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Neighbor has fig outside in pot in 6b (south-central PA), what could it be?

Hi all, this is my first post on figs4fun and I'm excited to read more.  My wife and I recently moved from Texas (8b/9a) to PA (6b, 7a, depending on who you ask).  I enjoyed growing figs in Texas and I'm looking for a mostly-carefree variety to grow up here.  


I've recently purchased a few fig trees to give a try up here: Celeste, Brown Turkey, and Hardy Chicago.  I plan to plant them in my Grandma's orchard and see how they do.  Any tips or other varieties I might try?  Any others growing in this area that might have some cuttings to share?

So enough introduction.  I was walking around outside today and noticed that a neighbor had a fig tree just sitting outside in a ~7g pot.  I asked about it and he said that he had just set it there for the winter.  It looked healthy to me (no wrinkled-looking tips/wood that would seem to indicate dead wood/cold damage).  I asked what variety it was and he said he hadn't the faintest idea, that it was a variety that his grandmother had grown close by.  The weird part is that it got down to the low single digits this year (4-6 degrees).  What varieties would be able to stand this kind of cold with seemingly no protection and no damage?

Dunno, but posting pictures of the leaves, the inside of the fruit and the outside (with some kind of size reference) would be incredibly helpful for others to tell you what it is.

There are hundreds of recognized varieties, some have very unique features...none of which three paragraphs will help identify (picture is worth a thousand words...)

Welcome to the forum!

Wanted to post a follow-up to this.  The fig tree has put out a bunch of new growth with only tip dieback.  It's still amazing to me that this survived basically unprotected in a ~5-7 gallon pot.  Anyways, here are a couple pictures of leaves and figlets (no brebas that I could see).  Any ideas or do I need to wait until we can see the inside of the fig?

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Most Like is Hardy Chicago looking at leaves,but at this point the leaves are still growing and not in their final shape,till after August 1st..

Since it's after August 1st here's an update.  No ripe figs as of yet but I noticed some red tips in some new growth.  Any other thoughts?  I'd tend to agree with Herman that this does look the other Hardy Chicagos I have.


The neighbor said I could take cuttings whenever I want.  I've done a couple green cuttings on another plant and had 2 out of 3 survive.  I'm also interested in airlayering.  Is it too late here for that?  It's been really nice and warm and humid so I'm thinking it may be about perfect conditions for it.

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red tips on the third pic.  probably a dark fig.  leaf shape ... looks like my unknown Morley, not much like a HC.

Well, finally got to taste one today.  It was drooping but maybe could have used another day or so.  In any case, it was fairly tasty and larger than any Hardy Chicago I've seen (though we have had a ton of rain lately).

 

Any more thoughts on a variety?

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That looks a lot like one of my unknowns that lived outside without protection. I picked it up locally

It does look similar.  Was the inside of yours a bright red?  Looks like you didn't get a solid ID on yours.


Anyone else have a thought?

yeah it was very red.

Here is another one. I don't care what it is named since it did not slit or spoil in the rain. I bought a little tree and some figs from a guy locally and was impressed with the variety.

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I was able to get an airlayer off this plant and got to eat some of the later-maturing figs.


Despite a rainy year they were quite good.  I'm excited to see what this fig does this year.  I'm almost thinking of letting it go dormant outside for a bit because it didn't have a good dormancy period (none really besides its leaves falling off due to stress from the airlayer transplant).  Can all figs go a couple years without a true dormancy period, or is it better to have a dormant period yearly?  What are the consequences of a fig tree not going fully dormant for a period?

Fig tree is decidous in nature. Hence to me it is good to let it go dormant. There are many info on decidous trees natural tendencies and why dormany. Perhaps Dr.Tapla can explain better in simpler terms the morphology of having a fig bearing tree going thru the stages of dormancy.

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