I've had some main crops ripening for about 10 days (not counting ones that spent a portion of the time earlier this year in the greenhouse).  I returned from a week-long trip out of state in the early hours this morning and later in the day checked out my figs and had a nice selection to pick from out of my mostly older trees.  Things are going slower in the new orchard planted last August and later.  Unfortunately, I ate some of the larger Monstreuse before taking photos as I thought I had others that were ready to pick from (or maybe just was too impatient).

The Yellow Long Neck tree has several figs that are much larger than the one shown but they weren't ready yet.  This variety gets better by mid-summer at my location with more pulp.

This was my first harvest of Vasilika Sika and it was delicious and looked great.  This was harvested from a graft I had made on my Black Mission fig tree last year.  I won a couple of cuttings in Rafed's Super Bowl drawing last year and hedged my rooting efforts by grafting a portion.  I have two small trees in the ground also and they might fruit later this year.

I assume all of these figs have been caprified.  I placed caprifig fruits around all of my trees in late May or early June (early year this year).

The fruits are a little early this year but I have picked Jurupa by this time in the past.

Thanks for looking.

    

 

 
 



 

Appetizing pic's. Keep on posting Harvey.

Edited original post to add additional photos.

lovely pictures Harvey, thanks for sharing.
I wish you add sweetness description on scale of 1-10 :)

Aaron, I debated describing sweetness and flavors but I'm just very good at that.  The Yellow Long Neck needs more heat but was still better than what one would expect based on the appearance (I spit figs out if they aren't worth eating).  The others were all very yummy.  Jurupa and Yellow Long Neck have a mild flavor while the others are more balanced.

What's your take on Monstrueus? I am growing 3 original size sticks of UCD.
 Also, what camera and lens are you using for your pictures? 
 Do you have a Light Box for it?
the photography is just amazing, great to start a catalogue/book ;)

Harvey,

Nice pictures and gorgeous figs from California,..I am already wondering what is coming after this first sample !!

Thanks for sharing

Francisco

Cool pics Harvey, they almost look 3D! I was trying to touch them;)

Harvey, awesome pics. What are you using to take yours pics?

Really good pics Harvey! 

Your photos are always top notch, I enjoy your postings.

Very nice Harvey. Thanks for sharing the photos. Monstreuse and Vasilika Sika look good.

I am curious to read more about the taste even if in a different climate. Can you compare them to the other green-reds like Strawberry Verte, Green Ischia, JH Adriatic, and Battaglia Green? It would be nice to know. Does anyone have Monstreuse and/or Vasilika Sika to compare to SV, GI, JHA or BG?

very nice, beautiful figs and pictures

Wowie!

Thanks for the comments.  Mike, for these I used my Canon 7D and my new 100mm f/2.8 macro lens.

JD, I have a Verte tree in the ground but it hasn't fruited for me yet.  I don't have the others you mentioned.

Congratulations, Harvey! Very nice figs and presentation. I am also glad to confirm that your Long Neck Yellow and my Long Yellow are the same figs :)

great looking figs, nice variety of light figs

Very nice... any chance you are will to ship a few this way?

Ditto.

Harvey: Very tasty figs and nice photos. Thanks for sharing.

Best,
Tam

Gloria and Hershell: I experimented in shipping figs last year.  Even after taking quite a bit of time and care, most arrived in terrible shape.  Just not worth the time and expense, IMO.

Thanks, Tam!

I love these photos, thanks for posting!

Picked some more on Tuesday July 22nd.  I picked a couple of the very large Yellow Long Neck.  Still not enough pulp for my taste but they will be better later on.  I found a more representative sample of Monstreuse and waited until I photographed it before eating it this time.  My Vista has some fairly good-sized figs this year, probably somewhat due to caprification.  But the tree is growing very vigorously as well.  I should have left it on for two more days but was impatient.

 

 

 

 

 

Harvey, that Vista looks awesome. Thank You for posting.
Do you know the causes the unsymmetrical shape in the yellow Long Neck fruit? I have the same thing occurring sometimes on my Col de Dame fruit, where one side might have a bump in it as shown above. Is this a normal occurrence in figs or is it caused by something else? 

Not really sure about that.  Most are shaped fine and I think some just have skin that resists growing on one side for unknown reasons.  Perhaps fluctuating temperatures might have some influence on this.  We've bounced around a lot from 80s to over 100 in the same week a few times.

Came back from a backpacking/hiking trip (I was the trek leader for our Boy Scout troop for this outing) and am too tired to do much hard work today so I went fig exploring. :)  Here are some more main crop figs.

 

 
I think it's safe to say that at least one of these were caprified!

My first Gino Black

 

 

My first Dark Portuguese

 

 

And my first Ronde de Bordeaux - small but tasty!

 

 

Harvey,

Thanks for showing these super figs !
Congratulations

Crancisco

My first De la Roca

 

 

Flanders is a fig I've grown for at least 10 years and it wasn't until about two years ago that I finally appreciated it's nice flavor.  Until then, I just didn't find it attractive to my eyes.

 

 

Amazing pictures......thanks for sharing ......those figs look fantastic !!!!

Harvey :)

You just set a new standard in Fig Photography my friend!

Thanks, Aaron, but the closest portion of my De La Roca is a bit out of focus.  It was already eaten before I realized it! :)

Nice varieties and great photos, Harvey, and to think, it's just the beginning for you. Looking forward to many more. Nice of you to share the wealth. Thanks

Harvey, c'mon man, you need to add taste and sweetness # on each for us...

Great fig pics. Thanks for sharing.

    

 

 
 



 

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Wow! Great figs and I love Jurupa and Monstreuse. Where did you get these 2 specific varieties from?

I have been growing both Jurupa and Monstreuse (formally Grosse Monstreuse di Lipari but I shorten it) for over 10 years and obtained my cuttings from a friend.  I believe my friend "discovered" Jurupa in SoCal before the gardens it was located at was shut down.  I don't know where he originally obtained Monstreuse but it has been spread around CRFG members since that time as well.

Harvey,
Will you please describe the taste of Vasilika Sika?

Thanks Harvey. I will definitely do a search on the net and see if I can find them somewhere.

Jimmy, I just am not very good at describing flavors.  I am not saying I am not selective in what I eat and I do spit out some figs that just aren't great enough for me to allocate towards my caloric intake.  I remember it was both sweet and had a nice rich flavor but can't say if it was like strawberry, etc.  Sorry.

Frisco, I remember seeing a Jurupa tree planted somewhere else that had a Sonoma Mission Nursery tag on it.

Beautiful figs, Harvey!

Thanks anyway Harvey. Man they sure look good.

Thanks for all the great photos.

Hi Harveyc,
Nice harvest !
The photos of the panache killed me ! I really like that contrast and 107 grams for a fig ... That's a nice weight !
As for describing, I would simply rank them from my favorite to the one I liked a bit less . That is easy to do . I'm not good at describing flavors either .
All I know is "Sultane" beats them all in my garden. Unless a misriped fig, all the figs I own taste good !