I decided to post these pictures early in the season, for documentation. The three largest fig trees are over 50 years Old. I will be calling them RalphDark and RalphLight. There are two smaller RalphDark trees pictured and one smaller RalphLight. These trees were brought here from Naples in 1960 by Silvio, Ralph's dad (allegedly in his socks). I was only able to sample an unripe RalphDark fig last year, it was good, but not fully ripe, so I cannot describe the actual taste. The RalphLight fig had ripened all its figs by that time (October 2012).
I was on my way home today and noticed that Ralph had started to prune the fig trees. The fig trees are planted at Silvio's house (who has passed away), but are now maintained by Ralph, his son.  I phoned Ralph to gain access for pictures and cuttings he drove over and posed for a picture with his Dad's favorite fig trees.

I will post fig pictures when they are available.

The RalphLight Tree is producing hundreds of early (breba) figs. I was told that they ripen in Late June to early July.

Looks like it could be a winner.  Enjoy it!

Love the pictures.. that is a lot of suckers and they look great.

Great.  Early June-July is that early for you? Keep us posted. May have to clear more land!!!!!!1

Zone 8
South West TX

really great looking trees

NICE!

Update 6/5/2013

Pictures taken today...


      
 

nice. my hardy chicago is starting to put figs out but they are only about a cm big at the moment.

Wow, how are there already figs that big on a tree in NY?  I'm in MD and mine are barely visible so far.  I guess it has to do with the tree being so big and hardy?

Thanks for those pic's Pete...really nice looking trees, and a nice back story too.

Attached pictures are of 4 year old (3+ years) RalphDark and RalphLight fig trees. These trees are located one (1) block away from the mother trees in the Opening Post (OP). The first pictures are from May 3, 2013 and the other pictures were taken June 5, 2013. There are brebas (2-4) on every branch and main crop figs are forming.


4 year old Ralphlight and Ralphdark fig trees next to a 4 foot high fence.

Great looking trees Pete ! Loved the packed them "in his socks" !!

So Pete, are these in-ground in your listed zone?

bigsmile542, ... Yes its early for Northern growers. but its relative to your zone. These trees started to wake up when the temps got to 60's days and 50's at nights. With that info you can easily calculate when the trees would start bearing in your location.

thearabicstudent, ... Yes. Healthy trees produce... It also helps if the cultivar is an early producer. The Ralph light may be an Italian Honey Type... I will post pictures when the figs are ripe, a few have already started to soften.

Pattee, ... I will try to speak to Ralph's mother and hopefully will get more detailed information on the history of these trees.

Dale, ... These trees are planted in ground in the Bronx, NYC. Which is currently listed as USDA Zone 7. The Ralphlight mother tree is planted in a micro-climate... Surrounded on four sides. North by a 2 story brick building, West by a 1 story block garage, south by a 1 story cargo container and East by a parked panel van. The tree is 2 stories tall, and covered in breba figs. Rooted cuttings will b planted at my home a Zone 6, but will be grown as a stepover espalier.

Keep us posted. I am sure many are interested in survival in-ground in Zone 6.

Update: 6/21/2013

Pictures of Ralphlight and Ralphdark figs. Also picture of the 4 year old trees.

Ralphlight Breba with quarter for size reference.



      

Following, with great interest.  Backyard figs are the best! 



Frank

Update: 7/8/2013

I stopped today to help thin out the branches on the small Ralphlight tree, the picture of the tree was after pruning. Figs have been ripening on the Ralphligt trees since the week of June 24. I was not able to get any figs from the mother tree, but I did pick two from the small tree today. These figs are about 30% smaller than those on the mother tree. Yes that is "honey" sealing the eye of the fig. One more day and it may have been too ripe.


The ripe fig was mildly sweet with no fig taste and a large amount of crunchy hollow seeds, which gave it a very mild nutty flavor. The unripe fig needed a few more days, but was included in the picture for reference.


      

Very nice pics Pete. They are bringing back memories of my childhood.

So very interesting Pete , thanks for all your pics and keeping us up to date.

that fig looks awesome. love the pix of fig dripping honey.

thank you for sharing.

susie

You take nice pictures .

Thanks, and You're Welcome.
The pictures were taken with my IPhone. Its fully automatic with a fixed lens, but it has a focus feature that I recently figured out. The camera auto focuses, but you can manually focus on anything on the screen by touching it. Using this feature has increased the quantity of usable picture (I take multiples, 3 or 4 of the same shot and use the best picture).

Martin,
I hope I will be able to do justice to the "Dark" fig with my pictures.

Update: 9-4-13

Pictures of Ralphlight and Ralphdark main cop figs taken today. The Ralphlight was sweet, no fig taste with a nutty flavor and pronounced seed crunch. The Ralphdark was sweet, very mild fig taste, mild berry flavor, faint seed crunch, and thin skin. The flavor profile is very similar to the Unknown-Bryantdark.

Also included are pictures of another Unknown Barnesdark. Ralph invited me to take pictures of these trees, its located 1 block from my childhood home behind an 8 foot chain link privacy fence. The flavor profile is similar to Unknowns Bryantdark and Ralphdark.