When I first became a member here about 2 years ago, I could not understand why most people disliked Brown Turkey Figs. I made a post trying to find out WHY? Then I have gather some information on them, there are so many varieties, I am not even going to try to mention all of them.

Well after several post about why people did not like them, finally someone said something positive, it was Dennis (snaglpus) he stated there was a Nursery in my state called "Petals of the Past" and they had a great BT that had a reddish center it is a "Southeastern Brown Turkey"....So, to make a long story short,I knew Dennis knew a lot about Fig Trees, so I trusted him and ordered 2 BT trees from this Nursery....I am so glad I did, today I went out and picked around 15 SBT Figs from both trees and the Figs are so delicious and super sweet!!

So, before you bad mouth the BT,  you should at least try to eat some different variations of it if you can! If you want a BT that you would not be ashamed of owning please get the one that "Petals of the Past sells, it grows like a weed and has outstanding Figs...Now I will get off my soapbox  : )

Frank from Bama

 
 

I love me some bt. Its the name that throughs people astray. Give them a bt and tell them its,a unknown and they will want cuttings. Lol

Alright, alright, you have convinced me! :)

How does it grow, as easily as rumored?

i had a purchased figs (brown turkey per the vendor) from a los angeles area farmers market, and it was some of the best figs i ever ate. That SBT looks great Frank

Maybe I should get one.  Nice looking fig Frank!  My first fig tree purchase was a BT from fast growing trees, don't know the particular strain.  I nearly killed it but it survived the newbness.  It had figs on when I got it but they aborted.  It overwintered ok and put on a few figs this year and they all aborted.  One more year chance and it will go away if no good figs.

I have read quite a bit about the differences between the "Brown Turkey", here in the south it seems all "Brown Turkey" are fairly similar.  I personally love them, I get cuttings from one that is probably forty feet tall and around sixty years old.  The fruit looks a bit more red in the center than the one you posted but perhaps it's just lighting.  I did buy a few of these trees as well to see if there is a difference in the fruit.  How are you protecting yours this winter Frank?

I figured that people were responding negatively because this variety is widely grown, and thus not obscure.

Hoping to find an Exotic Rarity in the wild, one would likely be disappointed by Something Common.

But it seems to me that Brown Turkey is common because it both easy to grow and liked well enough to have been grown in the first place.

Thanks Frank for the kind words.

Out of all the figs I have, I have more Southeastern Brown Turkey figs than any other. It is one of the best for us Southern Folk. I took a road trip to Texas about 3 years ago. Yes, I drove from Charlotte, NC to Houston TX. It was a fig trip! I rented a 4x8 from U-Haul, hooked to my pickup and drove to Texas. I could not believe how large Petals from the Past was! That place is the largest nursery I've ever seem. Their Brown Turkey is one of the best. People should give this fig a try.

Also Bt get used the most for root stock because it ability to grow and survive.

Nice post and photos.
About how large does this fig get? 

As far as Brown Turkey Figs go, there are quite a few variants that are very good. I have tested several and LaRadeks EBT is one of the best that pleases my palate. I may have to trial the SE BT as you guys suggest. Thank you.

I would like also to add that for the CA people where the wasps live, a BT will look and taste outstanding . Our own California BT is a large nice fig.

Hi! I got BT some years ago. It was an unpretentious plant, which grew in a pot in the 5th zone. It worked very hard producing big enough fruit. The fruit's taste made me happy. I was wondering why some members of the forum didn't appreciate that. I knew after a while that there are some sorts of BT. I don't know which one I have got but it's a very worthy fig tree!

There have been a lot of threads on the confusion with Brown Turkey figs.  Part of the problem is that for marketing purposes some unscrupulous nurseries and other sellers have put the name 'Brown Turkey' on figs that are actually something else and this has confused the issue.  I've tasted a couple figs called Brown Turkey and was not impressed.  My neighbor has a really old tree that seems to be a Brown Turkey variant.  It is growing in a nice spot.  To me, the figs are relatively bland and not as good as the varieties I grow.  Then again, I'm willing to accept that there are some excellent Brown Turkeys out there as well.  Perhaps also this fig is better in the deep south than in the mid-atlantic.

