Hi, to all fig enthusiasts of this wonderful forum.

After a few months absorbing all the available information on this excellent resource, i think its time to present myself and begin interacting with other forum members.

I've recently been infected by the "fig virus". The result is nearly two dozen cuttings of different varieties in development to add to my 16 fig trees on the ground - these are almost all fairly new (2-3 years) except a very old fig tree (black local fig) which should be approaching its 40 year birthday:


My fig cuttings in development:


Recently i've also tried to begin grafting a few cuttings in some of my older trees with some success - 2 examples:
 

 

In one of the branches, i' ve also grafted a caprifig, as some of the varieties need caprification.

I will keep updating my small successes and failures (they also exist).

Thanks to all the members that share their experiences and benefit all of us.
A special thanks to Francisco (lampo) for all his patience, generosity and knowledge.

Welcome!  It looks like you're off to a great start.  You and Lampo can start a fig tourism business there.

Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing. Great looking trees.

Thanks for the welcome, rcantor and ChrisK.

A fig tourism business? Very far from it...
I' am just an apprentice and i have still many things to figure out yet. 

This year my first attempts to root some cuttings (directly in germination soil mix, some control on temperature and humidity) achieved roughly 60% success. 
Not bad for a first try, but i lost a few precious varieties, some already with leaves and roots (too much moisture probably) and some lost on the second try with some reserved cuttings.

So i have to change my method. I'm going to try rooting in Coco coir next time - lets see how that goes.

If i knew that my grafts would achieve 100% success - 5 graft attempts and all took well - maybe i wouldn't have lost some of those varieties.

Oh, well. We shouldn't be greedy. There is always next year. 

Meanwhile, here are a few more photos of some of my trees.

Grafted tree - 4 varieties and a caprifig
 

Its a shame that the figs in this graft will not ripen (Smyrna type and no wasps yet) - it sure would be nice to taste them - fig variety of "mother" tree still not known, but probably Smyrna also, because all the figs fall mid development.
 

Young tree - S. João Preto (good first crop - second crop needs caprification - the figs on the tree will all dry up and fall)
 

Young tree - Preto de Torres Novas (first production this year will confirm variety, if the birds leave me any)
 

Young Tree - Figo Rei ( awaiting confirmation also)
 


Fig "Jungle" - Old fig trees - not very good quality - heavily pruned and somewhat neglected until know - lots of new growth everywhere, several from roots in ground . Useful for future graft attempts.



That's all for know.

Greetings and welcome from California, Jsacadura. It is great to have another contributor from Portugal. Francisco has a wealth of knowledge as you know. I have had Sao Jao Preto on my wishlist, and am glad to learn it needs caprification for main crop. I do not know if this variety is even in the US. Though you are having great success as a beginner, I think the coconut coir will help with rooting. I've had very good results using it. Again, welcome.
Gary in CA

Hi jsacadura,
Welcome to the forum !
Be sure to mark those grafted trees, or later when taking root shoots you'll be propagating the root stock ... and that could lead you to deceptions !
You should have lots of free growing fig trees in your area.

Thanks, figgary.

Not really very interested in second crop of São João Preto as it seems is not very high quality (don't really know without pollination). Over here the tree is planted for its first crop (June-July maturation). Very nice tasting figs. The birds also agree and if i don't protect them they eat them all. Some photos of the fig included below.
 
 
 


Francisco is an invaluable source of knowledge and i hope to learn from him and this wonderful community all i can about figs.

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jdsfrance.

Thanks for the welcome and the heads up, but i have learned the hard way with other type of grafted fruit tree. Know i photograph and double label everything to keep track of varieties grafted. 

>>You should have lots of free growing fig trees in your area. 

