A very large and dense Black fig ! A nice fruit on any table.
Although being grown and ripen by a very young tree, rooted in the spring of 2013, the first two fruit gave respectively 132 and 136 grams - it's big! for size, let's say 3 and 1/2 x 2 and 1/2 inch average
Zidi is a full Smyrna type! a Caducous fig .  Without pollination by the Blastophaga or manually it will never ripe!.. no mid-term.

I could have left the figs hanging on the branch for another day or so but, it was too risky as birds know when they are better.
It tastes  good, not too far from other dark Smyrnas from here and/or  North Africa. As the tree ages the figs will certainly gain further qualities. Half a ripe Zidi is more than a mouthful !
Sweet, very much true crunchy, remembering the flavors from that ice cream grandma prepared with the mix of myrtillus ,wild strawberries and passion fruit I used to bring  her for that purpose.

I exhort my fellow forum members, particularly in California , not to wait any longer and to give it a try. (it could ripe elsewhere !)
I am sure it will be fun growing and tasting - eating these figs..
Francisco


Rooted in April, by October 2013 it had created a nice short canopy and strong roots

 

By May 27/2014, some fig lets develop sufficiently and indicate to be ready to accept pollination.
At this stage the Zidi shows a very hairy skin which absorbs the glare from its shiny dark green skin underneath

 


By the end of May the first wasps trying to get to the fig are caught in the webs of minute
spider predators... nevertheless, with more or less help, they always manage to go their job done.
On this particular tree, all figs were pollinated.

 

Approx a month later, by the end of June the green emerald skin colors confirm that the fruit has been caprificated, and is gaining volume at a good pace. Instead of the white speckles sported by other varieties, Zidi appears to show small protruding whitish granules under the skin


 

Days after, the shallow ribs on the fruit get more visibility as they start getting  darker tones and the fruit increases volume very rapidly

 

The final profiles take shape now as well as coloring 

 

 



   

 

 

This is such a great post! Thank you for sharing.

Too funny, I just got done doing a search about this variety not 1 minute ago! It looks great, thanks for sharing. Too bad we are waspless here.

You've done it again, Francisco! Another beauty added to my list. Thank you.

Great pictorial Francisco, good to see when the figs are ready for pollination. Such a large juicy fig, I really must get some caprifigs and try and pollinate mine.

Mike in Hanover, VA

That looks gorgeous and the description is sounding so tantalizing I also must figure out a way to collect pollen so I can pollinate figs manually and improve my common figs but add gems like this.

If memory serves me correctly, this fig originally comes from north africa, possibly Tunisia if I am remembering correctly, which I may not be.

Ate a lot if this fig while I was in Morocco. Very tasty. To the best of my knowledge, fig grows in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.

Francisco, very very nice. I can taste it. Thanks for sharing.

Cool! Thanks for the post!
Mine is still tiny with 3 leaves, maybe the next summer I am lucky to see a fig or two.

I have a couple Zidi plants, super large leaves, real nice and no fig wasps. If I do not get any brebas then it will make a wonderful root stock to graft my slow growers on. It is a vigorous grower.

Thank you all for your time looking at this post and commenting.

waynea,
Unfortunately caducous figs (all Smyrna types) do not ripe any brebas . Eventually they may 'color' one in a couple of thousands.

For those with the figs but no wasp...
Last year my brother sent to a good friend living far up north a small carton with live wasps to pollinate some of his figs.. and it worked !

Good luck
Francisco

Francisco, I think you told me there used to be fig wasps in Florida, I still have the article. I think they could be reintroduced. There must have been something else besides the cold nights that wiped them out. Probably the over use of pesticides on produce, citrus and cane.

waynea,
Will you please send me the article?

Francisco,
Beautiful as usual. I appreciate the chronology. How were those wasps packaged in the carton? Via figs?

To my CA fig friends,
Got wasps?

Wow! What a great looking fig. Thanks for the great pictures.

Nice

Very nice, great pics!

Nice post, Francisco. My Zidi is growing well now but didn't form fruit early enough, I think. There are fruits on them now and I wonder if some wasps may have been still flying around a couple of weeks after the profichi dropped.

Francisco, where are the wasps now? Profichi have all dropped besides a few that dried on the tree. No mammoni yet except maybe some that are the size of peas. Leaves me wondering....again like last year.

