Same guy who gave me Turkish gave me Celeste. Celeste was much more sweet and purplish. But I won't say it isn't Celeste because he had nothing marked. He went around and just went that's ..um -Italian.. Um Celeste.. um Turkish. But we went around several times and kept saying this one was Turkish. 

Thanks Alan! I'm gonna get a few.

brown turkey's man they makes my head hurt....for what its worth this is what mine looks like...Its was labeled Brown Turkey...but you know...what does that really mean?

There are many that disparage the Brown Turkey, to you I say, Okay.  Brown Turkey and Celeste are both premier "gateway figs" in that they are responsible for a lot of people being involved with figs.  In every hobby there are elitists that believe that if it isn't the "Best", or the most sought then it is of a lower or lesser class, to which I say "Male Bovine Scat"!  Taste, as beauty is in the eye/palate of the beholder.  In closing, there are many variables that affect the taste of figs/fruit/veggies, too many people are okay with the taste of the Brown Turkey for it to be a cultivar issue.

Proud to be Elitist.

Dominick, where did you pick up so many trees?? is the source still available (I'm somewhat local)?

Happy New Year to all!!

No he was selling his whole collection. For the price I paid I don't feel like I got my money's worth. There were a bunch of Brown turkey's and Celestes that he thought were all different.  

Ok, thanks Dominick. I should've bought more from the guy I bought my trees from. I'll look him up this spring to see if he is selling more.

bump

Any more thoughts on Sweet George or Bayernfeige Violetta?

At Lsu Saturday I couldn't hardly tell the difference from their celeste and southern brown turkey.

My Sweet George is not a brown turkey.  I have 2 plants; one is in the ground and the other is in a pot.  Both have a sever case of FMV and honestly, I'm surprised they are not dead yet!  Both stay outside every winter.  Both die to the ground and come back every year.  The figs are Ok....nothing to jump and down about.

Bayernfeige Violetta is not a brown turkey either.  Mine are in pots and come second it the sweetness fig category right behind White Triana.  

Ryan, I completely agree with you!  In the past pics I've seen posted here, to me they look identical.  BUT here in Charlotte, our SBT is completely different in color, texture and taste to Celeste.  Here, our Celeste is small and redder (not sure this is a word).  Our BT is softer, medium size, brown has a amber center.  They are sweet but not sweeter than Celeste.  

The water gets muddier when you throw in Texas Everbearing!  But the leaf pattern of TEB clearly shows the difference.

Dennis,
My Sweet George (Marius) is one of my most vigorous growers with little to no signs of FMV.  Have one  in pot and just put one in the ground. This year will be the first year for me to really try the figs. Had ONE last year, and it was good.  
My B.V. just went into the ground.  Was not impressed with the fruit last year, but it was young, it looks to be suffering from slight FMV.

Greg, I'll have to contact Marius and buy one of his airlayers.

As for the photo in my original post. It's definately not a Brown Turkey. That fig was so good that if I only had that tree, i'd be more than happy! I located the owner and set some air layers. The tree took a big hit from our 5 degree weather over the past 2 years. Half of it died but I will make sure the tree lives on. I took some photos of it but they are over 1M.

In an update, I do have 2 Vern's Brown Turkey and Tilsbury Turkey. They are excellent tasting figs.

Very nice topic and love all the photos. I'm currently growing a few this years cuttings of Brown turkey that come from two different sources. One is anEBT and was gifted to me by a very good forum friend so no doubt on this one. The second come from a tree in my area that is labeled as a B T and came from a big box store. The ripe fruit is very dark purple - brown almost black and the interior is dark red with a small cavity. Very very good tasting fig and very productive. Photos of the ripe fruit to follow very soon. If you have an idea by looking at the young figs and leaves please elaborate. Thanks for reading.

There was a ton of great info in this thread and it seems like some fine collectors of BT!  I recently found a fig tree that ive been told was English Brown Turkey but im unsure and was hoping someone may be able to give me a little more information/ advice as to which variant if any it could be.  The tree itself is relatively large, maybe 15-20ft tall with the same size spread.  Lots of low sprawling branches a few inches off the ground, incredibly fast rooter, decent sized figs and leaves that are 12"x12" or larger.  It is unfortunately a tree that is in a public place so most of the figs are pulled before they are ripe so its hard to get a ripe fig pic but I did get a pic of a fig that was on its way to being ripe.

Any thoughts on A. Is it a BT?  B. If yes what kind might it be?  Its located in Coastal North Carolina.  For size reference, that bag is a 1 gallon ziploc.



              

Hi Louneo,
Those leaves are not of BT from Europe.
It is something else.

Can there be any wonder there is confusion? These leaves and figs were all pulled at the same time this morning from my BT. It has different leaf shapes, fruit shapes and sizes all on the same tree. It is about 15' tall and tends to grow very long branches that hang low. I know it isn't grafted since I got it as a small tree of around 1' tall and nearly every branch has this type of leaf variety. 

Last 2 posters have California Brown Turkey not English BT.
CBT is same as Genoa Black.!

Herman, may I ask what about our posts makes it look like they are CBT / Genoa Black? Im having a hard time locating much information / description of CBT and obviously my leaves dont look anything like the last posters leaves so I am wondering if its a fruit similarity or what it could be.  Thank you a ton for the help!

-Lou

If you buy a pound of fresh California BT from Costco,or Sam, BJ, or other store that sell fresh fruits you will find out why your fig is CBT.
I had ,a few times ,but no more because they harvest fruits half ripe so no full flavor.
English BT is not purple ,is Just that,   Brown ,orange on outside ,and light pink inside.
Your fruit looks nothing like the true English BT above.

And here is ,typical California BT fresh fruits for sale,as advertised:
Of course they are half ripe ,when ripe they are purple all over,unlike English BT.
 

Thank you so much for the photos and the explanation.  Im visual so its much easier for me to understand and try to learn something about BT with a little evidentiary photography attached :)   Thank you again.

Mine do not have an open eye like those.

arachyd:  Good observation?
If your fruits are 45 grams or less,your fig is LSU Purple.
If your fruits are 60 grams or more,then your fig is California B T
When fully ripe
Weigh the ripe fruits and come back let us know.

Am in Wells, Maine for vacation. Today I was driving RT 9 from Wells to Kennebunkport and I stopped at a Garden Center on the left. Great Garden Center, stopped there in previous years; they always have interesting stuff. Today, I was particularly interested in seeing if they had any unusual / exotic varieties of fig. They did not but what they did have was 3 large 8 ft tall or better BT's for sale right in front of the center. The BT's, which had a number of different leaf patterns on their various branches, were loaded with figs, many of them past ripeness, some right there and many more on there way. It was obvious that no one had touched these 3 plants for a few years and I was amazed at their size (and thickness of the trunks) considering they were only potted in 10 Gallon pots. In any case, I felt that, in the best interests of the plant, I should pluck the presently ripe figs from the tree and release them of the burden of carrying those extra weights.... They were delicious....

Am planning on stopping at every garden center I see to check out their fig line hoping to find an unexpected gem somewhere in the midst of the common fig varieties offered...

Tony