This is the first fig from Vasilika Sika which is in its 2nd full season. My source obtained his from Herman2/VS (i.e. this is not the Dalmatie type of Vasilika Sika). It was rooted from a cutting Sept. 2014. Last year it set no figs whatsoever. This year, even with pinching, it set just one fig! So it's not precocious, that's for sure. This sole fig was quite small - is this normal? However, what a great flavor - it was very jammy and rich with a little bit of acidic tartness to it which seems unique among the green figs with red pulp that I grow.

Steve - can you show the leaves at your convenience?

Yes, I meant to photograph them but forgot.  I'll do it tomorrow and post them here.

I have this fig rooted this winter. It actually grew to over 6 feet tall before I started to top prune it. It put on a bunch of figs but were late so I allowed only three on the main trunk. The 1st one is ripening now and looks to be 35-40 grams. But, maybe they are  a little larger because I only let a few grow. Not really sure.

I can take a picture tomorrow of the figs and leaves. What is interesting to me is that the figs have the collar characteristic of the Col de Dames which have caused so much commotion recently.

Actually just found some pics taken earlier in the summer.  

Steve: Do those leaves match yours?

Steve, here is a link to my Vasilika Sika with photos of the figs and leaves. It was one of the best tasting figs but it was not a productive variety here in Albuquerque. Many of the figs did not ripen before the end of the season. 

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/vasilika-sika-4903112?highlight=vasilika+sika&trail=50

Steve:My old in ground tree did not make a lots of fruits this year too.
Why: Because if you remember ,March was relatively warm,April was very cold with frost till past may 1,  and the soil did not warm up,till JULY in our area.
I found out the hard way that fruit formation ,has to do with soil temperature.
If my Vasilika Sika would have been in pot this past Spring,it would have had warm roots early in June and form fruits then,but it started forming fruits after July 10 ,so,we will see if they get ripe this year.
So for the late ripening exotic cultivars,like Vasilika Sika ,Madeira black(Preto), Col de Dame, Italian 258,Kathleen Black,Maltese Falcon,Dalmatie, a good size pot,(7-10 Gal) is a must in cooler climates,if we want good production year after year.
If in ground in these cold climates it will be precocious only in years with warmer Spring.
I have to recognize that my obsession with planting all my figs in ground ,was a mistake.
Only early cultivars are good in ground here in cold climates,does not matter how much one Winter protect.
Vasilika Sika is precocious ,but , it needs full sun and warm roots early in the Spring,just like it gets in Greece.!

To Blackfoot: Yes:Your fig got a long neck, i can see that, mine does sometimes ,and sometimes not,so much for neck and no neck.
It is not Col de Dame ,that i can guaranty you.
It would be nice to be Col de Dame white
+totally healthy and unlike the diseased Col de Dame in UCD Germaplasm,that i could never make it grow taller than one foot in 5 years till i gave it up.
The leaves on your tree are exactly of Vasilika Sika ,like they should be.
On the other hand,let them ripe properly and they will have that raspberry flavor ,just as strong as Col de Dame does.
See the pixies of fruits from previous years.


     

Leon, yours looks like the Belleclare type of Vasilika Sika which I also grow.  Mine is also very tasty but not as productive as I might like.  I do like the long fingered leaves though and will hold onto mine in part because of that feature.  

Maybe Vasile will chime in on this if I have it wrong but my understanding is that he acquired his from a Greek person living in the U.S.  It is supposed to the the same variety that is called Vasilika Sika in Greece.  In contrast, the Vasilika Sika-Belleclare is supposed to be similar to (or identical to) Dalmatie.

Vasile, my Vasilika Sika is growing in a 5 gallon SIP container and has gotten full sun all season.  It has been a warm year with lots of sun.  So I think the conditions were favorable for fruit production.  In contrast to Blackfoot's tree mine has been a rather slow grower even though it doesn't show obvious fmv symptoms.  Please have a look when I provide photos of the leaves because I want to make sure mine is true to type.

Well ,I wish someone in Louisiana,Texas or Florida that grow this fig ,will chime in,
because i have a filling the tree is very precocious there,due to climate and resistance to souring.

Herman: The reason I mentioned about the long neck (not just long but fat also) is because I do believe it occurs in figs other than just Col de Dames group. 

Of course it does,and I think it has something to do,as to how happy the tree is,if it got the right nutrients in the soil,and if it is very healthy and growing happy over all.
Your tree seem very happy to grow and produce large healthy fruits too.
What can i say ,you know your secret ingredients.LOL.
Of course sometime,plants grown from same tree ,are very different one can be healthy and one can look very diseased.
I had this experience ,and when i see a young plant looking stressed and diseased i discard it.
I do not bother to try to over fertilize it , in the hope it will become healthy.
This is what i do now,but in the past,i did try to over fertilize plants made out of cuttings i received from UC Germaplasm,but it seem i was never good enough to make it work,so i gave up.
Best Regards

"Of course sometime,plants grown from same tree ,are very different one can be healthy and one can look very diseased."