Not really. I haven't found any Caprifig nearby so dropped figs from birds probably don't have any viable seeds.
The figs trees we have in this area are all planted by farmers - one or two, on the side of each farming plot. Usually very similar, not many varieties are sold by nurseries (usually only 3 or 4 - the most usual are Pingo de Mel and São João Preto)

Olá Jaime!
Great introduction ! Congratulations.
Glad to see you DO have a green thumb for the grafting exercise!  this is very important.
As you seem to have plenty of available stock I would suggest to send from here  3 or 4 (or more) young scions of the best southern caprifigs
for you to try and bud/graft early September -'chip bud' or 'chapa'  -- gema dormente - to sprout next spring.
One could even, in case of failure, cleft graft in coming  February... so you will not wait another year and by the fall of  2016  to  have half a dozen
strong limbs growing and eventually showing some figs.
You should not loose those Smyrna for lack of pollination. Will send you an email soon
cheers
Francisco
Portugal

Thanks, Francisco.

You know that i'm always open to new experiments. Especially when they can improve my collection of those excellent figs from Algarve. ;-)

Just coincidentally last month i have tried to "chip bud" my Pingo de Mel to a couple of stalks on my "Fig Jungle" - for know, it seems a success.
 

 

Best regards, 

Jaime

P.S. - If you can, take a look at the topic i created about identifying the fig variety which is receiving the grafts - probably its a mission impossible without some wasps and a mature fig though.

Thank you for the photos of Sao Joao Preto, Jaime. They make me hope to find it even more.

You're welcome, figgary.

I hope you find them or Lampa Preta, that according to what i hear, is even better - mine still didn't produce so i can't compare them both.

I understand that sending cuttings to the US is not possible because of import restrictions nowadays.

Olá Jaime, welcome to the forum looks like your off to a great start. Great looking trees by the way.

Nelson

Welcome to the forum..

Thanks, nelson20vt and sal,

Its a pleasure to be part of this community.

Nelson,

They are not in the best of shapes because many are in a piece of land that has too much clay - it gets waterlooged in winter and hard has a rock in the summer - so they have a tough time growing up.

By the way - thanks for your hard work gathering information about Portuguese fig varieties. I have came across your work many times, searching on the internet for Portuguese figs. Unfortunately, there is almost no information about them.
Apart from you, Francisco is the man, regarding information (and the excellent photographs he always publishes) about those wonderful traditional Algarve cultivars.

I have also found some work done in Algarve - in Tavira. They do some studies and have a few fig collections in a government organism (Centro de Experimentação Agrária de Tavira) that, unfortunately, don't share with almost anyone - and they published some of their identification work (the following two links you may already know - apparently, they have a few minor errors in their charts, but they are interesting nonetheless) 

http://pt.slideshare.net/armindorosa/a-figueira-umaculturacominteressenaregiaodoalgarve

http://pt.slideshare.net/armindorosa/figueiras-ceat?related=1

The other work worth noting on the subject of traditional Portugueses figs is the work done in the North (in the Gerês region) where they searched and collected some traditional varieties, some local and specific of that region - i already have some of them rooting, like Castanhinho, Preto da Travessa, Padrós, Verdeal, Figo Preto de Dores and some others that are not in the following pictures, like Moimenta and Princesa de Pádros. Unfortunately, i lost Bacorinho, Carreiros and a few others, but i will try again, next year. Some of these are very interesting figs because they, apparently, resist well to rain, like Carreiros (Carreirinhos as is also known).


 
 
 
In a few years i hope i have some photos of my own to share of these varieties.

Sorry for the long rant, but i think you have an interest on the subject.

Dear Jsacadura,
Welcome to the forum. I have San Jao Preto too. It produced some fruits early this year, not much but the birds ate them all and I did not have the chance to taste them. The tree is fruiting right now and hopefully I can taste them this time around. It is definitely not breba and I am wondering if the fruiting is affected by our tropical climate. Besides SJP, I also have pingo de mel and REI (Portuguese varieties).

Thanks, Northayati,

My tree has approximately 4 years and its the first time i sample a Breba fig.
I don't remember seeing this first figs before, so i didn't protect the tree from birds and i was very disappointed because it only produced small figs that fell every time (the second crop that needs caprification).

This time i noticed some big early figs developing, but i didn't had the nets and i was only able to protect two branches. I also placed some aluminum paper on the other branches and it seemed to work right until the figs where almost ripe. One day i went to inspect the tree and the only figs left where on the two protected branches. They didn't even leave a mark, the others fig where cut clean and eaten. In the last picture you can see a São João Branco - the Breba figs didn't develop fully because of lack of water.

