Hello all!

I saw some posts from lampo in the Topic "Ripening Order" regarding Portuguese Fig Varieties.(https://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/Ripening-order-2858750?&trail=100)

I will spend an Exchange Semester in Huelva, Spain, which is located roughly an hour from the Portuguese border and thought, "hey, I could check out these varieties!"

So, does anybody know (I know this is and US forum, but please bear with me) where I could obtain either cuttings oder plants from the mentioned varieties? I tried to look up the varieties but since I do not speak Portuguese, I couldn't find any info...

Thank you!
Max

Thanks for bringing up this topic. Lampo has posted some great pictures there and I missed them. We have a large Portuguese immigrant community here in Southern California and many brought their favorite figs with them.

Jon at Encanto Farms has a wide variety of cuttings available and might be able to help you if you email him. He also sells cuttings on eBay as Pitangadiego. http://encantofarms.com
 
Harvey at http://www.figaholics.com/cuttings.htm has a few of the fig tree cuttings mentioned in the post for sale but a few are smyrna types and required special pollination. If you do a page search there of "Portugal", you'll come up with 16 hits. His Figo Preto is one of my top figs. 

Here is a post with more figs from Portugal listed: https://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/portuguese-fig-varieties-3981497

hey AltadenaMara,

thank you for the Links! Especially the last one, very interesting.

I know of these two sources of cuttings, however, since I will be either in Spain or in Germany, it's kinda risky to order them and let them be shipped across the globe (if they arrive at all, and when, at what cost...) when you could easily take a car and take a 2h drive and pick up the cuttings fresh... Which was my plan! 

I don't mind a Week-End trip to Portugal, on the contrary, I'd love to do some of these and on the way, pick up some cuttings and start them in Spain :)

So my question now is: Does anyone living in Portugal know where I could visit? Or who would also maybe sell some cuttings? :)

But once again, thank you for the Link AltadenaMara, will continue reading now!!

Just some advice. If you plan to grow these fig trees in the states where the fig wasp does not exist, you need to look for varieties that do not require caprification. That can be difficult in Europe.

hey leon_edmond,

thanks for the advice, I am from Germany, and plan to grow them either/and in Germany and Bulgaria near the Black Sea, where the Wasp is present. For Germany I plan on maybe getting a caprifig from Bulgaria (already caprified) and keep it in a greenhouse so I can farm my own wasps, but that's a topic for another time.

I am mainly interested in the heavy Breba varieties for Germany, and the normal varieties, which need a lot of sun and therefore heat, for Bulgaria.

In Germany I already have some cultivars, which do not require caprification (Dalmatie, Sultane, Florea and soon: Celeste, Black Mission, Kure Beach UNK, LSU Tiger, maybe Brunswick and Ronde de Bordeaux and so on).

So the Figs that got my attention were:
- VIOLETA (since this seems to be BM)
- LAMPEIRA PRETA
- CASTANHAL
- BÊBERA BRANCA

hope this helps
Max

Hi Max,

If you will be spending some time in Huelva you could make a run into the southern part of Portugal (Algarve) and probably collect many cuttings of several good varieties along the roads. Most of those will be Common figs.

You can also order some varieties from a few Portuguese nurseries, like Viveiros Castromil and Viveiros Albar (both have websites and extensive lists, but only a few fig trees (look for Figueiras) and they don't always have all the varieties listed)

Violeta and Bêbera Branca are Common varieties but are late and do need a long summer to ripe. I don't know if they will work in Bulgaria.

Lampeira Preta is one of the best San Pedro we have - it's cultivated for it's large, good quality Brebas.

Some of our Portuguese figs:

Hey Jsacadura!

Thank you so much for the huge list and the two links. Yes something like visiting the Algarve would be perfect, I think the fiancée will like that as well ;) if you know some specific places I could visit, I am open to any suggestion !

Maybe I will concentrate on the San Pietro varieties, since they should be early!
But the shops mostly have only a few varieties and not the ones I am looking for..
And is Delphine Violeta the same as Violeta?

I am in contact with lampo and he could send me some cuttings, so that is awesome! :)

Thank you again,
Max

I had one fruit on my Bacorinho and it was out of this world. Sorry no pics.

Hi, Max,

You better ask Francisco. He lives in Algarve and he is the man to tell you the best places to visit.

It's really difficult to find nurseries that sell more than a handful of Portuguese varieties. Here's another - Plântula, that has more varieties listed. The problem is that, usually, they don't have them in stock (they are specialized in big orders to farmers and they produce the trees when they have a big order. Sometimes a few are left behind in the nursery and that's when we can get some)

>>is Delphine Violeta the same as Violeta?
No, Delphine Violeta has nothing to do with Violeta.


Francisco,

I have yet to taste a fig from my Bacorinho, but now Vinny's statement made me very curious about it's quality. Ira Condit say's it's "good quality" but he doesn't sing praises about it. For instance, for Badalhouce, Moscatel Branco and São Luís he uses "very good" quality.

I have a small rooted plant and a vigorous graft. Maybe the graft let's me taste a fig this year.

When i got the cuttings i offered one to a good friend of mine and he declined based on the traditional name - Bacorinho (little pig) - which meant they were used mainly to feed little pigs. 

I know that we have lots of wonderful figs and based on that quality maybe these were given to pigs while the best one's were for human consumption. 
Do you have any other explanation for the name, Francisco?

Thanks, Francisco.

That makes much more sense that the interpretation he gave me.

Who doesn't like a good piece of Leitão da Bairrada - this dish was nominated one of the 7 gastronomic wonders of our country, along with Alheira de Mirandela, Queijo da Serra da Estrela, Caldo Verde, Sardinha Assada, Arroz de Marisco and Pastel de Belém (pictures in this link) :-)

I had one called 3 in a plate, in Portuguese, but where I live its to cold, does not do well in a pot, gave it to a buddy from Portugal, who forgot to give it water in the pot, so it died, and the mother tree was eaten by mice, can't find another one, it is only grown in the middle of Portugal, and even rare there too  the figs are so big only 3 will fit on a plate the biggest figs come from Japan even the leaves are huge 

Fig "Three to a plate" = Tres Num Prato (Tres Ao Prato) It's mentioned in the list above.
It was offered for sale by one seller on the Internet earlier this year but is sold out. If you google the name you'll find there are some sellers on eBay who have offered cuttings of it in the past and might still have some available.   

Jaime hi,

On both websites that were posted on nurseries there is the variety "Adler Preto" , According to my sources it is very similar or identical to Black Italian/boujassote noir or locally in Israel known as Tuvia Shehora.

This is from an article by Dr Raphael Assaf:

Italqit Shehora (= italienne noire) est une
vieille introduction d’Italie, identique au
clone Adler. Sa figue a une belle présentation, un bon goût et sa qualité est excellente. Certains clones avec fruits plus petits
doivent être délaissés. La dernière variété
réimportée d’Italie s’appelle Tuvia noire, du
nom de la personne qui l’a réintroduite. Elle
donne un arbre à végétation vigoureuse et
feuillage dense ; de ce fait, son fruit, identique à la variété Italqit Shehora d’origine,
est de bonne qualité en montagne. Cette
variété peut être recommandée pour une
plantation en grands vergers commerciaux.