I bought what was labeled a VdB this summer and planted it in the yard (june).  At the time it was about 3.5-4ft high with a couple branches, but no fruit.  The plant had a VdB ID tag from Dave Wilson Nursery on it.

After planting, it started growing and had a fall crop ripening in August.  After picking, it continued to grow and had another fall crop which started to ripen last week.  The height is now 8ft with multiple branches.

I live in coastal Orange County, CA and my yard is sandy loam, mulched, with drip irrigation.  So ideal growing conditions.

All the literature says VdB is a slow grower, good for containers, and may not reach 8ft ever.  Mine reached 8ft in 4 months!  I sited it expecting a small tree and it is already taking up the allotted space.  I could hard prune every year to keep it in bounds but I'm really wondering if I got a mislabeled fig.  Everyone says how tasty they are and mine are good but not blowing me away.

My question for VdB owners is:  is this growth rate expected?  Looking for feedback from other owners on growth rate/habit to see if this behavior is normal when grown in ideal conditions or if I should be shopping for the "real" VdB.  Pics attached.

Thanks!

That seems *really* fast. I have a VdB for almost 3 years now (and it was maybe 1.5 years old when I got it) and it is 4-5 ft tall. Very good figs, I love them. But for me it is definitely a small and slower grower. I will try to take some pics for you tomorrow.

Mine is a slow grower also. better pics of the leaf itself will help. Take a leaf off and take a pic if you can My leaves look different from yours mine are more jagged and narrow and longer.

I got a fig labeled black mission, a few years back. I posted a picture of the leaf and fruit and most said it's probably vdb/negronne. I grew 100 from cuttings and in 4 months they were almost all 6-8ft tall. I think the nursery means that it can be maintained/trimmed to 8ft. I don't know of any true dwarf fig trees that will never get over 8ft tall. Yours looks like a real vdb to me. Also 1st year fruit might not be as good as 2nd and 3rd year, many of my trees 1st year figs were very different tasting then 2nd years. pic of leaf/inside fruit color.  
   

More pictures

VDB is what you got there. :-)

My VdB is a vigorous tree. I'm almost positive that one of my unknowns is also a VdB, and the mother tree is taller than 8 feet. It's quite old looking, and I'm guessing about 12' tall.

scphil,

I agree, yours definitely looks like VdB. Here are some pics of my tree. Mine is in a container (25 gal) and is definitely not pot bound, but just by virtue of being in a pot vs. being in the ground it will tend to be more compact.

Tree. Pic taken today.

 

Leaves. Pic taken today.

 

This tree is *very* productive for me. I started getting figs in mid-May and it finished up around mid-Sept. But it is *still* trying to grow figs (probably won't ripen this year). Pic taken today.

 

Here is a picture of some figs from mid-July. They are berry/jammy and very moist. Not dry at all. Notes of raspberry and just delicious.

 

Ok, mystery solved.  Consensus is VdB.  I'll have to get my pruners out.  Thanks everybody!

scphil, between yours and Figgysid1's more ideal growing conditions you have a VdB that is growing much faster and taller than typical / average. But it sure looks like VdB.

You said yours was a Dave Wilson tree. FWIW, mine was from Bay Flora Nursery.

But this is definitely a great tree no matter the size. Like I said above, mine was very productive. Several dozens of figs this year from a 4-5 ft tree. And takes the heat like a champ! That picture of the ripe fig from July was when temperatures here were 110-115 F. And completely moist and succulent.

My VDBs grow very well but are still in their first year.  They went form twigs in December under a grow light to growing over 4 feet tall with several trunks and produced about 20-30 figs per plant.  Some report slower growth, but mine really took off.