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noss

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Posted Reply with quote  #1 
I got a little Sicillian Black tree from Vinnie last Fall and it was tiny, but when the weather warmed up, it started to grow and get a nice thickening of it's little trunk and finally put out five little figs, which I let it keep.  As young as the tree is, the little figs have been very good.  Two of the figs have gotten larger than the other three, which I ate.  I've pinched back the tip of the tree now to hold down its growth and hopefully it will put its energy into the strength of the tree.

noss
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noss/a.k.a. Vivian Lafayette, LA Zone 9a Wish List: Col de Dame Blanc, Col de Dame Noir, Scott's Yellow, Tony's Brown Italian, any other fig that is good in the rain/humidity and has a real figgy flavor.
saramc

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Posted Reply with quote  #2 
Hi Viv,
If you get time will you put a picture of your tree here?  Black Sicilian is one I hope to get some cuttings of this winter.   I know the figs came from a young tree, but how did they taste.

Take care friend!
Sara
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noss

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Posted Reply with quote  #3 
Hi Sara,

If I get time to post pictures, I've got quite a few to do and my husband has been in and out of the hospital in the past three weeks, so it depends upon whether he feels up to helping me figure out how to post the photos.  I have GOT to learn to do that now, but things went nuts here.  I got a bum foot as well and things are so backed up.  My foot is better today and hopefully won't act up again with all I have to do.

It's a little tree and only a whip.  It's a Sicilian Black and I'm not sure of the source.  It may be JR's, but I'll have to ask Vinnie and see.  I kept forgetting to do so and the tree was tiny, so I didn't expect it to grow like it did, but it decided to take off and had a nice little spurt.

The figs are dark, have a fairly open eye.  The inside is a dusky color and I can't really figure it out, but if the larger of the figs will ripen nicely, I will take photos of it for you to see.  The fig was nice and sweet and had a balanced flavor.  I thought it might be a little rich as well for a young fig, but it's hard to judge with the three that were just little.  The other larger fig was watered down because of getting hit with a huge downpour and it split a bit, so I ate it.  The smaller figs were sweet, sticky and very nice in flavor.  I shared two with the birds that had the gall to peck them through the bird netting I thought I had securely put over them, but you know how that is.  :)

Bass told me there are any number of fig trees that will be called Sicilian Black, I think, as well as Italian Black, or the reverse of the names like you put in this email, so I don't have a clue as to which one I have.

noss
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noss/a.k.a. Vivian Lafayette, LA Zone 9a Wish List: Col de Dame Blanc, Col de Dame Noir, Scott's Yellow, Tony's Brown Italian, any other fig that is good in the rain/humidity and has a real figgy flavor.
rafed

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Posted Reply with quote  #4 
Vivian,

Hope Mike is ok
noss

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Posted Reply with quote  #5 

Hi Rafed,

Thanks for the good wishes for Mike.  I try not to worry, but am not doing so well with that.  I'm trying to feed him soothing food to heal him a bit so we can get this show on the road and hopefully, over with and he'll be better than new.


This is when I wish I knew Asian, or other kinds of food that are low res/low fibre that are healing and soothing as well as tasty and nourishing.

We hope this is just a bump in the road.

noss
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noss/a.k.a. Vivian Lafayette, LA Zone 9a Wish List: Col de Dame Blanc, Col de Dame Noir, Scott's Yellow, Tony's Brown Italian, any other fig that is good in the rain/humidity and has a real figgy flavor.
nkesh099

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Posted Reply with quote  #6 
Vivian, I hope your husband gets well soon.


Navid.
noss

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Posted Reply with quote  #7 
Thanks Navid.  Looks like it's going to take surgery to get that done, but he's feeling better so things might be able to procede as they hope and the surgery can get taken care of.

Viv
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noss/a.k.a. Vivian Lafayette, LA Zone 9a Wish List: Col de Dame Blanc, Col de Dame Noir, Scott's Yellow, Tony's Brown Italian, any other fig that is good in the rain/humidity and has a real figgy flavor.
Dan_la

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Posted Reply with quote  #8 
I'm sorry to hear about this Noss. Praying that things work out well for Mike and you.

Dan
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Italiangirl74

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Posted Reply with quote  #9 

Ciao Viv, I hope and pray all well for you and family. Ciao
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Maggie Maria zone 7
saramc

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Posted Reply with quote  #10 
Viv,
I was looking at trees on Durio's and I was reading about the Italian Black & the Native Black, I immediately thought of you looking for figs good for your area.  
    Hope all goes well with Mike & that your foot bounces back soon!

Take care,
Sara
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Suburb near Louisville, KY//zone 5b-6b
noss

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Posted Reply with quote  #11 
Hi Dan & Maggie,

Thanks for the good wishes and prayers from you both.  It really helps a lot.

Mike is doing well so far, after his surgery.  Still many weeks to go before we see how things turn out.  He was on the brink of disaster.  I feel shaky every time I think about that.  Thank God, the surgeon pushed to get the OR when he did and didn't wait another day.