     


My trees struggle to survive for the first few years, because of the hard clay soil. It gets soaked with water in the winter (i lost some trees i was foolish enough to try and plant, still very young, in late fall ) and it gets dry and hard as a rock in the summer. That is especially true this year, because we are having a severe drought.

Here some of the other varieties i have - Bebera Branca and Palmares - i also have Bebera Preta and Paraiso.

   

The exception to this rather difficult development is a Moscatel tree that is in another kind of soil - i usually reserve this area to other types of fruit trees, more delicate than the fig. This one is developing beautifully and very vigorous - it has almost seven years and come this fall i will have to prune rather heavily to control it.
It was bought has Moscatel Branco - some say its a synonym to Pingo de Mel, but my figs seem different from the Pingo de Mel i see on other trees - and it seems that Francisco agrees on the difference. I will post some more pictures of the figs when they mature.

       

Hi jsacadura
I believe portuguese varieties are of the best and youv got nice forum members from the region too.
I have some varieties which i intend to taste this year.
For now i can vouch for Black Portugal as 10/10- the pictures shown are not of a well ripened one-- for some reason ants like them and Even though they were covered by organza they find a way to sneak so i ate them early :)
The 2nd picture below represnts a ripened one but couldnt wait to take the interior picture of that one.
Next year ill tighten the organza more while in the ripening stage.


My cotio white is ripening too and hope to post pictures..

Hi, elin,

The diversity and quality of portuguese figs is undeniable. Sometimes the problem is identifying them, as they are exchanged and sold simply as black fig or white fig (and that happens also in our country).
I have no doubt your Black Portugal is a very good fig (the ants know their business well), but over here there isn't any variety with that name, so we are never sure which portuguese variety of black fig do you have - we have many black figs of good quality over here.
Cótio branco, on the other hand, is a very old variety, used mainly for drying. Be sure to post some pictures when they are ripe.

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Hi, Vinny,

I believe there is no cure for this disease :-) 

And when members like Francisco keep posting those wonderful pictures of yet another excellent looking fig, they turn all of us into fig collectors.

But the real enthusiasts are you guys that keep figs in harsh climates against all odds - your determination and dedication never ceases to amaze me. Good luck with your figs.

we have most of your wishlist, would you care to exchange.

Bienvenido, Jaime! Hola! You have a very nice collection of figs. They look heakthy! I am lookibg forward to learning more and especially about grafting so thank you for sharing here!

I'm thinking of switching to coco coir as well.  However, only about 2 out of ~20 varieties I was rooting got any mold (using sphagnum peat moss), and they both were too damp--so far I haven't given up on either variety, though.  I think I just needed to squeeze more moisture out.  I'm not sure if coir is any better at preventing mold, but it's worth a try.

Hi Shahdase,

I have already replied you private message. Too bad i missed your stay in Lisbon.

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Hi Meg,

Thanks for the welcome and the effort to greet me in my own language. Unfortunately, i am not Spanish. It's similar, but the phrase is  - "Bem-vindo, Jaime! Olá!" - in Portuguese. I live in a small European country near Spain, but we have a border and a different language.

Just kidding... :-) don't be offended.

Regarding my collection of figs. It's growing and although i don't have many trees inground yet (very bad wet clay soil that tends to kill small trees) i have many new additions in small containers.

I do have old, repeated and neglected fig trees that i plan to clean and graft with several new varieties. I also plan to graft a couple with caprifigs and try to introduce the wasp, so i can enlarge my options regarding fig varieties.

Just last week i cleaned a very dense patch of wild growing and managed to free some very old and distorted small fig trees. Cut most of the old branches that were too tall or crooked in search of light . When they produce new growth, next spring, i will graft them.

   

Hi adipose,

Since i switched to coco coir my mold problems are almost zero. i only have to remember to open the boxes for a few minutes once in a while. Last weekend i left them closed and unattended and mold appear immediately. Was easy to clean though.

Here are a few pictures of some of the cuttings i am rooting:
       

Ah, this makes me happy. 

Good to have another grower in proper fig country!