Greetings, all --

It is springtime in North Florida and I will soon be taking cuttings from my trees.  One variety that has been discontinued by the originating source is Col. Littman's Black Cross. This is a quite delicious variety which has held up well with our high heat and humidity.  My own tree was kept small and potted in a 15 gallon container, which is fortunate because I lost most of my inground trees in Hurricane Matthew.  Again, its a pretty damned nice fig and I would hate to see this one lost to the community at large.

I have already committed three trees to folk.  I will have between 4-6 more that I will be rooting out that will be ready for shipment either in late spring or early fall. So, in short, these will be available under certain conditions:

1) Although I will be happy to accept trades to replace some of the cultivars I have lost, I am not interested in cash.  
2) I would prefer to trade with well established growers who can keep these little trees alive.  Sorry, but if you are new to figdom, you will have to exercise patience (I am also creating 4 backup trees for myself so there will be additional cuttings available next year). 

3) I ask that any recipients of these trees NOT sell them.  I DO ASK that you "pass the favor on" by propagating and distributing (for free) at least two copies of this wonderful little fig. 

I really, really want to see this variety kept going.  Just Fruits and Exotics has some wonderful varieties and they are beginning to drop some from their lineup ( i also have "Dominico's White Italian"  and "Mrs. Hall") and Id hate to see these wonderful "heirloom figs" lost. 

(If we have already spoken...one has already been reserved for you!)  I CANNOT send to states where the trees are subject to confiscation -- I have too few to risk it.  No international shipments, either.... Sorry...

Happy Spring! PM me if you are interested...

James

If you've PMd me and I have not responded Ill get back to you tomorrow. Waiting for a faculty meeting to start --  about as much fun as a root canal :P

Any new and/or old fig fruit pics?

I saw some pics of this fig in another forum and it sure seems very similar to our Sofeno Preto (well, Francisco's Sofeno Preto).

Do you know it's origin? Could it be the same fig?

Sofeno Preto is also losing ground in our country and i am very happy to have a graft of this rare variety. I'm watching it as a hawk because i don't want to lose it.

I think it's wonderful that you're preserving the variety by limiting recipients of cuttings to successful fig folk who don't intent to sell. It's a variety I'd like to have but I won't even ask in deference to others much better qualified. Hopefully in a few years more people will be able to offer cuttings.

Jaime... Sofeno Preto is a great looking fig indeed. I would also watch it like a hawk and try my best to propagate it to ensure against the unexpected. I have taken up the mind set that 2 or 3 plants plus reserve cuttings of the highly desirable and difficult to acquire and grow varieties is the standard that I will try to follow as insurance against my own ineptness...

A pair and a spare.  There you go!

Does it mean no to California?

Hello , all --

I don't have any photos of the fruit from my tree -- I eat 'em.  She will be leafing out soon so Ill post up some photos of the leaves when mama has woken up.  Looking at some of the photos on the link, Jaime it is identical to the one that Frank (FMD) posted as well as Strudeldog -- the fig is very dark with spots (in fact that is why I bought it -- I was at JF&E and they had two potted ones that were fruiting -- it was a stunning fig So I bought them both and put one in the ground - which died in the storm - and the other in a pot -- thank goodness it survived.) with a rich dark center. Now Im biased in that I never met a fig I really didnt like but , yes and truthfully, Id classify it as "drop you to your knees good".  But I feel that way about Smith and my Col de Dame blanc (all of my other CDDs passed away in the great flood of '16 grrrr).

As far as its origins / heritage I cannot truthfully say. In my conversation with Brandy she more framed it in what it was "not" -- not a VdB, not a Petite Negri, not  a Black Madeira (I bought one of those from them as well, but it turned out to be a Beall... in fact I bought two JFE BM's and neither one turned out to be a bona fide BM :( so Ill keep looking ). She just explained it to me as a local heirloom by way of Gainesville and Tallahassee. But, again, I bought it based on looks and on the flavor of the one I sampled.  This spring and summer Ill run a series of photos and let the experts try to speculate as to its true "name" etc etc...

What I DO know is that it is a fairly slow grower, has a fairly tight eye and handles our heat and humidity pretty well.  Crops in August and September.  For some reason it seems to handle the fig rust well down here -- it is a constant struggle w/ our climate.  It is my best dark fig but I only have a few to compare it with such as VDB (which IMO is very good) and Marseilles Black --- The other dark figs Ive got I kept the figs off of the trees for two seasons so the trees could develop good roots and get off to a good start. We will see this year -- Im looking forward to trying a couple of Louisiana trees that I got such as a Rumored BB10 (J's Black), "Marion", and Dan's Fabled BB10 -- I told my wife he gave the money to charity so she let me have an early Birthday present and bought me a pack of cuttings from Dan :) -- really looking forward to comparing those two -- wont let one of my Dans BB10 go two years before trying that one, ahah.

Is CKBC is some illustrious unknown fig straight from Lady Godiva's loins? I have no Idea... Heck, it may be some fig that is well known in Europe.  But its damned good and that I do know.  

And now Ive read that some Yankee (no offense, Yankees :) ) bought the mother tree from JFE and it has died?  Now the pressure is on me to do right by this tree and help save her.  She's worth it!  And, yes, Im making backup copies of each and every tree Ive had to survive -- I went from a little over 100 to less than 50 and it was a tragedy of the first order for my garden... Im stupid but I DO learn from my mistakes -- plus the principal told me I can plant as much as I want on our campus soooooo......  multiple copies and redundancy is the order of the day from this day forward...

If Im successful in my efforts I should have about six this spring (after my backups) and hopefully a dozen more this fall.  The spring batch has been spoken for to kind folks who are trying to help me rebuild. 

I really shouldn't complain about losing trees, though... compared of my neighbors and other folk throughout the South, I came out "lucky" and Im thankful to God for that...

Best of luck to you and the growers!

Thanks for the answer, James.

Sofeno Preto is also a slow grower.

Independently of the figs real name and origin i think it's a wonderful thing what you are doing. These beauties should be preserved and it's a crime when we let one disappear forever.

So, in my book, spending money to keep and propagate them is really a charity to us all :-)

Keep up the good work,

Thanks to all who responded! First (and second) round of baby plants have been spoken for. And I want to thank all for the generous offers to help me get back on my feet after last fall's hurricane.

I'm starting round one this afternoon.  Fingers crossed -- now the pressure is on! Hahha this is going to be so much fun!  If you are one of the few growers out there that also have this tree, I'd encourage you to do the same -- lets save this great fig! 

Ill let you know when Round 1 plants are ready to ship -- hope to have them ready before it gets too hot.  I am also starting four backup trees for myself and my students -- so there will, hopefully, be plenty more to come next season.

James

Best of luck to all concerned in this project. This was certainly one that I was looking to obtain. I had no idea that it was this rare and close to being lost. I was aware of the story that the mother tree had been sold but didn't know it had died. Does not make sense that a nursery would sell its only plant stock.