I totally agree.  When propagating a new variety by cuttings I always try to get at least two to take so if there are differences that I can choose the best growing one for my orchard.

Steve:No Offense but if your tree look diseased,and if you bought cuttings from me,or bought a tree,whatever you got,I will send you a new tree,or cuttings ,you just pay the shipping.
I will fill much better if you accept my offer,if that is the case.
I do have a couple of Vasilika Sika plants ,intended to sell,and also can send you cuttings after leaf fall,because my tree is ,large now,in fact i will take a pix now for you to see .
Not a lots of fruits but i intend to dig out a big trunk and grow it in pot next year.    

Thanks Vasile - I'll send you a PM.  Do you feel this variety will do much better in a container than in-ground in your zone?  I moved last Spring and have much more space for growing figs in-ground.  I am going to try most in-ground but will hold back maybe one third of the latest ripening varieties (and a couple San Pedro types) for containers.

Vasile, How many years did it take for your tree to get that big. I rooted a cutting of
Vasilika Sika VS and am planning on planting it next year. I have limited space and it would
help to know how big is your tree and how long did it take to get that big. Thanks
 

Yes Steve:I am convince ,that soil temperature (too low in the Spring),makes this late varieties produce few Flowers(fig of course), early in the Spring,and because of the low soil Temp,it start producing fruits late in July,and then when temperatures outside rich 90 degree it stop producing fruits again,because of the out of range high heat,it shuts down,and again it start producing young fruits that will never ripe,after Aug 15.
So the tree ends up with only a few ripe fruits.
If planted in black pots in full sun,the roots get warm fast in the Spring,and the tree produces fruits, on June first,and it keeps producing them till the time the heat is 90+ F when it shuts down again.
When heat start getting high,i will use aluminum foil over the black pot in order to cool it down.
I am convince it will work much better on this late ripening varieties,or other cultivars like Kathleen black that also did not do good this year.

Malta Black,Improved Celeste,Marseilles black vs,and Adriatic JH,are full of fruts,and most productive this year,in ground.
Preto is small does not want to grow ,is in a large pot and full of fruits.
I put it in pot this Spring,after bad experience in ground, and it worked very well,and i am sure they will all ripe.
Best Regards


Edit note :Rayrose: I got it in 2010,and it fruited first couple of fruits in 2012.
It is close to 6 foot high and wide, and i do not think it will ever be a large tree unless it,is in a climate like central Ca, and will never have frost damage.
You see every few years a terrible frost come and prune it for me,and possible for you.LOL

I read up top where Vasile asked for someone in the south to chime in.
I've had this variety for a few years now, since you gave it to me when I bought my Nero 600m, Vasile.
My experience with it is not what it should be, I planted it too close to some fast growing trees that probably robbed this guy, lol. I did make a lot of air layers from all the bottom suckers or branches and each one would take off as soon as it's potted but my tree never made it to 3'. It did produce a couple figs last year and a couple this year that had a really distinct flavor, and about half of them were small but a few did get to a good size. I'm airlayering a nice whip to bring to my new place when I move at the end of Oct and hoping I can give it what it needs then. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. I am really looking forward to trying them again when grown in the right conditions. Oh and some that did ripen was during rains and 100% humidity and they were still really good.

Is it just me or is anyone else finding some small humor / irony here that we are talking to Vasile (Herman2) about a Vasilica Sika? lol... sorry easily distracted....     :-)

Great looking figs guys. My family is from the area in Greece that are known for the vasilika figs. The vassilika figs that I grew up eating look slightly different. Bigger and have that green color along with a faint purple skin color but this could be because of the hotter and longer summer in Greece perhaps? My mother is going to Greece next week for a month and I have asked her to bring back a few cuttings on her return to Toronto. If I do receive these cuttings maybe I can send you one Herman and study it since you are very very well experienced in figs especially compared to me as I am fairly new.

Here are some pics of the leaves of mine.  I think they look similar to those shown by Vasile and Blackfoot.

Pana:There are 3 kind of Vasilika Sika:
The white one
The white with red blush
The Dark one
All three are dark red inside.
They have name in Greek but I can't say them.
This in question here is the white one.
Of course it looks much nicer in Greece when ripe because here ,it get spotted by ugly spots due to humidity in the air.
There are other people on Ebay that have the red blush one and the dark one.

Steve:your fig has the same lives like mine and Blackfoot,no doubt.