Thanks, Meg.

I went to my piece of land to see how the trees were doing after the the heavy pruning some received this winter.

I was quite happy with their progress. Even those that i had to cut almost to a single stump to be able to free them from the Ivy are doing quite well with lots of new growth. 

I had to remove some young Ivy that was trying to climb all over the trees again - i have to do something more permanent to them, but i don't like to use herbicides and they may be dangerous to the fig trees.

Some before pruning, pruned and new growth photos:

     

The Ivy is proving to be one of the major issues. Most pruned fig trees were already covered by them - i removed what i could:

      

Most of the trees seem healthy and are full of small figs. Almost all the Brebas (not many, it seems) were eaten by the birds so i won't have a chance to taste them.
 

       

One branch of a small tree went through the fence to my neighbour and a fig that was opened by a bird caught my attention.

 
 
This fig seems a Breba and it's pulp is Red! I don't remember any Brebas with red pulp being mentioned by my wife in this piece of land. I have to investigate this tree with more care when i have more time.

If only i had brought a piece of net to protect the other figs on this branch. Probably when i return these are all gone. The birds are relentless over here.

The young tree near the Moscatel Branco keeps puzzling me. It seems like a spontaneous tree because it's much near to the Moscatel than the others. They were all planted several meters from the others. except for this one.

Maybe a bird that likes figs, stopped by the Moscatel to eat some figs and dropped a few seeds.

If it grew from a seed it may not be edible or it may be a caprifig.

The tree has 2 crops of figs. I picked some of the bigger ones that seem Brebas and opened them to see if they were caprifigs.

I don't think they are as i don't see male flowers and it seems it has long-style female flowers. Maybe Francisco can help me...

 



Some more photos of the figs on this tree:

        

In one of the branches the figs seem a bit different from the others:
 

Hi Jaime!

Thank you very much for news and sharing your nice sets of pictures
It seems that the worst part is over. Great job!
Now comes the big question mark.. What figs are these?

You shall have to locate an old hand in the area with long experience with figs and capable to identify each and every fig by its name. I believe it will not be to difficult to find a person
You shall need pictures of the ripe fruit

Or, you may try and get support from the pomologists at the Estação de Fruticultura Vieira Natividade em Alcobaça. I am told they have good people there (eng Rui de Sousa is a top specialist on figs).

That bigger/Carmin pulp breba, if you saw just one, could be some variety producing just a few breba on exceptional seasons ! or... they are so delicious that tha black birds just left a single sample to the owner!! but soon you shall have the main crop to taste!
I am a candidate for a scion or two for trials down south in a dry/warm area and near the Ocean!?

Keep us informed of your next steps... names, pictures, etc..

cheers
Francisco

Thanks for your comments, Francisco.

Finding an elderly person with fig knowledge over here is not going to be easy. Unfortunately, the persons that probably could enlighten me on these old varieties are all gone.

Eng. Rui de Sousa is a good bet, if he is willing to take the time and respond to us, simple fig hobbyists.

Regarding the breba with the carmin pulp. I confess that i just saw it when i was looking at the photos,later at night. I went there with limited time. Cleared some trees, took some pictures and left. At night i realized the potential behind that breba.

I will try to go there again this weekend.

Throughout the following months i will also try to protect some figs of each tree to identify how many different varieties there are.

After that, in the winter, you are welcome to as many scions as you want to test over there.

Cheers,
Jaime

Jaime, this is one of those times I wish I didnt live in CA as I wish to also be a candidate for scion...lol

Wow, what a great job you have done. No small feat! Amazing growth! Wow, freat photos and that one half eaten fig looks goid to me too. I look forward to others comments about identification. Francisco is always so knowledfeable too.

Thanks for sharing your photos & for the great update!

Yes, Meg. I am really happy how some of them are developing after being suffocated under all that wild growth so many years, and having to face so heavy pruning.

Too bad the difficulties regarding cuttings being sent abroad, specially to CA.

Oh well...If some of them are interesting enough maybe they will find a way to the US (see what happened to Ponte Tresa and Galicia Negra) and afterwards you can get some cuttings more easily. 

Each update is like a chapter in an epic, filled with new discoveries and surprises. The color on the half eaten breba and that last distinct branch is especially gorgeous. Let's hope, whatever its name and identity, it can some day find its way across the ocean. : )

Thank you for all the hard work, photo-documentary, and compelling narrative. I look forward to future reports of such exciting rediscovery/rescue story.

Thanks, Dan.

When i go to this small piece of land i always seem to have a new surprise.

After i published the last set of photos, i went there 6 days after to try and protect a few figs with nets and the smallest tree near the Moscatel Branco surprised me again.

The figs, in just 6 days, had grown spectacularly. I couldn't  believe that they were the same figs.

I have protected a Big Breba in the highest branch and some other figs in the lower branches. I hope the birds let me see some mature figs when i have a chance to return.



              

A 2017 update of the piece of land with the abandoned fig trees.

