Just a look at my Preto,ending 4th leaf in So.Ca.

 
So far so good,check those swollen nodes.

 
 

Better look at the structure.

 

I don't have any picture's of it in leaf.Just dug the camera out from it's 10 year slumber.

Cheers,

Paul

Nice looking tree, Paul.  

Mike

I am impressed, knowing that Preto is a slow grower, you have been doing something right......Wow, That is very Healthy looking.

I just picked up a figo preto cutting doing some trading. I need to get it rooted. Waiting for my coc coir. Hope my looks like yours. I like seeing everybody pics. Thanks and nice tree. Richie

Is that a 4 year tree?  Nice form and very happy looking.

Yeah, those swollen nodes look very distinctive. Lovely tree!

Richie,you're funny.That's the tree you cuttings came from.

Cheers,

Paul

Hey Paul.

Great looking Preto tree.

I just got back from the Pheonix (Chandler) area. I spotted many mature fig trees there. You guys & your fig perfect climates just make me sick ;) ! All in fun there. Just jealous really.

What's with the white fabric?

Thanks guy's,

Yes,it's a happy tree.As I hope you can see from the heavy nodulation it
was also a heavy fruiting tree.I removed apx. 50% of the fruit early and
still had to go back and pinch off more.

Cheers,

Paul

That is preety funny!!!! Had no idea. I haven't retained everyones names yet. I will remember yours now!!!!

Hi Bill,

The white fabric is just to reveal structure,the other photo was
kind of "busy".

Cheers,

Paul

Are you using frost fabric in socal for a fig? Maybe just for the picture? Great looking tree btw...

Beautiful!  How does this fig rank in your collection?  What tastes better than Preto in your opinion?  It is my #1 fig, but I haven't tasted many top figs yet.

Hi Frank,

I've found nothing better than Preto,but I haven't sampled a lot.
In my climate (I water stress everything) it's a fruit leather with
a creamy berry filling.

Cheers,

Paul

I like that description it's a fruit lathered with a creamy berry filling......hmmm fig berry pie...that sounds good.

That is a very nice tree you have, thank you for sharing the pictures. Are those oranges in the background?

Go it Paul. You were just trying to make the tree stand out in the photo better.

It was kind of nice seeing those orange things in those other trees in the background though. I saw a ton of those in Sonoran valley recently too.

Can't imagine what folks use those things for. I've never seen them growing here in KY so they must not be anything special ;) .

<Grin>

The one on the left is a Moro Blood that got away from me.
The center one is a Dancy Tangerine,the one on the right is
a  Minneola Tangelo.

But they all made for a very busy photo.Just another use
for Agribon.

Cheers,

Paul

Thanks, Paul.  I describe mine tasting like a strawberry mashed together with a plum.  Outstanding.

Wonderful picture of your tree. Thank you for sharing.

I love Preto. It is great to see such a strong, healthy tree. I describe the taste as smoky, mixed with sweet berry. I also love how the fruit pops right off the branch without having to cut the neck. I can't believe you are removing fruit-leave it on, the more the better. In Socal, it will ripen no doubt.

Wow, what a gorgeous tree!  You've done a great job shaping it.

In the last pic, I think I see a small branch growing downward that appears to be saying, "Please snip me off and ship me to Kansas."  The downward direction is its way of saying that it wants to grow in-ground in a pit greenhouse ;)

Beautiful tree. Can you give some background on how you shaped it?

Well shaped tree!  

Hi Rafael,

<I can't believe you are removing fruit-leave it on, the more the better. In Socal, it will ripen no doubt.>

There were a couple of issue's.One,the node spacing is ridiculously tight.In one of the photo's I posted
I counted 19 nodes in 9",at the time it seemed like every node was fruiting.It was like that on all the
fruiting wood.I was concerned it might exhaust itself and I'd have issues in 5th leaf.Secondly,it would have been whitefly/aphid heaven.Think grapes and airflow.

I know this is fig heaven but there are limitations,first frost caught up with me while 50+ fruit were
still hanging.

Cheers,

Paul

Paul, you have an amazing tree and hard believe that it's only 4 years old! Whatever you are doing, it's working!

Hi Brian,

I'd like to say I had a lot to do w/it's shape but it was a very will full tree.I planted
it squared up with no support.It promptly began leaning to one side so I just tried
to keep it balanced.I did air layer away the center and all growth growing towards the
center was either pruned or air layered away.It kind of trained me as to what a very
fruitful tree looks like.I did pinch it,but it has required very little pruning.

Cheers,

Paul

Hi tyro,
That's a nice tree. Here in my zone7, it would be 10 years old before having such a thick trunk.
Did you start with a tree, or a cutting ?
Don't hesitate to post pics of the fruits.
You still have some pruning waiting on that tree ... but the decision is all yours. My impression could be due to lack of 3D view though.
I often read about small "figo preto", but yours is a true beast !
Congrats !

Outstanding Paul! Thanks for sharing! Any cuttings for sale?

Good looking tree you have there

Great looking tree Paul. What kind of schedule do you have for water stressing?

Another beautifully-shaped tree!  Trees like this really take a lot of time and patience, but the results are definitely worth it.

Hi Simon,

Re;Schedule on water stressing.

Well,being in So.Ca water stressing is real easy.<G>
But to answer your question,I never water the tree
directly.I have all these nursery (1-15 gallon,a few 24"
boxes) pots that now reside in what used to be pathways.
They are watered as needed,what ever flows through goes
to the in ground tree's whose root system has been in the
pathway's since 2nd leaf.In addition I also grow melon about
equal distance between the tree's in the summer,nothing is
on an irrigation system back there.

