Vista

Show and Tell :)

These are 2 Vistas that started as 1-gallons from Jon at Encanto Farms last Fall. I'm waiting for them to get stronger before they get transplanted in-ground. We've already enjoyed a handful of figs from this super variety and I could taste the "strawberry jam" others have described. However, a fruit sample from the MotherTree at Encanto blew me away with its richness of flavor - It proves this Fig Tree just gets better with age!

The story goes that this was originally a mislabeled Black Mission(?) - so it could have ended up just ANY where in ANY yard. Thankfully Jon found it and has done well spreading it around!

I noticed even though it's young it didn't drop leaves during our mild winter (no lower than 33 F). Here is #1 in early February this year with Fall leaves intact:

Here is #1 now:
 

 

Here is #2 now (main growth tip was accidentally severed too early):
 

 

 

1st fruit from Vista on 7/17/2014:

 

 

Interesting Vista info reposted from  hermansur:

"Vista is not Violette de Bordeaux,but a Hybrid of Mother Violette with father Unknown?.

It clearly show that is related to Mother Violette de Bordeaux but is far from been Identical.

It could be better or worse but is not identical.

In California, Mother of any common cultivar makes female flowers,and if Male polen is nearby by any meaNS A FRUITwith viable seeds will grow.

Out of that one fruit more than 200 plants can be grown.

One third is usually common females plants that will fruit and persist like mother tree.

Most grow out to be way inferior to mother tree in fruit quality,but sometimes one baby plant could be very close in fruit quality to mother tree.

And very rarely(one plant in 5000),can be just as good as mother tree tho not identical as a Specimen,and having other different desirable qualities.

Well Vista seem to be that one baby New Hybrid selection,of, Violette, selected by someone for it's qualities."

Good info to know, Thanks hermansur!

Keep Growing, 

Yes, this is great info. Thanks for sharing. Both plants look very healthy and seem to be the vigorous type.

I heard Vista can grow to be a really big tree.  Will you plant in-ground or keep in pots?

Suzi

Nice Job on those!!!

Nice Vista, my got stunted, slow growth, so I re-potted in some nice soil/pine bark fines mixture and it is taking off. It should produce well next year.

Waynea,
You'll be patting yourself on the back for helping your fig recover - You will Love it!
The pair of Vistas we grow here are the same age but the main tip of one got accidentally severed AND I transplanted it a few times (really screwing it up!) so it's also 'stunted' compared to the other! It has a dozen or so figs on it now so there should be good things to come.

As Sam Cooke sang:
"It's Another Saturday Night and I ain't got no Figgie. . ."
Something like that! Well this Saturday night I ain't got no figgie because I just ate it - Yum :) But here are the memories. . .

Very nice, Dave! Congratulations!!!

Last year, at the Jon's Fig Fiesta, I got a spoiled Vista fig to try to germinate it. I had no problems getting the seedlings and now have one nice Vista seedling growing in a pot. I am curious if it will produce anything edible and of what quality.

Dave, my Vista looks exactly like yours, but I knocked all the figlets out...

Igor, I hope your Vista seedling turns out to be a *Super-Strain* :) I'm amazed at what you can do with a tiny fig seed!

Grasa, does removing figs from young trees send more energy to plant growth (like strawberries, I've heard)? I couldn't wait and left them on & they have been a pleasant surprise! 

For your viewing enjoying, here is probably the last Panache I'm going to see around here for a while - I'm keeping the squirrels well fed as they recently ate the remaining 10 Unripe ones!!! Pests!!!

Medium-thick skin with hints of strawberry and a tad tart! Probably picked a day early - as usual (Can't Wait!)

perhaps my green/yellow Brazilian colors that make me so attracted to panachee. I have 3 little trees growing. I prepared an airlayer on one of them and yesterday on cutting it off, I cut most of the roots also...not sure it will survive, but I gave it a try.   I cannot wait to sample mine. I have a couple on each plant.
Dave, according to all materials I read in Portuguese about fig culture, it describes as not allowing any fig to develop in first 3 years, where only the skeleton is to be formed. Also, it says that after the first year, only the strongest shoot is to be kept and head it to form side branches and choose 3 of them... Nice, right?   I am trying to do this at my own pace.  Only the future will tell us if it worked or not.. but the paper I read is literally  a prescription to have a healthy fig farming for production/commercialization.   Most of the varieties we have I don't see how they can produce for market, unless, like you have that Calif. weather.

Grasa, That makes sense - Thank you for the information. There is a fig orchard planted on a sunny slope about 15 minutes south of me - it's heavily fenced but I can see each fig tree has a thick 2'-3' tall trunk before any branches start. My guess is there are 120 trees or so!
But as I take the "Slow & Easy" route with our collection, I'm letting figs grow & ripen and letting side branches grow that are somewhat inhibitive but I know will be used later for cuttings (or air-layers) - though this will be absorbing energy that could be used to establishing it's main frame! I want to have my figs and eat them too - Haha! Ultimately during dormancy I will prune back much of the new growth from this year (or try to air-layer it off soon if I hurry up) so basically have the single-trunk going. Although a handful are "very bushy" and potted so I may let those be.

The single trunk would also be beneficial for my plan to 'Stop the Squirrels': On the few in-ground trees we have that have a single trunk long enough we have a few foot length of 6" round smooth plastic drainage pipe (basically PVC pipe) providing a climbing-rodent barrier. A slit along the side of the pipe cut with a saber-saw let me pull it apart enough to fit it around the trunk, then I wired the pipe tightly back together with some wire at the bottom and very top. We'll see if it stops them from getting to the figs. Organza bags are on order to help protect against the birds & insects. This Means War!

Keep Growing,

For figs I like these "Diagrams and pictures of Tree form and Bush form pruning in the Japanese Style for maximum container fig production" from ascpete's last year (even if you don't read the language!):

Tree Form
 


Bush Form