Malta Black,( had some live wood ,this Spring),ripe on August 20
Ronde de Bordeaux,grew from soil line,ripe today(first fruits).
Improved Celeste,grew from soil line ,ripe today.
All three plants are in ground.

Herman,

That is funny, your Malta Black beat mine.......in Florida:)  Mine is loaded with figs but so far has not ripened a one.  It is 5' tall or so and had no winter die back.  

Mine in a container, in SoCal, was ripe about 3 weeks ago. But again, the container timing is very different from the inground trees.

Herman, it's great to see you posting again!  I have a Malta Black that overwintered in a container (with no die-back) and was planted in the ground in May.  I got the first ripe one a few days ago and will get another probably tomorrow with a lot of figs too follow.

My container Malta Black has been ripening figs for a few weeks but they've had very little taste.  I've had a few different varieties do the same thing.

Thanks for posting Herman, how is your MBVS doing ?

Thanks for the updates, gives me hope for my RdB next year.

That is good news Herman, I have a rdb that died to soil  aside form 2 inch stubs in the ground, figs have not ripened yet , and not too many will ripen this season as it made a larger 7 foot wide bush all around about 6 feet tall.  The one that I had in pot and planted in ground is ripening a couple right now so it is good for me to know that when you speak of ripening this year I am likely 2-3 weeks behind you.

Luke:My MVSB,died to soil line and started growing late in JUne,so it has fruits but not ripe yet.
My Malta Black fruits were very tasty from the beginning on August 20,as per my son testimony as I was out of country since June 27 and came back on August 28.
I had a couple of fruits today from Malta B,and they were delicious.
The Malta Black tree,I have ripe fruits from is not my old tree but another young tree i made from the old tree,and being small i could protect it better last Winter so it came out in the Spring with a foot of live wood.
The old tree was left without protection so it died to soil line,and the fruits are not ripe yet,on it.
The Winter was very cold ,but the old tree is back in Business and 6 foot tall.

Glad to see you posting again! 

Wow Vasile, my Malta Black is in a pot and is way behind yours. I suspect it will be at the very least one more week possibly two before I start getting any ripe figs on it.

Thanks for letting us know Herman!  Those figs look like keepers for colder climates

Herman,
I got fruits from my inground Malta black and MBVS three weeks ago. They didn't have any die back because I didn't plant them out until this spring. RDB died back to within a few inches of soil Line. It is potted and has been fruiting for two weeks.

My two inground JH Adriatics have still not ripened fruit yet. I would be curious to know what your ripening sequence for these varieties has been in the past.

Thanks

Here Malta Black ,MBVS,and Ronde de Bordeaux,are very early,for our climate,start getting ripe by August 15,but not this year,due to cold Winter we had.
Adriatic JH,form fruits at the same time with the other i mentioned but it takes 85 days to get ripe,15 more days compared to early cultivars.
So Adriatic jh should get ripe in your location about 15 days later compared to MBVS.
And this is true only if your Adriatic jh is ,adult tree,over 5 years old,if not ,it will take even longer for the juvenile plant to ripe fruits.
But put it this way:Adriatic jh is worth the wait!!!!.

Pixies of my three figs i have ripe ,taken today

Thanks for sharing Herman!

I see some of your plants have bricks and rocks around the bases. Is this is absorb heat in summer and insulate in the winter? I have been building rock walls around my in ground plants with that idea in mind.

Herman, did your in-ground Kathleen's Black also freeze to the ground?  Will it fruit this year?  My in-ground KB froze to the ground save for a 1 inch stump.  It has grown back to be somewhat larger than its original size.  It has a few figs on it but I would be amazed if they ripened this year.

In contrast, my in-ground Sicilian Red, which had nearly that much much die back, was able to put figs on quite a bit earlier.  I am expecting that they will start ripening within the next couple weeks.

Yes Bricks and rocks is to warm up the root area,and also to form a mound so that the excessive rain will slide away from root area,because ,fig tree does not like wet feet.

Yes my Kathleen black died down to soil line and it grew back to 6 foot now.
Fruits are young and i can see they will not ripe this year.
But of course not every Winter is as cold as last Winter!!!.

Welcome back Herman. Good to see your posts, photos and advice.

Good to see your photos and information. Thanks.

Good to have you back Herman.

Herman looking at the last pictures you posted, I can tell the second to the last plant is Improved Celeste.

What is the name of the fig in the third picture?

Thanks.

Bob

The third an forth pictures are Malta Black young (three year old plant).

Will you try to wrap the lower part of the big trees this year?  Or are they all small enough to protect fully?

Herman,
Thanks for the response. I was able to taste a few JH Adriatic last year and they did taste great. That is why I planted two of them.

I tasted some more Malta black and MBVS today and they are both very sweet and flavorful.

Can't wait for the LSU Scott's Black to start ripening because it also had some great figs last year.

Herman thanks for sharing and glad to have you back.

It looks like Malta Black will be first for me this year as well. I rooted it last year. It was left out all last winter in Texas in a 1 gallon container. The coldest documented temp was 17F, but that is 12 miles away in a more populated area. The growing mixes on all my smaller containers went through many freeze/thaw cycles. I moved the tree to Denver in March and bumped it up to a 2 gallon container despite thinking it was a goner. M.B. is ahead of many that went through the same ordeal as well as several which over wintered comfortably in the basement in Denver. The fruit is only about the size of a quarter but it had softened and drooped. I may pick it as early as tonight.

James,
it is good to hear your results showing Malta blacks hardiness. The fruit size on my Malta black has been variable. The first couple to ripen were the size you mention. Since then they have been larger at around ping pong ball size.