Frank, You take poster perfect pictures and your fruits look exactly like the ones printed on the tags I saw at the local Home Depot here in Texas.
Unfortunately when I ended up with too many varieties, my Brown Turkey (among others) got lost in the shuffle. 
It takes a lot of TLC to get such inspiring results. 
Keep up the great work!



 

Doesn't look like any BT that I ever saw. I would guess that BT and SEBT are two entirely different figs.

I know that I have one BT that someone swore was awesome, sent me cuttings to convince me, and they were right - it was a great fig, and it was a Celeste that had been mislabeled.

John, your comment made me laugh. But both you and Bob are correct. In some places around the US some states call Celeste a Brown Turkey. This really does cause a lot of confusion. Here in NC, folks know the difference between the 2. But like Bob stated, a lot of these trees are mislabeled on purpose just to make a dollar. The Brown Turkey figs in CA are extremely rich and the California Brown Turkey taste even better. But this is because your figs were fertilized by the wasp. Campbell's Greenhouse is the Southend of Charlotte, sells a Brown Turkey which is truly Nero 600m. I bought 6 over the past 2 years. I told them they were not BT but they said they do not care. But true SeBT is excellent and sweet.

In Defense of English Brown Turkey, or just Brown Turkey as we call it here in Europe.

Wow, Jon, nothing will get you going like brebas or Brown Turkey :) - Well, hold on, here comes a post that combines your two favorite fig phenomenons.......

I guess if I was living in Southern California, i would have other favorites too......

Frank, You are not alone in liking Brown Turkey. But Brown Turkey comes in many versions. The one I am growing here in Southern Scandinavia is an amazing fig variety. I call it Brown Turkey, because I believe it is the original Brown Turkey ! Following in American tradition for naming figs, I would have to call it English Brown Turkey.

Figs have so many aliases, but English Brown Turkey has more aliases than any other fig, I think. One of the more pretty names is “Bella Brunetta” in Italy, but I’m not going to try and list all the aliases from around Europe or USA.

It is a different variety than most Brown Turkeys grown in the US, I believe.

This is the most cultivated variety of fig in northern Europe. It has been the standard variety for decades, if not centuries in Denmark and other northern European countries.  It is so, because it combines several good traits for our cool summers and relatively mild winters. It is, so to speak, our Desert King, because it does precisely what Desert King does for growers in the PNW !

English Brown Turkey Good traits:

-It is amongst the more frost hardy fig varieties, but like any other fig-varieties, it can freeze to the ground, below -15C.

It bears a substantial breba crop of 0-8 figs per shoot, that ripens over a period of several weeks In August,  even in a cool coastal climate.  So one fig tree can carry hundreds of breba figs to maturity, and just one tree can supply all the figs, that a normal household would dream of. The main crop figs do not normally develop to maturity here in Northern Europe. But in a warmer climate, or a greenhouse, they do. (So take note please, it is a common fig, performing as well as the San Pedro cultivar "Desert King".)

The EBT breba figs are delicious as fresh fruit, and they can be used for any kitchen purpose You can think of, and they even dry well, in case the freezer is full, and your family had enough fresh figs and pies for the season.

I think, that the eating quality of figs, is not determined so much by the fact that they are brebas or main crop. More by the weather at the time of ripening. And since these breba-babies ripen at the height of summer here, they taste good.

They actually even begin to dry on the tree, if the tree is in a well drained soil, and the weather is right.

Untill recently, this was the only fig grown here. Elsewhere in Scandinavia, for instance in the island of Bornholm, you also find Brunswick. But very few other fig varieties are found here.  Figs grow into large bushes or trees in gardens close to the ocean, especially in our islands.  Inland they freeze to the ground in many winters. Only breba-croppers have a chance to ripen here. No Main crop variety will ripen in the open in Scandinavia, unless it ripens well before Ronde de Bordeaux. I doubt if such a variety exists.