It's not all done, but when i go there i have a very different feeling from the first impressions i had a couple of years ago. In post 21 i had managed to free all the trees despite having to cut some and hoping that they grow new branches.

And so they did. Now i have a new grafting experimentation area, although all the original trees are there, adequately pruned, so i can reach all the figs from the ground and it shows. They are full of figs.

I'm very impatient on this year's crop. The only problem may be the long period of drought we are having that may jeopardize it. I have no means to provide them water and the soil is pure clay, hard as a rock in the summer. Let's hope that, being very old trees (some were planted more than 50 years ago), the root system is deep enough to get some moisture to the development of the figs.

A few photos:

And now for the first bounty of my hard work. The younger tree by the Moscatel branco strain had kept me curious for the last 2 years. I have never been able to sample a single fig from the main crop and at one time i even considered the possibility of it being a caprifig.

But the Breba crop always seemed impressive (post 34). The problem was, i have never sampled a single fig. Last year i had high hopes for what i saw.

Big brebas were forming and i protected them with plastic hard nets.

 

When i got there, not one had survived. The nets were all broken by birds and not a single fig survived. Very disappointing. 

The small trees i had rescued from the base of the mother tree (post 6) were still too small to give me any figs so i had to wait. 

This spring the pruned mother tree was again full of brebas. Unfortunately i was not able to protect them and when i returned to the site, one month after taking the next photos, they were all gone.

 
 

A huge disappointment, but we have to live with them so i let it go.

It was only a couple of weeks ago, when watering my fig trees in pots that i spotted a ripe "Da Vinha Velha (Unk)" breba, almost fully mature. Although it's an unknow, i gave it the name the piece of land is known for - "Vinha Velha" - so "Da Vinha Velha (Unk)"

I guarded it like a hawk and this weekend i was able to sample it.

I had a couple of other very good brebas first (Cuello de Paloma and Lampa Preta, i will post on them later) and i was ready for a disappointment, taste wise.
First fig of a small unknow tree, probably bland from being watered one time a week to full pot capacity, so the trees can survive all week.

All i could say, tasting one fig half was Whow!!

 
 

Now i understand why the birds don't leave any figs on the tree and break through plastic nets to get to them. Wonderful tasting fig. And this one was half the size of the ones i saw on the mother tree in early June.

I gave the other half to my wife and i couldn't avoid a grin of pleasure when i saw the reaction to the fig taste on her expression. She also was very impressed with the taste, especially considering it's a breba. She even compared it to my Preto de Torres Novas, the fig she likes the best (and that's a main crop fig).

This small fig has already payed in pleasure all the hard work i invested on the site.

A few more photos, including the mother tree (to see the leaves and the main crop forming):

Jaime,
That's a large fig for a breba, and most unusual looking.  You may have found the
next Ponte Tresa. Congratulations my friend! Don't go sending out free cuttings, because
you have a REAL money fig there. I'm very happy and excited for you. Hello Ebay!!

Ray

Hi Jaime  Parabens
Glad to see you managed to taste those 'V V unk'  brebas..
Hope for the main crop to be as good or even better! I know of an old Côtea with a few free branches in its North side, ready for a couple of chips !?
That was a great job - Congratulations
Francisco

Hi, Ray. You are right. The Brebas of this variety on the mother tree sure were big and quite unusual. I don't know if it's the next Ponte Tresa, but it sure is a special fig to be treasured. As far as making money with it on Ebay, that's not my thing.
I rather see these special figs go to good friends that can appreciate them.

Hi, Francisco. Obrigado.
You are right. I finally was able to taste this elusive one and i recriminate myself for not deploying my Bird Scarer (that worked so well, last year) on the isolated piece of land near the mother tree. All those wonderful brebas, gone to the birds.
Oh Well. 
I still have the main crop to protect, unless it's a San Pedro. It might be difficult to find out, if those trees don't get some rain in the meantime...

Regarding old Côtea, with free branches ready for chips...
Whatever you want from me. You know that you just have to say you are interested and they will be sent to you. Meanwhile, unless that old Côtea is identical to the Branco especial i already have, maybe the tips of those branches can find their way to me. And if they come with the company of some Castelhana from your brother's, i sure wouldn't mind.

Hello good friend. It's been a while.
P. S. I appreciate special figs :) 

Jokes aside. This was a great read. Keep up the great work and all of us updated with pix of the figs :) 

Nice try, lobboroz. ;-)
Who knows... Maybe in the future some of these can find their way to the other side of the world.

Meanwhile, thanks for the words of encouragement.

i highly doubt this will ever come to Australia. The laws around importing plants are very strict and getting them over correctly with quarantine is very expensive
Will have to enjoy this fig through your photo's only haha

You are right. I forgot about the strict import laws on plants and animals that you have over there. 

At least you don't have to face all the problems we are having with every kind of pests (insect, bacteria, etc) causing all kinds of problems all over Europe. 

Fig cuttings are not a major vector of spreading diseases, specially if they are disinfected prior to storing and shipping, but we never know.

The photographic updates will have to do.