2013 Fig Information zone 8a Newnan, Ga.

FIG TREE                            RIPENING DATE               BURIED POT OR POT                               RATING                           COMMENTS

LSU Scotts Black                10/9/13                                BP                                           8.5                          Keeper

White Triana                      10/14/13                              P                                             3                             Goner

Unk Sarasota                      10/14/13                              P                                             7                            Red Sicilian ?

Neroo600m                        10/14/13                              P                                             8                             Lots of promise

VdB                                 10/21/13                              P                                             10                           Excellent

Black Madeira                    10/21/13                              BP                                           10                           Excellent

Col de Dame Noir               11/1/13                                P                                             unk                        Lots of promise

I wanted to provide this information not only for the newbies but anyone who finds it valuable.

Ripening date is the first fig picked from that variety.

P = pot sat on concrete walk or driveway.

BP = pot was buried 8-10 inches and was mulched with pine straw.

Our  warm season lasts from May 26 to September 20 with an average daily high temperature above 81°F. The hottest day of the year is August 10, with an average high of 88°F and low of 66°F.

                                          My Average Rain per month

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Great info Mike,

Always love to see results and local is a bonus.
Going to have to go back and see what you  posted on White Triana, maybe i need to drop from my want list.

"anyone who finds it valuable" - really?  You must be kidding, this is a gold mine of info.

Thanks Steve I hoped it would be.

Mike, I like your data table.  I will be completing my database around Thanksgiving time.  This year was a crappy year for figs in my book!  Trees that usually producce figs in June and July were 30 late due to excessive rain and change in weather. 

Hmmm........You and I are in the same zone.  But lately, I've been questioning my zone (8a)!  Most of Charlotte is 7b but this year my zone was changed.  I'm located near the river and we get snow everytime GA gets snow.  In other words, when the snow storm comes up I-85 we always get hit hard. 

I am very surprised to see White Triana at a rating of "3".  Those trees in pots, do they have the exact same soil medium?  Did you change fertilizers?  Is the tree rootbound?  The reason I ask is I have WT in the ground and some in pots.  I did not get a large number of figs from my trees but I don't think it was my fault.  I had the same problem for about 2 years with LaGoccia d'Oro.  But this year, my LGdO ripen very well and the coons almost broke my tree tby climbing it.  Its in a large pot but tomorrow I iwill be repotting it in a whiskey barrell and winterizing it inside my garage.  And the figs are laugh happy amazing!!!  As for WT, it is my sweetest fig!  It has a very very very high sugar content.   I think I have 4 of them now.

I'm just curious why yours is doing so poorly.  It might surprise you next year.  My I258 did not fruit last year.  But this year I got figs even with the crappy weather this year.  Big Bloom helped!  Do you winterize your trees?  I'm tring to see what else could be causing it to do so poorly.

If you want to try a liquid fertilizer, in April get yourself some "Big Bloom" organic fertilizer.  Give it a dose every weekend for one month and watch what happens.  This year, my Ischia Black decieded to grow after 3 years of nothing.  So I got mad and gave it some Big Bloom.  This year I can honestly say, my Ischia Black taste pretty darn close to its mother tree in UCD.  No joke!  So, next year, all of my trees will get some Big Bloom in April.  Also, those that gave me the most growth were those feed from the bottom and given this well drained soil medium called Pete's Potting Mix. 

You made me smile, all the varieties you rated as excellent with the exception of 1 I have. Haven't tasted them yet but I must have some good ones!!! Thanks for the work!

I already pulled it down into my own XLS, I don't want to have to search back for the post.

Dennis, nearly all of my trees are in Fertilome Ultimate Potting Mix. You are correct Sir, it was a crappy year for figs and tomatoes. They
were both water logged. That is more than likely the problem with most of the ones that did poorly. I am a stones throw from 7b also. We
are in a low area south of Atlanta and it can get as cold here as anywhere north of Atlanta, except the mountains. My winterizing consists
of cleaning off the top of the soil, letting it get a couple of frosts and stacking them in my garage. A drink or two of water through the winter.
I will certainly try the Big Bloom. I know exactly where to get it. Thanks for all your remarks.

MIke are those trees young no ?
Reason i ask is that i have some of those in list but they ripened a full month earlier .

Martin, on this page the CdDN is young along with White Triana.

On page one, there are five young trees.

The rain caused a lot of the delays getting some good ripe figs this year. A lot of the first ones were water logged or split

Mike , I was surprised that ischia green was a "goner" for you . I had read such good things about it ,actually being under rated !
Thanks for taking the time , doing this and posting.

This is really spectacular, Mike. Thanks! 

Pattee, I have had a discussion with another member and mine doesnt seem to match up with his. I am not sure of the origin of
this tree and can't find out. I may try another source since I have seen some good reports on it.

Ahh , I see. Hope you get another and get better results with it.

Mike, thanks for posting your data base a lot of good info. like Dennis I was surprised by the 3 rating for White Triana, mine is in ground and last year it produced excellent tasting figs, this year with the terrible weather they were just average but still decent

 Pete

Bump

Mike, 2 variant got scored 10 and excelent as fresh fruit table ? I must have LOL, thanks for sharing ....

Great info. Thanks.  =)  I'm going to have to cut back on my trees.  This is my 1st year and by Thanksgiving I will have approx. 50 varieties!  I have limited space so I don't really have the luxury of waiting 3 or 4 years for these to mature before I start to pick out the best and give away or sell the rest.  Ultimately, I'd like to keep about 10-12 trees of the very best varieties.  

last bump

Great information, nice presentation, and useful.


Thanks.


Frank

Great work, Mike. Thanks for your very useful information. Joe

Hello Noss, long time no see. Of course you could have been around and I wasn't.

"Goner" for WT is I got rid of it. I helped a friend with trees and we started him an orchard that now has 30 trees and WT is one of them.

My source for WT was Joe Morley.

The WT leaves were finger like. not solid like a  JH Adriatic.

This was my description of the Smith, "Very good fig on a first year tree. Sweet, strawberry jam with no crunch. The skin was just a little
chewy but also a little sweet just the way I like it. Oh, and another very ugly fig on the outside. I give it an 8.5 already."  In this case, ugly
is good.

White Triana is the sweetest fig I ever tasted, followed by Bay Violetta and a few others..

Dennis, I believe from all the different comments (results) from different people in different areas using different fertilizers and different
watering habits have  shown (proven) that the results can be very different for the same fig variety. LOL