Nero 600M vs Violette de Bordeaux Comparison:

Great video!

So you believe they are both equally cold hardy?  is the Nero600 reputation as being being real "Hardy" a myth?   have you examined their hardiness to identify if one trully lives up to the reputation? I would like to see a comparison of their Hardiness!  --As this would be the one variant in both.  perhaps...

Thanks for sharing!

I kept both trees in my attached garage last year, so no real hardiness test.

This kind of comparison is very valuable to me as I try to figure out the differences between varieties unknown to me. Thanks!

Curious.  Nice post, and useful comparison for those with limited tasting experience (like myself).  I've got both as first years, and I will say that they look nothing alike as first year plants...but early development is so variable that its not a useful comparison.

A couple followups, however

1)  Does VDB make suckers with spade shaped leaves like Nero600m does?
2)  Do they have the same cold hardiness?  (hopefully someone else can chime in)
3)  Do they have the same vigor/growth?  This can obviously vary cutting to cutting as well.

I recall at least one post where someone called into question the cold hardiness of Nero600m, saying it was not cold hardy for him.  May have been a fluke though.  Otherwise, seeing as how I'm limited on space, I might have another plant to gift.

I'm on business travel right now, so I can't look at my trees right now, but both trees have extremely vigorous growth.

Good video comparison. I would agree the two you have are very similar and quite possibly the same. The VdB and Nero 600m I have both have leaves that are nearly identical to yours. The slight variability of the leaves is probably insignificant since the leaf variability on the same plant can exceed what you show between the two. 
Several people on this forum have done prior comparisons of VdB and there in no common consensus.
It even gets more confusing when you add Negronne, Petite Negri, Petite Negra, Petite Aubique, Vista....
Valle Calda and Valle Negra are also similar figs but various f4f members have figs with different leaf patterns.
On the planetfig.com they have a description for Negronne and the leaf pattern is unlike what you have for your Vdb and Nero 600m however the Valle Calda they show looks similar to yours.
I suspect there are probably different cultivars often being distributed under the same names to add to the confusion.

What you're calling Violette de Bordeaux has leaves that look entirely different from my two VdBs and the VdB on the Fig Varietal Info website. 
Is it possible that it was mis-labeled at some point in time? My two VdB both have the same type of leaves. This is my VdB from Dave Wilson Nursery sold at San Gabriel Nursery. My other VdB was an older tree that came from Burkard's Nursery with the name written on the pot. 

 

Alta that definitely does not look like VdB.

http://www.ourfigs.com/forum/variety-test/3585-violette-de-bordeaux-dfic-63

Mara's fig is exactly Violette de Bordeaux.
A healthy ,Violette de Bordeaux that is.
When diseased,it produces small skimpy leaves like what Nick is posting.
Nero 600m,on the other hand when healthy ,has long slender finger blades,the central one up to 10 inches long,and all fingers are narrower than on Violette de Bordeaux.
Fruits do look similar but there are ,major differencies when fruits ripe under difficult conditions like raining while ripening.
In such case Violette becomes almost inedible while Nero 600 is still full of good taste.
Nick,If you want to find synonyms of Nero 600m, then Valle Negra,and Valle calda could be same fig with Nero 600m.
However the health of the specimen has to be taken in consideration,when choosing a fig tree.
Viollete de Bordeaux ,also have local names like Negronne,and Beer Black,and also other names.

Mara, about four years ago, I had a similar tree that came to me from a reputable nursery. Its leaves were exactly like yours and the label read VDB. The VDB that people discussed in this forum has different leaves than yours. Since I have both trees, I could say that your tree will yield a more rounded fruit while the VDB will yield a more elongated fruit.
Sometimes trees get labeled incorrectly at the source. If you have no room then don't worry, your tree will yield some great tasting figs and is very productive too.
As to the difference in taste, it is subjective. Your local conditions will play a huge role on how your figs turn out.
This summer I've had some great tasting Texas Everbearing figs that were better tasting than my VDB. The reason for this is that my VDB was stressed this season due to lack of water and the quality of the fruit suffered. 

Interesting stuff, good post. Probably never will be a good answer here, or at least one everybody agrees to. My VdB, Petit Negra RT, and Vista all have slightly different leaves. The Petite Negra RT and Vista are closer together than the VdB is, this year. The VdB has leaves that were spotless up to this year, but I still think it's some sort of rust or other ailment; but that's not for this conversation. I haven't tasted the Vista yet, but the other two are super and I have no need to get anymore which are closely related to them. Maybe next year I should be able to compare Vista.

I suppose this will be one of those topics where there is no clear agreement on what the real VdB is or isn't. As I stated in post#8 my two plants appear to match Nicks. As far as my VdB being diseased, I don't see any sign of it. It is growing vigorously with no sign of fmv or anything else. It was received as a TC and I would hope AgriStarts did some research before propagating this or any variety. Regardless if it does well here then that's all that really matters to me.

My "Negronne" resembles Nick's VdB and is healthy. My Nero 600m also closely resembles my Negronne. They are either the same or very close relatives.

I love the info guys.thank you for the better understanding.

 Bite my tongue.  

UC Davis VDB

The tissue culture VDB has different leaves. They start out with long skinny fingers. I have both.

Here are healthy trees with healthy leaves.
Now everyone can judge for them-self if they are the same.
Other differences can be observed ,only if person grows the plant for more than 5 years,to know how they do in adverse climatic conditions.
Nero 600m is an improvement,compared to Violette de Bordeaux.
To me they do not look the same nor do they perform the same!

Edit note:This pictures are all taken today outside,all of them,as they came out.
First 2 Nero, second 2 Violette

Thanks Nick, Herman, Sas, BrianM for your comments and pictures. As Herman suggested, it seems like the leaves will be different under different growing conditions and even in different parts of the country. 
I ate my first VdB yesterday, and it looked just like Nick’s picture, only smaller- the tree in my picture’s first fig. Delicious!

Herman, you didn’t post the tree names of the leaves you posted. Which is which?