Hi
i was wondering how soon will i know the taste of the my potted cuttings .
thanks

Not really for a while.  You can get low quality fruit the second year, but mostly, you can't get standard quality fruit of that tree until it's, oh, more than four years old?

This is a question I've had for a while also since I will be trialing several varieties and then reducing the size of my collection.  At what point in the maturity of a fig tree does it reach maximum flavor?  A related issue is whether it is necessary for the tree to be in-ground to reach maximum flavor?  I'd love to hear experienced growers opinions on this.  Cheers.

Some varieties have trouble fruiting at all early on.  I've yet to see anyone talk about Raspberry Latte fruit aside from the mother tree.  Likes to spend it's youth growing.  Kathleen Black is pretty reluctant to fruit young.

Some varieties are known to have poor fruit young, like LSU Everbearing.

Other varieties, like some flavors of Celeste, drop their fruit until they are good and ready to kick bum.  Tho' you'd still get to know whatever fruit that hangs on.

Lastly, you may have issues telling the quality of the fruit from whatever variance of coincidental growing weather.  Might take a few years to really know good, and well, that was an extra hot summer...

i know the taste improves as the tree ages. but at what point will it stop improving? i heard 4-5 yrs for the trees to mature. so, does that mean at that point it will stop improving and will be at the peak of its taste? my VdB was amazing when it first put the figs on second year. the 3rd year was still good but with so much rain, the taste was washed out. i'm hoping we'll have better year this year. i'll say enjoy what you have and if there is even a slight chance of getting better next year, keep it and taste it again :)

My Carini tree was 2 years old when it grew it's very first breba fig.  It was amazing.  Thin skin, rich red pulp.  The main crop gave me a few more, which were also good, but the breba tasted better.  My mature 10+ year old Carini tree tastes different.  It makes great figs, but the breba on the younger 2yr old tree was better.

Pete, is your VdB in a container?  My container VdB put on a handful of figs last year for the first time.  They were good not great but am looking forward to what this summer holds.

That's the million dollar question. I got a tree from a friend who said the figs were the best you could ever eat. I let the tree have figs the first year and needless to say they were the blandness pieces of fruit I ever ate. No flavor at all not even the slightest bit of sweetness. It was like eating a piece of foam. Yuk! I'm keeping the tree since I was assured they are very good. What it boils down to is that the flavor of figs on an established tree is going to be more complex and flavorful then a young tree. Also the growing environment has a lot to do with it, soil, temps, fertilizer, amount of sun and I would bet even the water used in watering the trees. Patience young grasshopper!

With cuttings,
usually 2 years to poor quality fruit
3 years or more for any amount or quality.

If you can access trees without problem,
then do airlayer.
You can research how to accomplish on this site, easy.

My VdB is in a 10 gal tub.

hmmmm...
so maybe its better to delay the transfer to 10 gallon pots and keep them in 5 so it gets a bit root constricted and stress the plant "a bit" so it will produce fruit faster?

btw hungryjack i am not so concerned since the cuttings are from tree in old orchards and no one cares about them. so even if i have 15% of the cuttings rooting i am happy.

anyhow i am getting better....... like the fig trees

Good Luck

here is something to think about. 

when i started this fig thing, i got my first 3 trees from East Coast Figs. they were sent to me in fall. as soon as i got them, i put them in 3 gal container. by the june of next year, the roots filled up the 3 gal container and i repot them into 10 gal container. by sept. the 10 gal containers were filled. i didn't bother with bigger container. mainly 'cause when i did repot in june,  yes repot, not up pot, i lost 1 month in the trees recovering from the shock. 

next yr, i kept them in 10 gal. i meant to root prune, but i didn't. the figs were amazing. the taste improved 10 fold on one of my tree. other was washed out due to too much rain. 

now.. spring of 2012, i rooted good number of UCD cuttings. they did very well. some are root bound. am i going to xfer them into 3, 5, or 10 gal.. i wish i can move them to 10 gal. if i had choice, i would. way i see it, first 2-3 yrs are basically for vegetative growth. give them ton of room for the top and roots to grow. if you get good crop, good. if not, wait at least 4-5 years to see what they will turn into. 

if you search on White Greek, you will see great reviews. i trust this forum and the opinion of the members how has been growing the figs much longer than i have. last year was first year that my White Greek putting on the figs. it was more or less tasteless. not bad taste, not just bland.. it just didn't have any taste. am i going to trash this tree? heck no. it came from very generous forum member and i'll treasure it forever. i'll give it every chance i can. but beside that, the figs will improve over number of year. give it time.