Cheers,

Paul

Took a pic of one of my first couple of Pretos ever(Thanks Paul).
This one was a fast grower for me and in its second leaf from cutting is loaded with figs.

Glad to hear the Preto's doing well for you Sas.If you can manage it try to let a couple dry down on the tree,
the exterior will harden up giving you the crunch of a fruit leather while the interior will have a creamy berry
taste.

A couple of pic's from the ongoing season.

 
 


 

Those are some beautiful fruits there.

Nice looking figs, Paul.

Do you have a picture of the tree with leaves and fruits?

Hi,
Those cracks on the figs ... they are really so mouth watering.
Those trees seem to be productive too.
Congrats !

Thanks veggie girl.

Jamie,everythings starting to look a little "ratty" out there about now.The in ground Preto has been water stressed for months.

 

 
 
 

 
Thanks Jd,here's a plate that has a combo of water stressed figs from the inground tree (top)
and some more hydrated ones (bottom) from the #15 pots.The skin on the water stressed stuff is much thinner and the figs have shriveled.Very dense texture and intense flavor on those.The more hydrated ones are refreshing but lack the wow factor,both visually and taste wise.


 
 
Cheers

That's a beautiful tree, Paul. And quite prolific.

It's only on his 5th leaf? Amazing the diameter of the trunk. It sure liked the spot.

Do you have any 5 lobed leaves? I see mainly 1 and 3 lobed leaves.

The tree is in 6th leaf now,I get some 5 lobes but they're few and far between,more an anomaly.

 

Impressive as always Paul.

Sas, glad yours are ripening for you. My Preto (thanks Paul) has a good many figs just sitting since spring time. I am so wanting them to ripen.

Paul, that has to be the most beautiful display of Figo Preto I have seen. Wow is all I can say. I hope they taste as good as they look.

If figs are anything like tomatoes once they start to ripen cutting off the watering will surely intensify the flavor of the ripe fruit. At least that has been my experience with tomatoes.

Thank you Paul for my 14 Preto trees.  They are growing really fast.  Here are a few pics of them.  I think its now 8 months, since they were transplanted from the perlite cups after rooting.  

First pic has four trunks, about 4ft tall each trunk.  Second one is 6.5 ft tall single trunk.  All are in 25 gal pots.

 I have pinched well over 1,000 figs off of them, so they will continue to grow at a rapid pace.  I left only 100 figs on the fourteen trees which should ripen in October-November.  Very healthy,  no signs of FMV so far! :) 

 

 

WoW! Super looking tree and super looking figs! Is the Figo Preto considered to be same as, related to or similar to the Black Madeira? The Black Madeira has an Accession # of DFIC 144 but I haven't seen for the the Figo Preto. The FigCuttings.com site lists the two separately... Is there a consensus among fig fans? I am curious and want to know if I need to add the Figo Preto to my wish list separately from the BM...

Thanks,
Tony

Thanks for the leaf photos, Paul.

I am curious because my Violeta has mainly 3 and 5 lobe leaves and almost no one lobbed ones. When i compare it to the photos of other users that have BM and Preto it seems to be a small difference (that and the lack of FMV that some of these strains do not show)

My very young (4 month) Violeta grafts leaves - they seem to be outgrowing the FMV that was very bad in the first few months:
   

@ Calvin and Jerry,thanks for the kind words.Water stressing intensifies the flavor and creates a dense fig.
Some people prefer not to eat the skin or pulp,particularly on well hydrated thick skinned figs.In some of the photo's
you can see how thin the pulp is,effectively an external fruit leather.These are the ones I love to freeze,they come out
of the freezer with good texture and intense flavor.Don't try this with a thin skinned fig,they'll just ferment.

@Sid,quite amazing the growth you get out there.As difficult as these are to root clearly your skill set is a factor.
I've given up and just start air layering them at first flush through June.I'm very interested in seeing the fruit you
pull off those tree's and if they match the size from your initial source.FMV is there,it's just way,way in the background.

@tsparozi,it's generally agreed by those who are growing Preto and BM side by side,equal age and conditions they are the
same.A distinction without a difference.The degree of FMV load present can mask that.

@jaime,I don't know what to tell you.As you've noted the leaf pattern is completely different.My BM and Preto are mostly spade and tri.

@Tyro - Thank you, Paul! 

First fruit ripening off of the child of that tree! It has grown amazingly. Quite vigorous. I have a few other small Preto that seem pretty stunted compared to this one. They basically don't grow at all but this one pretty keeps up with most of my more vigorous varieties.

Sid,

Thanks for the trouble of going through you fig collection trying to find a match for my leaves.

But, Francisco reassured me and sent me some photos of leaves and figs from the tree the cuttings were cut. So i have no reason to be sorry.
The leaves of his adult Violeta are almost identical to the 5 lobbed leaves on my grafts.
So i have no doubt i have this wonderful variety. Some of his photos:

 
 

Apparently, Violeta has an habit of throwing doubt on inexperienced fig collectors like myself because of the many different leaf patterns it tends to show with different environments and ages.

As for the reason for the greater number of one and three lobed leaves in Preto and BM i have no clue. Maybe they are really different strains. I think that Francisco is testing all of them and in the future he will share any conclusions with us.