The MBVS has been pretty steady regarding size.

My hardiest varieties last winter that didn't even have any tip dieback were:
MBVS, Malta black, and JH Adriatic. All trees were over wintered in my barn the only heat protection they had was a light bulb on the coldest nights. They were protected from wind and temperature extremes by bales of wheat straw covered with moving blankets.

Welcome back Herman.

Containerized Malta Black from you is days from harvest in my yard as well. MBVS is also soon to be sampled.

September 6 2014:St Anthony got ripe
September 10:Tacoma violet got rip
September 11:First Adriatic JH at the base of the tree,got ripe<very large beautiful fruit,was last night,but this morning it was gone taken by squirrels.Found only bits of peduncle left,while the fruit is gone.
All the above trees started from soil line this year being killed by unusual cold Winter we had.
Squirrels started to take figs ,only recently,but last night I had ,fruits taken from all the trees that are ripening now,so all of a sudden they found out figs are tasty!!!.
They even took green unripe fruits ,off bite on them and live them on the ground.
Need to install nets.!! 

Did you get the St Anthony, Herman? What is your opinion of this fig please? Thanks

Please, I would like to get some info on this year's St. A also. Thanks.

Very good large yellow figs with amber interior.
Reliable fruit producer.
Taste wise very good but ,a couple of notches less flavorful ,compared to Adriatic JH,Col de Dame,or Preto or Madeira black.
Yet better fruit producer compared to the mentioned except Adriatic jh,which is just as  good fruit producer ,yet ripen later the St Anthony.
Note :I noticed you are in Ca.My opinion:It will make much better tasting fruits in Ca compared to here in NJ.
In Ca can taste as good as the above mentioned .!

Very good info, thank you Herman2!

Squirrels are hitting me hard this year too! First it was one or so a day now they are taking everything.

They're gettin while the gettin's good... they know winter is not too far off.

Today we have a plate of ripe figs,after installing the net.
10 Malta Black
8 Ronde de Bordeaux
3 Improved Celeste
All deserves 10, when tasted

Wow Herman, nice plateful, wonderful variety, and each rates a 10, can't get any better, congrats.

Thank you for the update.

How far along are your col de damas?  I have 1 ripening in pot in hoophouse now, should be ready next week, just curious to compare, black madiera in pot is showing no signs yet and may not ripen at all.

Col de Dame ,made very few fruits this year because they were not pinched ,as I was out of country for 2 month.
Also the Spring was cold,and so they started forming fruits late,this year.
Every cultivar is different,some like Col de Dame and Madeira needs warm early Spring to flower(form incipient fruits).
Also I would note that they started from Soil line,Being killed  by the ferocious cold Winter.
All thing said,not a very good year for late ripening cultivars that need heat to bolt out(form fruits).
Of course if they would have been pinched persistently then the results would have been much better.
I had  seasons where Col de Dame started ripening fruits on September 10 ,but not this year.

September 27:Had ripe fruits from:

Dalmatie
Ischia Black
September 29:
Col de Dame gris,first ripe fruit this year.
Also had a handfull of Adriatic jh,today but we ate those before taking pictures of them.
Adriatic JH,is very,very close in tasting just as good as ,Col de Dame or Ischia Black.
Here are pixies of Dalmatie and Col de Dame!
Ischia Black I posted ,a separate topic about it.
I can say about taste and flavor,Delicious for all of them.
Ischia Black and Col de Dame Gris are as good as a fruit can get,and equally off the chart,in quality.
Too bad I do not have 30 pieces each,at a time,but I am sure it is possible in warmer climates.

[QUOTE=Herman2]

September 27:Had ripe fruits from:

Dalmatie
Ischia Black
September 29:
Col de Dame gris,first ripe fruit this year.
Also had a handfull of Adriatic jh,today but we ate those before taking pictures of them.
Adriatic JH,is very,very close in tasting just as good as ,Col de Dame or Ischia Black.
Here are pixies of Dalmatie and Col de Dame!
Ischia Black I posted ,a separate topic about it.
I can say about taste and flavor,Delicious for all of them.
Ischia Black and Col de Dame Gris are as good as a fruit can get,and equally off the chart,in quality.
Too bad I do not have 30 pieces each,at a time,but I am sure it is possible in warmer climates.

Wow those figs look great Vasile, I lost all my coll de dames this past winter and am a little hesitant on replacing simply because of late ripening. I only sampled one coll de dame Blanc in 2013 and it was knee buckling good. With that being said I think I need to get me another coll de dame lol. My coll de dame grise grew like a weed the blanc was also a good grower the noire suffered from fmv quite a bit and struggled quite a bit for 3 seasons.

Nelson, I can send  cddg cuttings  when dormant, pm me if interested.  

Very nice plate of figs you have there

Yesterday I had 2 Battaglia,and 4 Adriatic jh,no pixies taken.
Today I have a pix with 2 Adriatic jh and one Battaglia on plate.
Battaglia is the larger open fruit,only one.
They are not very nice looking but both goes in category of delicious.

Looks great, thanks for sharing!

Looks great, I have 1 col de dama blanc in a pot in my hoophouse with one close to ripe and 5 more that should ripen still in the next couple weeks, black madiera in pot looks like a bust this year and I had the most figs on it ever, such a shame but oh well.

Very nice! Too bad,those  figs are difficult to find here in Europe....

I just tried my first col de dama blanc, I have to agree with Herman on what he has written about it, best fig I have ever had, sorry no pics, just ate it, dark red, not overly sweet and floral/berry flavours.