Harvey, I think in your area they go back to Capistrano :)
But seriously, that's a good question.
Do We even understand that much about their life cycle?

wow, Francisco, that is very impressive size fig.

I'm so glad I have rooted few, thanks to generous donor Mike Gorsky, thank you Mike :)
I am also looking forward to se how Marabout turns out that Harvey donated to me...
Harvey Wasps are already in Pea size figs all around you...after they emerge, they will enter the Pea size capri figs again for winter all the way to late spring (through the dormancy period).

Francisco, you leave me speechless. What a great documentary of a very special fig.  I got a Zidi from Richard Watts to pay back a trade I made  for another person here... I never heard if that tree grew for him... wonder if he even saw this post.. I better go bug him to find out...

i am amazed.

Mine is from Richard also Grasa. It's growing nicely with slight fmv, i can't wait to try it.

Thank you fellows.

I appreciate all your comments and look forward to answer (if I may) your questions.

For the past two or three years I have been much interested on everything related to this fig and been digging around to find as much info as possible. Got first a big question mark reading many posts in this forum and arguments on % of persistence versus % of caduccity , % in-between, etc,
From Tunisia I was assured that this was a 100% Smyrna and there was no half way  in between.
The wasps had to be present, seen or not seen, these figs will never mature without pollen going inside, be it by wasps or manually. It may eventually color, but the result is not a fig.
Also found that this cultivar grows in North African farms, particularly in Tunisia, but also in Algeria and Morocco, where the Caprifig is omnipresent.

There are apparently 3 or 4 strains of Zidi in Tunisia. with more or less different shapes, sizes, ºbrix, weights, and colors of skin and pulp.
The fig cultivated around Djebba (NW) is said to be the best with average weight around the 100+   gramms and showing red pulps if pollinated by a particular Caprifig (Djebba2).
Other places farming Zidi are Mahmdia (NE), Monastir (centre east) and Tataouine (SE).

@waynea, Spraying pesticides will certainly kill these insects ..and slowly but steadily will kill all of us!

@JD, first clean to remove sap from the fig skins, pack the figs tight (egg type packg carton) ..use imagination and avoid fruit jumping around.. dispatch next day delivery..this works within Europe.

@Harvey, There may be a few hiding somewhere - Your tree may have a few Mammoni, some ready to take wasps, other too small but if not caprificated with your wasps, neighbor wasps will show up.
Since Eisen's time that question appears...no Mammoni crop ..where are the wasps ??.. and by Christmas time the Caprifig shows a nice load of fat Mamme full of larvae !.. same here.

@Aaron,  yes, Marabout is also a Tunisian cultivar . As for wasps you must have plenty! If not pay a quick visit to the creek and you are in Paradise!

@Grasa, thank you very much, will tell you...it'fun to grow and ripe Zidi and you are not that far from a few ripe Profichi's. fellow members in the Central Valley could make it easily.
Armando is very quite...hum ..think he is preparing a surprise .
Hope Gina's Zidi  is doing fine and managed full pollination this year.

Next move is to duplicate the Zidi project,  this time with Black Bursa ! It's already well rooted and coming up nice and strong ! (Thank you Vladis)
May be Aug 1st/2015 -if am still around- we will be talking another great black Smyrna.

Francisco

Thanks Francesco for a beautiful tutorial. I am learning a lot . Like Harvey I was wondering where the wasps went ( hopefully in some of my figs) since the Mammoni figs are not growing. I can see the fig buds but they do not grow:-(

Francesco I hope you...and us, will be around for a long time, you are a valuable member and we learn a lot from you.

JD,
PM has been sent in case you do not return to this thread. If you find anyone to send any wasps, we can always winter them down here. For the rest of you, here is Francisco's message:

waynea,

Apparently several families of figs and their specific fig wasps co-habit in Florida !
The environment and climate seem to be fine for both trees and insects...So why not the ficus carica wasp ?? I believe having already read somewhere that in the long past there were wasp colonies in Texas, Louisiana and Florida  (?)

see these links...

http://www.freshfromflorida.com/content/download/10688/140419/ent296.pdf

https://www.google.pt/search?q=fig+wasps+in+florida&client=firefox-a&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&channel=sb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=ktzDU5XWKMKk0QWapYH4Ag&ved=0CEMQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=586

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2010/01/figs-kill-wasp-larvae-when-wasps-do-not-pollinate-figs

Francisco