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brettjm

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Posted Reply with quote  #1 
What are each of your experiences with some of the numbered varieties?  Pitch them to me as a salesman...color, taste, closely resembles "fig x," productivity, brebas, etc.  Since a numbered name isn't sexy, tell me what numbered figs you have, and what makes them sexy.  Let's see if I can start a numbered fig rush.  Not that it helps me, my poor little 143-36 is still a baby.  That thing fills a pot with roots like a stud though.
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pitangadiego

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Posted Reply with quote  #2 
143-36 was given the additional name (by me) of Emerald Strawberry to try and explain its color and flavor.
184-15 was given the additional name (by me) of Strawberry Teardrop to explain its color, flavor, and shape.

I didn't get much further than that along the path of more useful names/descriptions of the numbered figs..

The point of the numbered figs is that they are the by-products of a breeding program which attempted to produce a common fig that looked, tasted, and dried like a Calimyrna fig (a Smyrna type fig requiring caprification). So, many of them are yellow in color and have a honey/brown sugar type interior color and flavor. Some are better than others. Some turned out to be red-fleshed, which was not the goal, obviously.

My original trip to WEO was to gather first hand data on what each fig in the USDA collection looked like, and tasted like. To date, taste has taken somewhat of a back seat, and usually I just make a note on the ones that are stand outs in a given year. I43-38 has been pretty good, 143-28 not so much, IMO.

We attempted to do a more formal taste survey on one trip, but the timing wasn't right. Completing fruit pix and taking leaf pictures of the entire collection took longer than planned.

I have more data, but haven't had time to sort through it all, yet, and get it ready for the website.

Additionally, all figs at WEO are assumed to caprified, which means that they can be quite different when grown elsewhere, away from the caprifying wasp symbiotic mechanism.

The trips to WEO have turned up some real winners, such as Capri-Q which is and edible caprifig that is quite good. K-6-5 is also a stand out.
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