, or does it absolutely have to be a fig wasp?

John

NC Zone 8a/8b

Update: Well, I went back to the tree recently; and the property management definitely is gearing up for the tourist season. The brush was trimmed away; the tree was pruned, and sadly, all of the figs were gone. I don't think they could have all ripened this early, but every one of them was missing. Nothing on the ground either. Very disappointing.

So, I guess my mystery fig will remain a mystery until I get it to fruit. Glad I grabbed the sucker and some green cuttings while I could. So far, they appear to be rooting OK. I'll go back later in the year to get dormant cuttings to share.

For now, I'm calling it "Kure Beach Unknown," for the area where the parent plant is located. Kure is pronounced like "curry." I've also seen a number of other trees along the coast, so I've got other ones to sample later on.

See, I am on the other side, you know, the side that will fall into the ocean when the "big one" comes, but this is intriguing!  Love mysteries!   

Keep us posted, and by the way, California will stand.  Everyone else will fall into the Atlantic.  Just saying........

Suzi