Sara,  I have an Italian Black and Native Black from Durio.  Beats me why I got them, since they will split in the rain.  Go figure...  :)  I dunno what happened, but I just had to have them!  No rational thought whatsoever, there.

noss
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noss/a.k.a. Vivian Lafayette, LA Zone 9a Wish List: Col de Dame Blanc, Col de Dame Noir, Scott's Yellow, Tony's Brown Italian, any other fig that is good in the rain/humidity and has a real figgy flavor.
thefigman11

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Posted Reply with quote  #12 
I would love to see a picture.....

David   Bowling Green
noss

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Posted Reply with quote  #13 
Hi David,

A picture of the Native Black and Italian Black trees, or the Sicilian Black tree?  I don't have any figs to show.  The birds got the Sicilian Black figs while I was busy at the hospital with Mike and the other two didn't produce any figs this year.  The heat almost killed several of my trees.  I was at the hospital with Mike more than I was home.  I was so concerned about Mike that everything else took a back seat.  I think the trees will be fine with the cooler temps from the storm for a few days and I pulled some more of them under the carport.

noss
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noss/a.k.a. Vivian Lafayette, LA Zone 9a Wish List: Col de Dame Blanc, Col de Dame Noir, Scott's Yellow, Tony's Brown Italian, any other fig that is good in the rain/humidity and has a real figgy flavor.
genecolin

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Posted Reply with quote  #14 
V, you sound like Martin, doing the fig shuffle. I know what you mean as I've lost a few myself due to the weather. Some I've lost to too much rain while away and some I've lost to not enough water while away. I've finally move all my youngest potted trees under the carport at Mom's next door, There they get morning sun until around 10 or 11 AM and then shade the rest of the day and no rain. So the challenge is to remember to walk next door and water every few days. Oh and you're right, no trees are worth more than Mike.

I have a Native Black with 1 fig ripening now. If the animals don't get it I'll post a picture.
"gene"
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"gene"

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Houma, La.
noss

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Posted Reply with quote  #15 
Hi Gene,

It wouldn't have been so bad if I had felt strong enough to repot the younger trees into lighter, larger pots, but I didn't, so I had to try and keep the trees in the black pots going the best I could.  I've have to do away with some other-than-fig plants so I could concentrate on just the figs.  I did keep the two Arapaho thornless blackberry plants, but I think they are going to do away with themselves.  The little Concord grape plant has begun to put out new growth, but they are not supposed to do well down here due to a certain disease I'm told it WILL get, never mind, might.  I got it because it was covered with grape clusters in the early summer and looked stronger than the others around it.  I took the chance that it might be a resistant plant.  Well, it COULD happen.  It sometimes DOES happen.  Wouldn't it be nice if it did happen?

I hope you get the ripe Native Black so you can show all of us what it looks like.

How do you like the gorgeous weather we're having after the storm?  I stood out in the back yard this afternoon and just let the cool breeze wash over me for awhile.  It was wonderful.

noss
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noss/a.k.a. Vivian Lafayette, LA Zone 9a Wish List: Col de Dame Blanc, Col de Dame Noir, Scott's Yellow, Tony's Brown Italian, any other fig that is good in the rain/humidity and has a real figgy flavor.
genecolin

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Posted Reply with quote  #16 
V, this weather is superb, but a little too early. I still have some growing things that need some more warm weather, my beans and peas. Speaking of grapes, it doesn't look like the air layers I was doing for you took, I guess it was too late and past the growing season. We will do it again in the Spring as I want a couple for myself. As for as the Concord grape, Dad had two vines that produces wonderful grapes for years. I also saw a vine at a house not far from my "down the bayou" home that had a tub full of Concord grapes on it. The trunk was about 5" and had grapes hanging on it like the grapes in a wine grape vineyard. So don't give up on yours it might just do well.

I checked my Native Black yesterday afternoon. It's getting very dark but hasn't started to hang yet.  I'll check it again today.

I checked the plants that I up potted on Monday and none showed any stress. Hopefully I did no damage.

Tell Mike hi and looking forward to seeing y'all.
"gene"
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"gene"

zone 9
Houma, La.
noss

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Posted Reply with quote  #17 
Gene,

Don't worry about the weather--It won't last.  LOL!  It will get very hot again.

Also, don't worry about the air layer grapes.  My fig air layers failed, too.  I should have pulled the trees with the air layers on them under the carport, but with all that was going on with us, I didn't do that.

I'm going to put the air layers on again and see if they do anything.  That's pretty bad, when someone can't even get an air layer to grow.  The soil I had inside dried out and I must not have sealed things correctly.  I made sure that the soil was moist, but not wet.  It held when I squeezed it, but there wasn't extra moisture in it.  I'm lucky the trees didn't die.

I won't give up on my little Concord grape vine, then.  Maybe it will do well.  Here's hoping.....

