now.. i heard some bad things about Calvert. heavily infected wtih FMV, will not grow well, might just drop dead on you one day.

and i believe it. i rooted 6 cuttings in spring of 2012 hoping to taste just one Calvert. from what i have heard, Calvert in USDA/UCD is one of better tasting figs. i just wanted to taste one.

to my surprise, one of the Calvert out of 6 cuttings did rather well during the spring and put on nice leaves and nice figs. currently it's just sitting there with figs and not putting on new leaves. however, it still looks great. i still have 3 others and they all look rather sad. leaves are distorted, lot of spots on them... figs are not good size like one good Calvert.. and so on.

i was checking the figs this morning and i noticed something rather strange on one of the sad looking Calverts.

it has a figs that's about the size of nickle that is swelling. i'm sure it will be very small figs when it's ripe, but i guess, i'll be able to taste one figs off Calvert, unless the best one of them all decide to do something before the winter comes.

will post pix when that one is fully ripen.

edit: WOW!!! it's not exactly nickle size.. it's more like penny size.. but does it pack flavor. if you like tart stuff, Calvert will fit the bill. the acid hit you as soon as you bite into it. and it lingers. too small for me to detect any other flavor out of it, but boy.. this is another "wow" fig. hope the bigger figs on one good tree out back will ripen the figs. now i'm really looking forward to it. i'll root prune next yr to make sure the roots are not having any issue like strangling the tree. 

Pete,

Wishing you luck on this one. 

Beautiful little fig. Good luck with them!

Congratulations!  After all the trouble you've had this year you deserve some successes.

Another really neat fig struck down by FMV. I rooted these this spring and they don't look that bad yet. It sure is a beautiful fig. 

Pete, please keep us updated. thx.

Pete,

Nice fig, Congrats .Good luck to fully ripen the remaining ones.

Francisco

thanks for the pics pete. I never miss one of your posts.

thanks everyone. this one seems to be affected by the FMV. however, there is a better specimen in the back deck with cleaner leaves and bigger figs. looking forward to them by mid/end of this month.

one of the better Calvert has a fig turning color right now. it looks like it's going to be bigger than the previous one. about the size of quarter or larger. will post the pix in few days.

Hi Pete, it's awfully cute and pretty fig!

Good to be rewarded for your patience and hard work.  Way to go.

goss

took this off while watering the trees. this one has been under the front porch away from rain. however, i noticed the crack. it seems Calvert, at least ones i have, will soak up moisture from the air. it could have used 2-3 more days, but i took it off since there was crack near the eye and i didn't want it getting spoiled. 

this one didn't have blood red pulp like the previous one. the taste was more mild, however, still had that tartness. but it wasn't impressive like the last one. over all taste was more like supermarket strawberry. had nice crunch to it, but didn't taste any nuttiness like in Paradiso Gene. 

Thanks for the update Pete and as always great pictures.


goss

Pete,

Still a nice fig. The more Sun it gets the deeper the color of the pulp and with far more juices.
Ideally and through the ripening process it should be fully bathed with sun from sunrise to sunset.
this is my experience.

Francisco

francisco, those two figs are from two trees under my front porch to sink or swim :) i didn't expect much from them. but now i'm thinking one of them deserve a place in my paradise by the back deck where they will get full sun all day long.

Pete,

You will not be disappointed
Good luck
Francisco

was at home for lunch.. the best Calvert i have in the back has a fig that is swelling. now that one is lot bigger than last 3-4 i had. definiely looking forward to that one. it's been sitting in full sun for over 2 months now. i hope it will have better taste.

Good thread Pete and good to see Calvert up close and personal. I am looking forward to seeing more figs.

Calvert doesn't seem to enjoy rain. when i came home from vacation, two that were ripening had blown up. one was more or less exploded. the other one was splitting from the side. i ate both of them. insects are not enjoying the weather either and they haven't gotten to them yet. 

the taste was all washed out. i couldn't tell much what i was tasting, but it was promising. what i mean is.. as bland as it was, it wasn't totally bland. hard to describe. the pulp were dense, and it looked like it would have been great if the weather had kept dry during the ripening process. it was not watery or runny. there are few more ripening so i'll see how they turn out. this one was much bigger than the ones under the front porch.