Finally after waiting forever, I got to try a fig from my one year old Vista that was planted in the ground in March.  Lots of clouds for the last 2 months, and more than half a years amount of rain in 6 weeks, I thought surly the figs would be awful.

Yes, this fig could easily have gone a few extra days.  I had intended to wait til it was wrinkly, but a squirrel got the first one that was closer to being ripe even though it was covered with a plastic clamshell.  Since it only had 6 to begin with I wasn't taking any chances.

I shared this fig with my wife and son, here are our taste impressions:

I did not front load taste profile, but preferenced it by saying it was a breba and breba aren't known for being as good as main crop.  My son said raspberry and strawberry, and my wife said nectarine and both were impressed, and wanting more.

I tasted those flavors as well (never under estimate the power of suggestion), but will add that there was very little seed crunch, not overly sweet, and texture and skin was mild.  Pulp was a little jammy without the intense sweet of jam, very mild fig taste.  Second best fig I have tried so far, and I can see why Vista/VdB figs are so popular.
     

Very nice, Don.  I should be able to taste some similar varieties this year, including Negronne, which should be pretty close to what you have.

Thanks for sharing!  I have VdB but not Vista.  Sorry a critter got the first one.  Even in a clam shell!!  I love when members post flavor profiles!  Thanks for that!

Suzi

Nice Don,Vista's my third favorite after Preto and Strawberry Verte.It's a stunning tree after a few
years,displays the purple figs well against the foliage.



My only beef w/Vista is it's inability to dry down on the tree.If left too long it develops off flavors and starts fermenting.Could be the result of my water stressing I suppose,I'm going to keep it better hydrated this season and see if it makes a difference.

Couple of breba I'm waiting on.The smaller ones are ready to go but I'm going to wait a day or two.
The birds have yet to display any interest.

Cheers

 

Congrats.....u guys those look very nice.......can't wait for some of mine to start ripping ..

Beautiful Fruit, Don!

Very nice fig Don. The interior looks so "clean" and juicy for a Breba fig. From the looks of it ,the fig was split in four,so someone ran away with piece #4 and I doubt it was the Son!! Or the Mrs!! Or the squirrel !! Am I right or am I right? Lol.
Same thing happened with yours truly the Mrs and little missK with our first fig a couple of days ago,and I ran with #4 so I'm hoping you are as guilty as I feel!
Paul ( Tyro).
Wow!!!!!
Thanks for sharing guys!

ChrisK, yeah, you totally got me. Plus I ate the portion the squirrel left, no shame.

Thanks everyone, I have VdBs as well and I'm hoping they taste vary similar or better.

Tyro, I want my tree to look like yours when it grows up, what like 4-5 more years I hope.  I'm posting a pic of mine to get your advice.

I'm thinking I'll air-layer the main stem when the figs are done to reduce height and hopefully branching in opposite directions from those branches below.  I started pinching too late I know better now.  
Also, the sun pretty much only comes from one side, east, so about half day sun at most.  I doubt this tree will ever be as balanced as yours.

 

Ha. No shame there Don. Your tree looks very healthy. Congrats.

Hi Don,

It's always easier to structure the tree by pinching when young.Easier on the tree,it can just
grow into it's structure without removing much growth.It's never fun to go out and remove 6'
of height,you know you've hosed yourself for the following year.

Your air layer to the V sounds good,then I would cut back the branches that form the V to buds that break at a 90 from the existing branch.It's hard to describe this so ...

Here's a MBVS that I've started structuring,you can see how the buds are breaking.You don't want to
prune to an outside bud running in the same direction.

 
Here's a Preto that's a little farther along.

 
It needs to be pinched now,I've been waiting for proper bud placement plus some cushion because
sometimes if I pinch too close the selected bud will come up blind.Once I've pinched this I'll be into
tertiary scaffolding with 8 well spaced branches.At that point I can let it run.

Cheer's,

Paul

Thank you for taking the time to explain it!

 I can't believe I haven't thought of bud placement when pinching before.  I have just been counting nodes, thinking why don't I have more control over the directions things are growing...doh.