Okay, time for me to share, I guess. No wild rainbow figs but great tasting.

Panache, first fig picked August 17th.  I hear different flavors described and I'm just not that sophisticated, I guess, I thought it was like strawberry jam.  I picked quite a few for maybe two months but still wasn't enough.  May plant a lot more of these.







This fig is simply called "Long Neck Yellow" and I believe it was first shared by George Emerich. I got mine from Edgar Valdivia who told me it was the only fig he would grow because it was the best. :)

First fig picked August 29th, second photo from September 12th.  Sorry, no inside photos. Golden yellow.

They look great. Nice pictures, thanks for sharing.

Thanks. The photos aren't as good as the figs, they were taken with my cell phone. ;)  I've got quite a bit invested in photography equipment but end up using my phone most of the time since it's almost always handy.

Oh man, my mouth is watering...no lie.

They look great!  I use my cell phone, too, because the photos get uploaded to the web automatically and they're easy to share.  The Panache is amazing, isn't it?

Yes it is, Bob.

I would have uploaded here before but don't find an easy way to do it.  Most of my fruit and garden photos (most everything, really) get posted first to Facebook since I can upload it directly with my Android phone.  I don't believe we can link to FB photos and have them show up here (outside of FB friends).  I finally went through the photos on my phone and picked these out and uploaded them to my Google+ account and was able to link to those files in this post.  Is there an easier way that you do it, Bob?

Not necessarily  :)   If you have G+ on your phone you can set it to upload all photos automatically.  I shoot the fig photos, writhe with pleasure from the figs and by the time I'm ready to share the photos are already on G+.  Then link to them as you already did above.

One of the great things about this fig is that it ripens and tastes great without a lot of light and heat.  So those of us in less than ideal conditions still get to have the great taste.

When I visited Jon once in December (2007, I believe), I'm pretty sure he said that Panache was very late to ripen for him and that we were just finally picking some figs that were somewhat ripe.  Maybe that was a late year but I don't recall it being cool like 2009 and 2010 (in NorCal, at least).  I thought it required a lot of heat.  Glad to hear that it does well for you.

A friend about an hour north of me told me his Panache split pretty bad but I haven't had that problem at all.  He said soil moisture fluctuation was not an issue.

Long Neck Yellow Nice to see how mine will look like too. Picture do help.

Jennifer, my wife and I just decided tonight to drive up to visit her dad in St. Maries for Christmas.  Unfortunately, I only have unripe figs remaining on my Panache.  Otherwise, I could drop some off on the way. ;)  Zone 6-7 is a LOT warmer than up where we're going!

I found I had one more ripe Panache yesterday, December 7th. Part of it was spoiled but it was still pretty good for this time of year. :)





Maybe I'll grow another one in a high tunnel to stretch out the season.

The panache looks wonderful! I purchased mine from Raintree Nursery a few months ago. It's only about 18 inches tall so still a baby. But seeing your pictures and hearing you and other members describe this variant makes me a little more anxious. I'm sure it will be worth the wait though. Thank you for giving me insight for what's to come!! Thoroughly enjoyed! Thanks Harvey!

I have 5 year old tree, they have always been a good cropper

To Bob C
Were you referring to Golden Yellow when you wrote above "One of the great things about this fig is that it ripens and tastes great without a lot of light and heat.  So those of us in less than ideal conditions still get to have the great taste."

No, the Panache.  it had 2 immature figs that ripened in my grow room under fluorescent lights over the course of 3-6 weeks, I'm guessing.  I can't tell you how delicious they were.  Better than any fig jam I've had.  Maybe they're even better in So Cal with all that heat, but it's hard to imagine   :)

I'm curious....in sharing some photos of Panache with my sister, I was looking at photos and ones shown in Jon's variety catalog at http://figs4fun.com/Thumbnail_Panachee.html and I see that most of those figs show the ripe figs still have much of their striping while mine lose the striping when they are really ripe.  Am I just more patient and letting them get more ripe??? I do some some faint striping on some of my ripe Panche, but nothing as obvious in Jon's list.

very nice figs, thanks for sharing.

Harvey thanks for posting the pictures of your plant. Mine split bad last season it gets another chance this upcoming season.

Harvey,
Those are pretty nice photos esp. from a cell phone. Beautiful yellow fig.

