This is a plant that no one seems to know anything about. This plant was obtained 3y ago as a cutting from Encanto Farms - as a rookie I picked a couple names at random from his list. There is no real info about it on F4F. The plant dropped its few figs last year at a small size, then was doing the same this year. However last month it had one fig grow significantly, getting a vivid red-orange color and a good size. I was impressed by the color and took a pic while it was on the tree, then the next evening after the below pic was taken I found the fig brown and shriveled on the ground. The interior looked very underdeveloped. The only other fig left on the tree also dropped at a small size - probably 16-18 had dropped earlier.

I am intrigued by the color of the one that hung on for a while, but in reality this is probably a Smyrna. Anyone else have experience with it? I might well be ditching it soon.


https://m.flickr.com/photos/99629145@N03/30233345022/

I got my Corragio from Boris  http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox....-trade-5618435. It appears to be the same fig you have. But there appear to be two Corragios with different paths to this country out there - both from Abruzzi.   It's unclear if they are the same fig.   http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox....pid=1289907077  I got my first ripe figs this year and got a surprise - it's an English Brown Turkey type fig. I've got a number of them: Sweet George, Bayernfeige Violetta, German (Bass), MRE, Black Fig #1, Bronze Paradiso (Paully). Like most of those figs it is taking a long while to settle down, and isn't very good yet.

Condit in his monograph Fig Varieties  http://ucanr.edu/datastoreFiles/391-296.pdf (page 428) mentioned that English Brown Turkey was an Italian fig. "The Brown Turkey that was described by Miller to be “so well known as to need no description” is undoubtedly a European variety, introduced into England and given a local name without reference to origin. The synonyms, Brown Naples, Long Naples, and Italian, indicate that it came from Italy, but it has not yet been identified with any variety from that country." Please let me be clear, I'm not saying that this fig is the original English Brown Turkey. There are so many possibilities - it could have been brought back to Italy by an Italian who had sought work in Europe for instance. But I thought it was interesting that it supposedly came from Italy - and is an English Brown Turkey.

I have photos, but despite having resized them multiple times (last at 12 KB, 100x 75 pixels) the site tells me that I've exceeded storage.  I'll be glad to try again if someone can tell me where I'm going wrong.

@fignut - looks like server out of disk space.  Need to load photo on a photo internet site and post the link.  Haven't heard if this issue will be resolved.

Thanks.  Whenever something goes wrong when using a computer, I assume it's my fault - and it usually is!  :>)

Hi,
BT or EBT is best or only recognizable by the breba crop.
Why should it be called English BT ? I prefer the name European BT or just BT.
Why English ? Because those guys like to name everything, when the Mediterraneans don't bother to give or recall names, especially when they have now better strains for their climates ...
EBT is still grown here in Zones7 by the local gardeners because EBT is told to be the cold hardiest figtree . Which is wrong since Longue d'aout is as cold hardy.
But go to any nursery here, and they'll pull a book and books say : "EBT is the only one to survive and produce in Zone7" ... We know that every now and then wrong or approximate information gets written in stones and books.
EBT is known for its brebas, but the ones of LDA are just close in number, bigger and better... IMO .

Well, back to the topic: Try to get the tree to produce brebas next year and post pics.
The maincrop figs of the EBT are just unstable.
Most years, the maincrop won't ripen here and when they ripen, they can be odd looking (ripe skin with flesh not fully developed ) but still acceptable to good tasting.
You can't recognize an EBT by the maincrop. I get cats and dogs and even birds from my BT . But the brebas are more stable and different when compared to other strains. Especially the brown and red color.

jdsfrance,

I absolutely agree with using European Brown Turkey for these figs - it seems to be the most common fig across much of northern Europe.   However, I disagree about using just "Brown Turkey".  That has led to a huge amount of confusion already.  In this country BT generally refers to California Brown Turkey (San Piero), but there are two other figs also called "Brown Turkey" - European (English) BT and Eastern (or Southern) BT.  Southerners just speak of "Brown Turkey" and they know what they are talking about - Eastern or Southern BT.  Everybody else says "Brown Turkey" and they know what they mean - California BT.  But when members of these groups talk to each other, you can see the problem - and that's without throwing another "BT" into the mix.  I feel that it's necessary to make absolutely clear which fig we're discussing.  

 Speaking of “wrong or approximate information gets written in stones and books”, the Brown Turkey entry in Ira Condit’s Fig Varieties: A Monograph http://ucanr.edu/datastoreFiles/391-296.pdf   (page 428) , is wrong.  Condit considers Eastern (Southern) Brown Turkey and European (English) Brown Turkey to be the same fig.  They definitely are not.  The Eastern (Southern) Brown Turkey resembles Celeste very closely - but doesn't look at all like the European BT.  And Condit explains that Brown Turkey figs didn’t do well in California:  

“Introductions have been made from England under P.I. Nos. 81,676, 93,275, and 95,598. At Riverside, however, trees from these importations, as well as those obtained from the southern United States, are so badly affected by the mosaic caused by Ficivir caricae Condit and Horne, that normal fruit has seldom been produced. …… On the other hand, trees growing in the southern and eastern states are not at all or very little affected by mosaic. They are of a dwarf habit of growth, and hardy, commonly bearing two crops. The Brown Turkey ranks with Celeste (Malta) as the most popular dooryard fig from Texas east to Florida and north to Maryland.”  

So, it seems he didn’t really have any normal figs of either variety to observe.  

 Until last year, I was totally unaware that European Brown Turkey figs in Europe were grown for the breba crop and not the main crop.  I was looking at a picture of LaRadek overwintering without protection, and was startled to see that it was still loaded with main crop figs.  I’m in Rhode Island and our growing season is very short, but main crop European Brown Turkey figs ripen here - and I don’t get many breba figs from them.  I got LaRadek last winter and am wondering if it will maintain it’s breba crop bearing habit, or revert to bearing main crop figs as my other European BTs do.  But I haven’t found the main crop European BT figs to be unstable once they start producing regularly.  Young plants do have problems.  The Corragios are not stable yet.  I'm having the same problems that ebone is having with Corragio.  I’d guess that our different experiences with these figs are a result of our different conditions.  I’ll be glad to post pictures once the problems with the server are fixed.  I should have photos of both breba and main crop European BTs.

Fignut --

You and I are friends, so I debated saying this to you personally.  But I decided to go public.  Thank you for your posts.  Like your e-mails, your posts on fig varieties are just about the most informative and meticulously documented that I've seen.  You have taken the time to understand your subject matter; and you take the time to educate the rest of us. 

Thanks to all for the input. Not sure I want to wait around more years for my Corragio to produce-if ever. No sign of brebas despite being over wintered above 32 degrees F.

Corragio syn. Fico Nera (Abruzzi, Italy)--Medium black fig with dark-red pulp. Two crops. Synonym: Corragio

St. Peter’s (see Just Fruits and Exotics)

Roscioletto

Fico dal sapore dolce e aromatico. Grazie alla buccia molto sottile si presta bene sia per la preparazione delle confetture sia per essere essiccato.

And from other notes: 　Synonyms: Sal's Corleone, Fico di Capo, Fico-Nera (Apparently not the same Fico-Nera as Corragio, which is Abruzzese.)

Thanks Joe - that's very kind of you.

I tried again to post pictures, but no luck.   There are two figs called Corragio.  They both seemed to originate from Abruzzi and I wasn't sure if it was the same variety that arrived by different means.  But the Corragio I have does not resemble Sal's Corleone at all.