Well; what a disappointment it is.  A fine tree, figs as big as eggs.

BUT; open eye, and even a little shower here sours the fig.  Further, it is just now ripening, almost the middle of October, and we have no more hot days to bring them on.  Once the begin to sour little wasps about the size of a honeybee attack them---may as well, the figs are of no use to me.  I hate losing this tree--paid $50 for it as I recall, but it is useless in this climate, 35 miles S. of Tulsa, OK.

This leaves me with nothing but a couple of no-name-from-cuttings whose identity I've lost, a really nice Celeste, a Hardy Chicago, a Pakistani Black and a Plattner Violetta.  The last four are all in the ground.

The Celeste makes a good fig here, small, about the size of a quarter, but sweet.  The Hardy Chicago has no taste worth mentioning, the Pak Black is not much larger than the Celeste and ripening so late that I may never taste one.  (I'm going to let it grow another year to see if it improves as the tree matures) 

The Violetta just went into the ground this year, has only a branch or two (it nearly froze in its pot last winter) but it has one nice fig on it, larger than the Celeste.  Since it is said to be a variant of Celeste I expect it to be sweet when picked in the next day or two.

When I sent my potted figs away my daughter took a Texas Everbearing that had made really nice, big figs in late summer.  I need to get that one back.





  

Thanks for sharing.

Best,
Tam

update:  Had to go out to the barn a bit ago and looked the Pak Black over.  Found one almost ripe fig, perhaps three times as large as the Celestes I've been getting. 

Has anyone any experience with this fig?  Is it particularly sweet, or does it have any other worthwhile characteristics?  Big and sweet are my two favorite qualities in a fig, but pretty is as pretty does and I've no use for a big and sweet fig that does not mature in this climate, or sours in damp weather.

Hi oxankle,

Dennis and Herman posted about the Paradisos early in the season--apparently there are several varieties. Herman mentioned 'Paradiso Nero' ripens earlier in the season.  http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=4890906

Best of luck finding a winner,
Rick

Oxankle, I had the same early on but now without rain
it is pretty good.

Hi Guys and Gals;
Been a while since I posted on this site, but a discussion of the Violetta here and Recomer's post about the several Paradiso trees reminded me of a flap here a couple years ago. 

One of our members insisted that her fig was the true Paradiso, someone disputed that and the fuss was on.  I named my tree the REP, the Real Eyetalian Paradiso and have referred to it that way since.

Newnandawg:  The Paradiso is excellent if you can ripen them in dry weather--large, sweet, excellent flavor.

Ox

Ox I have the same tree and have had the same problems. You wait all year, they start to swell and turn color........then the rain comes and they burst like popcorn. It's been very disappointing for me too.

Part of the journey is to bear the disappointment of a variety not suited to your area. Is the black Pakastani suppose to be the Kala Heera?

Ox,
I included a picture of this fig (I have it labelled "White Paradiso" and it was purchased from Joe Morle in 2007) that ripened before all the rain and a picture of a fig that soured and as you can see some critter started to take a bite out of it and stopped as it was so sour. I took this picture as I felt a small amount of joy that at least one of my fig thieves got a bad taste in it's mouth. Hah!

I do have some trouble with this variety and ants but up until this year I haven't had them sour. This was a very wet cool year where I live.
When they ripen and the ants don't get them I consider this variety pretty good and have two of them.

Michael, thanks for sharing.

Best,
Tam

Oxankle, pics of Paradiso JM I just picked.

Hi, just wanted to say, I have a Morle paradiso that is prolific, produced over 40 large figs in its first year.  Some of them soured rather quickly, also most of them split open at the neck rather early, this forces me to pick them earlier than I would like.  There are still about 10-15 left on my tree.  I agree with Oxankle that the "other" paradiso figs are far superior to the Morle type.  I will probably try the Morle for one more year, but it is on a short leash shall we say.  It just seems like too many problems for a fig that is not that outstanding.  I hope to have a paradiso GH or a bronze by next year, I tried the white variety earlier this year, they are sold at the Reading Terminal market in Philadelphia, it is one of the best figs I have ever eaten.