That long neck yellow sure is pretty, nice even gold color, very nice indeed 

Long Neck Yellow is supposedly a unnamed selection at the UCR breeding project rescued by George Emerich before it was removed.  I received mine from my friend Ed Valdivia who received his from George.  I've visited George a couple of times but don't even remember him growing figs (was mostly impressed by large cherimoya and white sapote).  Anyways, it seems to have a couple of slightly different names.  The fruit at Ed Valdivia's place were longer or more slender but maybe mine gets pollinated some by wasps.

As far as my update to this post, I'm looking for any ideas on what influences skin color, particularly Panache since my ripe fruit don't have much striping left when they are ripe.

Harvey,

Thanks for sharing your photos and observations.

Harvey, those are amazing figs ( and pictures!!) I wonder if the "long yellow" is the same as "long neck yellow".. those yellow figs are gorgeous... I bet you they taste really good also.

Harvey I noticed your tree doesnot have the stripes on the trunk... the cutting I received to root was really cute all stripped..not sure if just the tip cutting is striped...Could be you have a variant of the panachee.  nice tree!

The first Panache picture was showing strip on two ripe-like figs.  If by just looking at that picture, I would assume those two are ready to harvest.  I am wondering if no striping was due to really ripe stage.  

Panache is really exceptional, especially here in S. California.  My Panache is in the warmest place in my yard - on a south facing slope, up against my neighbor's big crib wall, so it is very protected (not that I need that), and it gets additional reflected heat from the crib wall.  I was the first fresh fig I had eaten since coming back to S. California in 2009.  I had never had such a special fig before, and it started my love affair with figs.  Panache is a very, very vigorous grower, my tree was about 20' and growing, so I had to take it way, way down last season, so I didn't get any figs last year :-(  Looking forward to figs this year.  And, it is prolific fig producer as well.  It bears for me in late August/September.  It is growing in full sun all day long.  Jon, when do you get figs off your Panache (Jon has a ginormous Panache like mine, they appear to REALLY love San Diego county.)

[QUOTE=Grasa]Harvey, those are amazing figs ( and pictures!!) I wonder if the "long yellow" is the same as "long neck yellow".. those yellow figs are gorgeous... I bet you they taste really good also.

Harvey I noticed your tree doesnot have the stripes on the trunk... the cutting I received to root was really cute all stripped..not sure if just the tip cutting is striped...Could be you have a variant of the panachee.  nice tree![/QUOTE]

Grasa, I think they "long yellow" and "long neck yellow" are probably the same.  I believe Jon may have received cuttings directly from George as well and calls them "long yellow", but I'm not positive about that.

The first year growth of my Panache has striping on branches.  In the photo where the shady coms across my hand the branch behind it shows a fat yellow stripe.  Some stripes are thin and some are fat.  My tree has been in the ground for two years and I had growth of about 6' with current year's growth of up to 1" or more in diameter.  I pruned it back to where most branches were cut back to the first node of last year's growth while leaving a few branches to obtain a breba crop this year.  I will prune those after harvesting breba figs.  Some people have advised to leave all branches unpruned until after the breba crop but I think that will delay the main crop too much.

[QUOTE=pyxistort]The first Panache picture was showing strip on two ripe-like figs.  If by just looking at that picture, I would assume those two are ready to harvest.  I am wondering if no striping was due to really ripe stage.  [/QUOTE]

I tried some at that stage and they weren't nearly as nice as the very ripe ones so maybe I'd consider them to be "semi-ripe", maybe no better than what I can find in a store around here.

[QUOTE=hoosierquilt]Panache is really exceptional, especially here in S. California.  My Panache is in the warmest place in my yard - on a south facing slope, up against my neighbor's big crib wall, so it is very protected (not that I need that), and it gets additional reflected heat from the crib wall.  I was the first fresh fig I had eaten since coming back to S. California in 2009.  I had never had such a special fig before, and it started my love affair with figs.  Panache is a very, very vigorous grower, my tree was about 20' and growing, so I had to take it way, way down last season, so I didn't get any figs last year :-(  Looking forward to figs this year.  And, it is prolific fig producer as well.  It bears for me in late August/September.  It is growing in full sun all day long.  Jon, when do you get figs off your Panache (Jon has a ginormous Panache like mine, they appear to REALLY love San Diego county.)[/QUOTE]

If I'm not mistaken, when I visited Jon in December 2007 he picked a Panache for me and my friend (doing nursery tours of SoCal) and he said he was just then picking his first Panache and that they usually ripened too late for him.  His is shaded somewhat, though.  When do yours ripen, Patty?  My Panache fruits from this year are what greatly increased my interest in figs, going from about 15 varieties to about 65 varieties in the past 2 months (if they all root).  Hope to find more that I enjoy as much!