Mike says, "Hi," back.

noss
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noss/a.k.a. Vivian Lafayette, LA Zone 9a Wish List: Col de Dame Blanc, Col de Dame Noir, Scott's Yellow, Tony's Brown Italian, any other fig that is good in the rain/humidity and has a real figgy flavor.
saramc

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Posted Reply with quote  #18 
Viv (and Gene),
Grapes will actually propogate if you put at least 2 nodes of a vine in the soil.  If you have "starter" vines that you want to hold on to until the Spring, just take your cuttings and do the same thing you do with fig cuttings...keep them in the refrig & then plant them in the spring.   What I like to do with any "stored grapevine cuttings" is this:   take a cutting about 6" long ,with leaves, and just put it in water, making sure at least 2 nodes were in the water. In about 4 weeks, my cuttings had about 12" of roots. I waited until the roots got a little thicker, but all-in-all about 8 weeks is all it took to propogate a grape cutting- with no rooting hormones or anything. 
     Also, it really does take a grape a good 3 years before you get a good yield.  The first year you need to prune it TOO DEATH, seriously.  The second year is spent training the trunk.  The third year you harvest.  Well, in a vineyard sense of things.  Home gardens are different.   :-)
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noss

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Posted Reply with quote  #19 
Hi Sara,

Thanks so much for the input.  My little vine only just started to put some growth out in the past month.  It held its own from the time I bought it until then, w/o doing any growing.  It ripened most of its grapes very early and there are still some green ones on the clusters.  I ate most of the ripening ones before the birds found them and they actually tasted pretty good.  They were sweeter and juicier than I thought they would be.

What is a starter vine?  I'm not familiar with vinyard terms and want to understand everything you said.

Should the grapes be removed from the vines until the third year?  If so, I should have clipped off the clusters that were on the vine when I got it.  Maybe that's why the little vine didn't do much so far.  Poor baby!  If I was supposed to remove those clusters, I didn't know it.  :(

noss
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noss/a.k.a. Vivian Lafayette, LA Zone 9a Wish List: Col de Dame Blanc, Col de Dame Noir, Scott's Yellow, Tony's Brown Italian, any other fig that is good in the rain/humidity and has a real figgy flavor.
satellitehead

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Posted Reply with quote  #20 
Since we're talking about grapes (somehow).....

I tasted my first Concord grape this year.  It tasted just like the purple grape juice you buy in the store, I was blown away.  It didn't have a thick skin like a lot of grapes down here in the southeast US.  I really liked it.  But they apparently don't grow well in the southeast US, mold or rot is a problem, as I recall.

Is there some type of grape y'all have found that is similar?  The grapes I buy from the store are juicy/silky and the pulp melts in your mouth.  The grapes I'm growing here are Reliance and Himrod varieties.  They seem to be smallish and have thick skins.  They also seem really meaty inside chunky, rather than silky, juicy, melt-in-your-mouth.

I want something with a thick, rich and grape-y flavors like those I've tasted with Concord.
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Jason
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noss

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Posted Reply with quote  #21 
Jason,

It's all right to talk about grapes here--I'm declaring it a free-for-all, so talk away.  :)

I don't know of any kind of grape that could touch a Concord grape as far as taste goes.  I only wish we could get them in the stores down this way.  They used to get them in sometimes, but not in the past several years.  I was able to get them when we visited Mike's mom in the Fall.  It won't happen this year, though, and I'll miss them.

When I was young (grew up in NJ), we could grow them and did.  I always liked to peel that thin skin off of them trying not to disturb that purple layer just under the skin.  It is between all the juice and the center of the grape.

Isn't it wonderful when that grape flavor bursts in your mouth?  Nothing like it.

I bought some muscadines a few days ago and most of them aren't ripe and the ones that are tasted pretty good, but the skins are very thick and they aren't very juicy.

I wish someone would know of a grape that we can grow in the South that is just like a Concord, too.

Concord grapes are even better after they have been "kissed by the frost."

noss
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noss/a.k.a. Vivian Lafayette, LA Zone 9a Wish List: Col de Dame Blanc, Col de Dame Noir, Scott's Yellow, Tony's Brown Italian, any other fig that is good in the rain/humidity and has a real figgy flavor.
genecolin

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Posted Reply with quote  #22 
Sara, I usually don't have any problem air layering this grape. This summer was brutal and perhaps the vine started to go dormant early for it's own protection. I did try a couple of cuttings in water which I change daily but nothing yet and it's been just about 3 weeks. The grape Noss and I are talking about is almost like a concord but the flavor is not as intense. Still a good at home grape. I just love walking through the yard early in the morning or late in the afternoon and just snack away at the fruit I'm growing. Figs, mulberries, loquat, citrus, muscadines, grapes, blackberries, and persimmons, there is something ripening all year long. I may harvest some dormant pieces and save in the fridge for spring planting.
"gene"
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From the bayou,
"gene"

zone 9
Houma, La.
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