this year, i saw ton of breba on the KB. do you always see so many breba on KB? i'm wondering since i lost all my breba due to my lack of experience in winter storage. do they taste as good as the main crop? are they worth keeping? i guess i'll find out next yr, but don't want to wait that long :)

If Kathleen black is indeed a sport of black mission ( I am not saying this but they are similar), then the brebas are in my opinion garbage.  I always cut back my kathleen black for cuttings so have never tasted a kb breba but plenty of bm brebas.

I have not tasted personally but at least when in ground and mature they may be good. The current resident at Gene's old place in DC said last season the breba on the Kathleen's Black, Paradiso, and Sal's were all delicious and different. 

BM does breba? i can't wait till next yr. all my current BM were rooted spring of 2012. two are about foot tall. one is a runt. among two that're a foot long and has better shape, i'm trying to auction for F4FF. it just started breaking bud, but slow.

i have two i rooted this spring, but they are also slow.

only had 1 KB breba on the tree last yr, but it aborted itself. turned hard as a rock, and turn color really fast. last yr was first yr for KB putting on the figs, and the figs weren't all that impressive. i'm hoping it will improve this yr, but after the root pruning, it's putting out ton of vegetative growth again and no sign of figs yet. then again, i don't see figs on any of my trees so far other than Ischia White.

OK guys... I suggest you use a different abbreviation for Black Mission.  Aside from being ambiguous (Black Madeira, others), it's also not such a great abbreviation for other obvious reasons.

I have been told by some well known collectors, who know their figs, that Kathleen's Black, just might be a very cold hardy sport of Black Mission.

I do not have Black Mission growing. So, I can not compare it to our Kathleen's Black. But, It sure acts like a Mission fig here in our zone 5b/6a. It's first two years here it froze back to the ground. That was after it was bent to the ground and covered. Then this last winter, it still lost 75 percent of it's top. It is with out a doubt, the most cold sensitive in ground fig we have.

I only keep it because Gene Hosey once told me that, once I tasted his Kathleen's Black, I would feed my Hardy Chicago to the pigs. 

So, with an endorsement like that, I keep hoping it will become more adapted to our cold location.

But, for any one who is lucky enough to live in a zone 7 or warmer area, they are lucky that Gene brought this, maybe Black Mission, to our attention.

Bob Connecticut Zone 5b/6a

I too have a Kathleen's Black, and I support what Bob posted above about it seeming cold sensitive.  Mine is not inground, rather potted in a 10 gallon pot (and only a second year tree).  Still, of 48 potted trees that I protected through the winter in a garage, this was one of two that lost its leader tip to cold.  (The other was an unknown).  The tree survived and the side branches are thriving now (and it is making a new leader about an inch below the old tip, which blackened and necrotized).

Bob, I'm glad to hear the endorsement from Gene Hosey... I guess I'll keep this tree for awhile and hope to taste fruit from a mature tree.

Mike   central NY state, zone 5  (5a)

it's too mild here in winter to have KB damanged. usually they start putting out leaves in garage around mid feb. i got my KB from gene after reading his East Coast Figs fig variety site. it's going into 4th yr. last yr i had to pinch to get the figs. this year, i'm not sure if it will put on the figs or not. it put on good breba crop, but i lost all of them. so i root prune to get more water and air to the root. now it's just putting out ton of leaves and branches and no sign of figs yet. then again, neither does any of my other trees at this point. this spring sucks. last year, the main crops were hanging all over the place at this time.