Harvey, mine start to ripen at the end of August and well into Sept/Oct. Yes, Jon's tree is in a lot of shade, almost complete shade due to the bananas and cherimoyas/antemoyas. And my first year growth is also striped, like the figs.  I beleive the figs as the ripen lose their striping simply due to the green turning yellow with the ripening process.  If you look closely, sometimes you can see where the striping is. And, so far, the birds have not decimated that tree.  I know eventually they'll figure it out, but so far, I haven't had to net it, and I couldn't even if I wanted to, because it's just too big.  I don't get a breba crop, when does your breba crop appear?

My Yellow Long Neck ripened in December this year are were pretty good, even then.

Harvey, Panache color may have to do with the intense sun. If you look at the pictures at UC Davis the ones in the hotter year (2008 vs 2007) were more washed out. You will see the same thing on on other varieties which had more distinctive color in 2007, and less in 2008.

Patty, what somewhat surprises me is that every photo of Panache fig at http://figs4fun.com/Thumbnail_Panachee.html has more stripes than when I picked mine, though one is close.  Mine held up very good without splitting and without bird damage so I let them get very ripe and that might be the difference.

Last year was a strange year and on some trees I was picking breba at the same time as main crop since the year started out warm and then cooled down.  My first breba Panache was picked 8/17 but I think it could have been quite a bit earlier if the weather hadn't cooled in June.  I have pruned my tree to leave some branches for breba figs and plan to pay closer attention to when I pick figs from last year's branches and then from the main crop on the limbs I pruned (and I'll prune branches with breba figs after they're picked to see if they will still ripen a main crop).

Those UC Davis (Panachee) pics by Ken Love are mouthwatering!  I can hardly wait for my tree to also produce yummy looking figs

Harvey, my experience leads me to believe that sunlight causes the green stripes to turn yellow. Next year shade one and see :)

Hmm...I can try bagging a fruit.  Thanks!  I just wonder if some environments result in the different appearances since the photos look different than mine.

Beautiful photos of your figs, Harvey.

Isleton is a nice town. (I'm not so very far away, in Oakland.)

Thanks, Lisa!

wow they look great....

Can the long neck yellow be a reverted panachee?  It looks like my cutting I started last year survived so I guess it will be at least until next year before I can try one too.  Great red interior.

Fantastic looking figs. Thank you for the pics.

Just a quick update to show a picture of a nice big leaf on my Long Neck Yellow I took with my phone yesterday:

Look GREAT!!

Are Long Neck Yellow or Panache Cold tolerant enought to survive in ground (protected) in 6B?

Harvey,

Nice picture, HUGE leaves! The fruit description sounds very tasty. Is the eye small/closed?

Greg, sorry, but I don't know about that, though I'm sure someone will chime in on Panache.  I somewhat doubt the LNY has been tried yet.

NZ, I didn't pay attention to that when I ate them, sorry!  The second one had a fair amount of bird damage on the other side and I did make sure to avoid that.  I should have a lot more figs this year and will try to pay closer attention.

Despite the dark green leaves on the LNY, this area has not been fertilized for over 10 years.  Sure don't see any signs of FMV in this tree.

I have two long neck yellows in 5 gallon pots. They were the most vigorous growers of all my figs last year. At least they were the tallest, without doubt. Perhaps because of the long internodes.

Harvey, that's an insult.  It should have been at least a 10.  ;)

[QUOTE=HarveyC]Just a quick update to show a picture of a nice big leaf on my Long Neck Yellow I took with my phone yesterday:

[/QUOTE]

Haha, Bob.  Low point of of year for cash inventory as a farmer; first cutting of alfalfa is next week then things will be looking up. ;)

what a beautiful fig!!! thanks for sharing the pics---^^, 

I purchased 4 Panache trees this winter (about 2.5' tall) from 2 different suppliers. They have the same tags from Dave Wilson Nursery. I can't wait to see if I can get these to ripen in pots on my driveway. They look delicious.