San Diego, CA

Black Mission is a very widely planted fig. It has large fruit and a heavy crop. Very sweet berry flavor. Almost always has cracking of the skin when ripe, I tend to think of it as a later season fig requiring some heat, but it is heavily planted along the coast, near the beach in what is often our fog belt, so I assume it must be working there. Some of the coastal trees are 75+ years old. Leaves usually have some pinkish hue in the leaf stem, vary widely in their shape and are usually somewhat thin and floppy.

can this fig grow and produce in South Carolina or is it one of the figs that has to have the wasp?  sorry for my ignorance but I have a few fig var. but not that knowledgeable.

So far, so good here in Wilmington, NC. Mine is fruiting for the first time this year. Really good dried, having a thick, dark caramel flavor, almost like molasses. I like it.

L.I. NY-z7a
My Mission , bought this spring is a big bush. Figs are all over it , albeit small as yet. Which fits in with Jon's assessment of it as a late fig. I have noticed a tremendous amount fig drop on this bush. It is in sun with late afternoon shade as it seemed to get leaf droop when in all day sun. Maybe that's what's causing the fig drop? I really think it needs to be up potted , or root pruned . This fall will have to unpot the monster and check.

This was my first fresh fig.  I didn't know there were figs outside of dried and tasteless.  I rented a house in Sacto, CA at 23 yrs old and I didn't recognize the fruits.  They ripened from August to Sept and were amazing.

Forum Members.....Herman, Martin ??

I am growing "Black Mission" for the first time. The tree is at bearing age, is approx. 5 ft tall, and growing in a 5-gallon bucket.  Last year the tree had about a dozen hard, but reddish-purple figs, that never ripened by the time cool weather hit NYC.  This year, I have only a few main-crop figs, but they seem to be under-developed compared to the rest of my fig varieties.  I have my doubts as to whether or not I will see ripe figs on this tree by the end of my short season.  I have about another 3-4 weeks, and then, it's over.

Now, I have just read that "Black Mission" can be considered a late-season fig, and that it has to cook in the heat of an extended season to ripen figs. This season has been unusual in that the spring was very cold and all my trees were very late to leaf out, this "Black Mission" included.  Could this be a reason for the delayed development of the figs?  The developing figs seem to have a vivid, rose-violet pigment on the top side of the fig that's exposed to the sunlight.  The leaf-stems also have the same rosey-pink coloration.  Leaves are thin, and the tree is asymptomatic of FMV/D.

So...has anyone in Zone-7b ripened "Black Mission" consistently?  All my questions may be premature and moot.  This is only the first year, and the tree may be great in subsequent seasons, but still, I'd like to know what's ahead, if predictions can be ventured.

Thanks for any suggestions and cultural information that you can pass along.  My other varieties are starting to ripen, so "Black Mission", growing with the same cultural and growing conditions, should be ripening some figs also....I hope, soon.  By the way, "Black Mission" fig trees, are sold in local Garden Centers in this area.  I've even seen them being sold at the local Home Depot.  Is this an indication that this fig variety is matched to my climate, and is it a to be considered a 'late-ripener'?


Frank

Alan, I agree with you the California Black Mission figs I have eaten have never had a berry taste.

 Pete

Is the red tint to the leaves common?  I bought three from the guy in San Antonio ( ebay seller coralgroher) a great seller.  I am expecting great things from this fig.

Are not Mission figs also called Franciscana, as they were brought to California when the old missions were set up by the Spanish? While you can find Mission plants everywhere now, I always thought all Mission figs originated in California. Anyone?

John, no figs originated in California. All figs in the US were brought from Europe and Asia.

Mission is associated with being introduced into CA by the Franciscan Monks from Spain, via Mexico.

Danny, In my experience they have a pinkish tinge in the stems of the leaves.

Thanks to all, and to Martin for the added information.

I will probably have to up-pot the trees next season, and hopefully I will get a main-crop to ripen before cold nights stop the development of the figs.

I guess I will have to wait for next season, or, maybe I will get lucky and see some figs getting ripe by mid-September.


Frank

Well yeah, that is what I said. I guess when I said "originally," I was talking about U.S. distribution from a point where the fig was first planted. I assumed everyone would understand the statement about the Spanish and their missions to mean they brought them to the U.S., rather than having discovered them in Sacramento or something. To clarify what I meant - Spain to California (via Mexico) to your local Lowe's in other states.

John, I suspect "Mission" figs have arrived here many time in many ways. There also seems to be some distinction between Mission and Black Mission - though the two are somehow related. I have had some mission figs that were not much better than a Brown Turkey.

Another problem is that many people who have Brown Turkey actually have Black Mission, and more than a few Black missions are really Brown Turkey. That accounts for some of the disparity on reports about their taste.

Jon, is the Black Mission you show in the photo of the "NL" strain (which is what I got from you several years ago)?

Black Mission NL produced some good breba figs for me also this year.

