It's summer in Australia, and my figs are just starting to hit their stride. I've a White Nicolina, a Blue Province, two St. Dominique Violettes and an Excel - all one year old or less.

The Blue Province with the baby Excel below right. One breba.

The one year old St. Dominique Violette (below). This one suffers with rust and what I suspect is FMV. You might be able to spot that it's been doused in copper fungicide. The other St. Dominique Violette is just sprouting and appears not to suffer quite so badly. I've put one into a 4-2-1 mix of Diatomite, Pine Bark, and Perlite and the other into a 1-1-1 mix of the same. It won't help me diagnose anything, or observe any preference - the comparison will only help me see how quickly the media dries in this climate. It's just starting to hit 30 degress Celsius (86F) with some regularity.

To my delight, the White Nicolina (below) has just woken up from a bare root transplant gone awry.


It's all very satisfying. I'll be sure to keep you updated.

nice

Beautiful.  I love how they look when they're just starting out.

Nice pictures,nice greens and nice sunlight..

Beautiful!  I always wanted to have 1 house in Oceania and 1 in the US and alternate Spring and Summer forever.   :)

Thanks fro posting pictures of growing fig plants whereas I had to make a couple of trip to the garage to adjust the temperature there just above freezing to avoid cost overrun (while outside is -12C and dropping).
Do you need winter protection for the pots there and how cold it gets in the coldest months?

It's a bit of a treat, isn't it.

Ottowan, I'm not too far from the coast, so it's quite mild. No frosts, certainly, and not offensively humid or hot either. It's a different world where you are. You've certainly committed to fuss over yours where it's so cold. I can't say I blame you. Figs are compelling.

Rcantor, I fear the charm would wear off after a while. Can you imagine forgoing the colours of autumn? The clarity of winter? I can warm to your idea though, losing track of time.

I fear I may've confused one fig for another. May've been the nursery. Bare rooted stock, you might recall.

I think I've confused a 'Blue Provence' with a 'White Nicolina' and vice versa.

See the breba fig I'd previously attributed to my Blue Provence.


Not really a 'squat pyriform shaped fruit with a violet skin showing prominent ribs'. Mabye the main crop will blush and pucker more convincingly. Certainly has an open eye, though. Little bit of juice, too.

Looking inside.


No 'blue tinged/purplish meat with red seeds' either. That said, it was soft and very sweet. Almost cloyingly so.

I'll take a couple of pictures of what I had initially thought was the White Nicolina. It's leaves are certainly large and ornamental - a closer fit with the description of the Blue Province.

Switched at birth mabye?

From your description, the only factor missing to confirm it as Blue Provence is blue/violet skin. Just wait and hopefully later in your summer you mayhave one of the two with blue/violet colour on the outside.

Part of the description of Blue Provence from F4F varietal page says:
"...........Bunning's catalogue of 1916 describes it as having large fruit with a true blue skin color, ripening late. According to Ikin in the NSW, fruit collection in 1974. Rance says that it is mid season variety with "squat pyriform shaped fruit with a violet skin showing prominent ribs, an open eye and blue tinged/purplish meat with red seeds... Very soft and sweet......."

Very nice!  I'll have some too - in 6 months!!! 

Patience is a virtue, I'll be virtuous......

I'd promised some pictures of what I had initially thought was the White Nicolina. I'm near certain it's the Blue Provence despite having no fruit to confirm it. Splayed out, the leaves measure 24 by 21cm. Growth of a metre to boot.   



Looking inside a main crop White Nicolina. Artificial light.



Things are winding down now as the seasons change. There's one fig left.

I wasn't surprised to see the St. Dominique Violette in the 4-2-1 mix wilt less quickly than the other in the 1-1-1 mix. We've had some record high temperatures this year - record high averages too. Both handled it well. I've needed to water them every second or third day. Four days in a pinch.

The one (now two) year old St. Dominique Violette still suffers from rust and is visibly weaker. Besides treating it with copper and sulphur fungicides, it hasn't recieved any special care. All its fruit was small and spoiled as it ripened. It's disconcerting.

I look forward to the next season.

Thanks for the nice update. Record high temps!....hope those skip us!

Nice!!  Australia is on my bucket list.

Mmmmm Australia , I wish I had a house there:)

A new season’s spoils.

A rupturing White Nicolina.

 

The fruit is pictured beside my first excel (a staggeringly delicious runt). The taste of the excel reminded me of a mix of bone dried figs, strawberry and a mellow (Manuka-like) honey. Ripened mid-January.



 

The fecund Blue Provence. It grows so eagerly here. I’m really looking forward to seeing the fruit develop; Not least to taste it, but also to verify that it is a Blue Province after all.

 

No breba this year. A couple of surprise defoliations, and, disappointingly, no fruit from either St. Dominique Violette. 

I would trim at 15 cm from where it branches into 3, so each of the 3 branches will be 15cm, they will branch out again. Formation pruning, and you will have fruit on the new branches that will form there. you will have an amazing tree.

Look at the drawings in this Brazilian article.  By doing this, you have the renewing cuttings year after year. 
http://tdsagro.blogspot.com/2009/01/cultivar-figueira.html

Hi Papertiger,
What are the typical months of the grow season for your figs ?

Depending on that, I would pinch the tree. I would remove the length of the 6-7 last leaves from the terminal bud on the two longer stems.
You could then root those 2 cuttings.
Pinching will haste the existing figs to ripen.
It can help if you still have 2 months in your growing season.

Thank you Grasa, that's good advice. I hadn't seen those pruning instructions before. I'd intended to prune to the vase style, and that seems quite similar.

jdsfrance, things will start winding down in April, and begin again in September. Yours is sound advice, but I anticipate this years figs will ripen without intervention.

One of the figs on my Blue Provence has ripened. Puzzlingly, it isn't violet in colour.

 
   
I don't know what to make of it. It can't be a Blue Provence. The fruit was all sweetness and little depth, not at all mealy in texture, with a very thin skin. Lovely, really.

It's left me a little confused. Any ideas? I'll follow it up with the nursery.

Do you have a picture blue leaf and 1st crop