But is English Brown Turkey really that unique, is it the only fig variety in the world, that will carry up to 8 breba-figs per shoot, in total bringing hundreds of figs to maturity on one tree, in a cool summer climate. ? Maybe not! I have heard about one other variety called Desert King, which is reputed to bear up to 8 breba figs on one branch in the PNW. But I haven’t tried this cultivar yet.
I am searching for other breba varieties to match English Brown Turkey in yield and quality, in my climate. All contenders are welcome, but I think EBT is hard to beat in my climate.

I would encourage all fig growers in the PNW or other similarly cool summer/mild-winter climates, where brebas survive winter, to try our European “English Brown Turkey” (whatever it is called locally) as a supplement to Desert King in the open garden.
Where winter temperatures are lower, its justification is to be grown in greenhouses, in pots, or otherwise protected from hard frost, but please don’t prune all the annual shoots in winter, you’ll miss out on its great breba harvest at a time where all the main croppers still are far from maturity.
  A perfectly ripe English Brown Turkey
  An overripe EBT, starting to dry. I finish drying them in the oven. A big old jar of dried figs is a treasure in winter. When I open the jar, the sweet fig aroma emerges....
  6 delicious brebas on one shoot is not unusual, I've seen up to 8, but to be fair some shoots have zero fruits
 

The tree that gave the fruits above. Tree is ten years old. Sometimes I have to hug the tree, when I pass it. Thanks for the figs, English Brown Turkey.

Can brown turkey survive zone 6 in ground and unprotected?

I am just going to post what I consider a "real brown turkey" to be.  Light brown to purple brown, pear shaped, large to huge 60-150 grams, open eye, hollow center, taste, watery melon flavor.


Here is a brown turkey fig that I just picked, it has ripened during a 2 week period of rainfall with no sun coming out, according to my rain gauge we got over 30 inches in the last 2 weeks...
 
 Inside of the fruit
   
Surprisingly there was no splits or cracks, but with the giant open eye, some vinegar yeast got in and it smelled quite bad.

Brown turkey figs if they ripen in the summer with sun on them are much darker purple color, still taste like 4 days from being ripe melons.   
 

Here is a picture of what Bass said looks like a "real brown turkey"
 

Here is a quote from a post by Bass.

[I went to Australia 5 years ago and sampled some figs. These figs were sold at many farm stands around New South Wales. It's is for sure the real brown turkey. Judging by the shape, color and taste. These were fully ripened and picked at peak time for harvesting, since they were from a farm stand. They were selling for good money. How did it taste? 
I sampled half and threw away the other half. Very bland and watery and if at was my first fig to eat I would have never tasted figs again. 
No wonder why it is a money maker for them, they have good shelf life and good size, they transport easily due to their thick skin. 
There are many figs around being sold as brown turkey, but are not the real variety. Brown turkey has a pear shaped fruit with that color skin, and sometimes a big cavity in the center.]

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1278187394&postcount=13

I know your wondering why if you don't like it so much are you growing 300 of them. The nursery I bought them from, said quote“only brown turkey figs can grow in Hawaii and nothing else, because the other varieties of figs all require a wasp to ripen”. And I believed him for some reason and now here we are. Then I saw this online

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/08/22/159750471/meet-a-man-on-a-mission-to-save-rare-and-unusual-figs

And I had my mind blown! There are that many varieties! and most of them don't need the wasp! I need to get these 3,000 “not brown turkey figs”!.    

   

Frank I check their website and this fig isn't there for sale.  I wonder if they discontinued it?  Am I looking at the wrong site?

 http://petalsfromthepast.com/catalog/fruit-plants/figs.html

Frank, when did that tree start ripening main crop figs for you? In other words, have you been enjoying fruits from it for a couple months or a couple weeks? Just wondering, for those of us growing in pots with shorter seasons; I should clarify further, the fig trees are growing in pots..not me.   :)

Looks yummy Frank! I too have a brown turkey that I acquired which the seller swears is amazing......only time will tell :) Can't judge a book by its cover!