Of course, nearly everything is a Brown Turkey in the minds of those who do not even realize there are different figs. If it is not labeled Celeste here, it mostly certainly has the BT tag, even if it is green. It's kind of like calling anything with feathers a chicken, not even considering other birds or chicken breeds.

I have three separately sourced Missions currently (maybe more). All are supposed to have unique flavor profiles. Is it possible that plants from different times and places ended up in California and got lumped under the Mission label for uniformity, good intentions and/or laziness? Have there been any DNA studies to date on the Mission variety?

Also, imagine how many family/neighborhood trees out there - all dark figs - are really Mission, instead of their colloquial titles like Aunt Betty's Black, Toledo Street Turk, on and on and on.

Now you got me wondering about ....will the real "Black Mission" please stand up....

Is there a definitive way, besides looking at the fruit and/or leaves, to tell the differences between a "Brown Turkey", and a "Black Mission"?   Is there a special characteristic that proves one and not the other?  For example, "Black Mission" has leaf stems that are a rosey-pink.  Then with leaves, stem color, and figs....bingo....yep, it's a "Black Mission".  What about "Brown Turkey"?  Do they both show some of the same characteristics?  What about leaf texture, fig eyes, growth characteristics, and appearances of the tree as a whole....etc?

Wish list:  Comparison pictures of "Black Mission" and "Brown Turkey"...side-by-side, showing fruit, leaf, eyes, and leaf-stem characteristics.  I think I have a "Black Mission"-Lowe's, but I don't have a "Brown Turkey"....so, I can't do a feel-the-leaves test ...etc.   Most web-site pictures really don't help....too vague, and not variety-accurate.

I'd also be curious to find out if many of the trees growing in The Bronx and surrounding areas are really the "unknown Italians"...or, just some "Brown Turkey" trees.  I tend to think the former.  Almost always, the owners when questioned, say that their trees (wood) "came from Italy", and they are probably not the type of people who would ever think of buying a fig tree from some Garden Center.  They tend to keep things in the family, so I'm almost certain, their special, heirloom, fig trees came over from the other side.



Frank

Yesterday, I harvested a really ripe fig off of the Mission tree I got at Lowe's. It was sweet and very berry-flavored, per Jon's description. I have always liked dried Missions, but this was my first fresh one that was not of suspect lineage and purchased from a grocery store. It is a keeper.

I have 5 black mission fig trees, (three in ground and two in pots). I bought them from different nurseries. They all produce a black shiny fig with a white/honey center. The stems and tips of new buds are rosy/pink, but the pulp is never red or strawberry or raspberry or pink....

My "Black Mission" managed to ripen just one fig - (about a dozen figs suddenly dropped off) - in this lousy, fig season here in The Bronx/NYC.  The taste of the one fig was very flavorful.  I will not judge this fig yet.  I will give it a few more seasons before I give it the thumbs up, or thumbs down critique.  I have a feeling it will do much better in a larger container, and, as the tree puts on some age.  I think the tree out-grew the 5-gallon bucket...which may have led to the sudden dropping of the fig crop.

Thanks Martin for the growing tips.  My 5 ft. tree probably needs a larger container.  I'll slip it into an 18-gallon, Home Depot storage tub.  I'm encouraged....if "Black Mission" ripens in your climate, then I'm sure it will ripen in NYC/7b.


Frank

Great lessons on Black Mission thanks.

goss

I'm relieved you got at least one Frank.
I got a large (5') Black Mission very healthy from Eden at the beginning of the season and put it righ in ground. It dropped the first set of figs and hasn't developed a main crop. I am a little concerned about possible nemotodes. Is there any way to tell aside from digging it up?

Tami:

The one fig that I tasted was delicious, and I'm hoping for good things to come from this tree as it ages a little. I noticed that the figs had turned a rosey-violet color towards the end of the stagnant stage, then suddenly, all but one, aborted. When I saw the main-crop figs laying all over the floor, I was shocked. If the tree was a "Celeste", I would've expected this....but a "Black Mission"? The one, fig, continued to grow, and it turned a deep black, but before I picked it, I waited until the skin showed some cracks. I took no chances and organza-bagged the fig as it ripened, and controlled the water reaching the roots. I will grow the tree for a few years, and after I learn how to treat my "Black Mission", I'm sure it will settle down and be a respectable tree.

Nematodes: Sorry, but I can't help you, and I think the only sure way of knowing if roots are infested, is to probably dig up at least some roots and give a good look. Why do you think your tree has a nematode problem? Usually, trees drop figs due to stress, and/or something wrong with the culture, watering, heat-stress, etc.

Frank

Frank,
Where I live nematodes are a huge problem. Our soil is sandy loam. The tree was planted and everything was going great then it started getting figs. Nothing changed with the weather or the watering and feeding regiment so I am trying to look deeper and see if there may be another problem.
I guess I'm going to have to dig it up and see.