This article warns against overpollinating Calimyrna figs: http://waynesword.palomar.edu/pljun99a.htm

Is it possible my original fig tree is a caprifig? I never liked the taste of them. Today I found on it what was left of an old fig from last year, perhaps a mamme? The mockingbirds aren’t going to let any fruit sit around on trees here for long.

Harvey, where did you find your caprifigs? From some of your earlier posts here, you were looking for them last year.
Rolling River sent me this monster size Marabout with branches than should produce a fig or two this year, unlike their Bursa Siyahi, which is just a small whip by comparison. But it will need pollination from a caprifig. There are probably some wild figs growing in the arroyo around a mile away, but apparently its better if the branches of the caprifig and Smyrna type fig are entwined.  
I have a “volunteer” fig tree that is growing on the other side of the yard from my original mother fig, but couldn't tell you if it’s sourced from the mother plant’s root or seed.  

Hoosierbanana, I hope you’re right. I’m not a mushroom expert, but the mushroom in the picture looks more honey colored in real life than in the picture. That’s why I guessed it was Armillaria mellea, which has been a scourge in my yard ever since I planted a Quercus lobata or Valley Oak tree here over thirty years ago.

Suzi, here in Altadena we’re close to the canyons, streams and arroyos where there are a few oak groves. The arroyo is around ten blocks away with lots of oak trees, including Oak Grove Park, now called Hahamonga Park. The Native Americans used to come up the arroyo to gather acorns. 

The birds and/or rodents must bring acorns in and plant them, because I’ve had several of the scrub oak trees sprout along the fence line like weeds. My neighbor insisted it was illegal to chop them down, so there were several until a windstorm blew them over.  

Is anyone else here fighting Armillaria mellea,  or Oak Root Rot Fungus? It’s very common here in the foothills of California were there were oak tree forests.   

One of the fig cuttings I recently received in the mail and tried to root with the plastic bag method became moldy at the bottom. It was a prized variety, so I put it deep in a one gallon pot of potting soil to see if I could save it. I watered/misted it too much because an armillaria mellea cap appeared yesterday next to the cutting.  I’m going to throw away the soil, the cutting, and sterilize the pot with a bleach solution.

My back yard is infected with the fungus, but not my front yard, so I have to be especially careful to use bought potting soil in pots for young and susceptible cuttings and plants. A local agricultural agent was wonderful in helping me diagnose and remedy the problem. It’s possible to live with oak root rot by sterilizing pots, using bought potting soil to start bare rooted plants, and growing sensitive plants in pots or raised beds at least one to two foot deep. Descanso Gardens is a good example of a place that has a thriving and beautiful landscape in spite of the “challenge” of an extensive Armillaria mellea infection, so it’s not an instant death sentence. Some plants thrive in the ground without a problem. The plant next to it will die back over a period of months until it’s completely dead. Uncovering the top roots for plants in the ground to allow for air circulation may or may not help.

Figs are more resistant to this infection since they thrive in dryer soil conditions, which is one of the reasons I want to grow fig trees. Agricultural research has specifically mentioned the Kadota and Mission fig as being resistant to this infection. This link might be helpful: https://www.mastergardeners.org/pdf/Armillaria-list-2008-06-16.pdf

Here is a picture of the cutting and the Armillaria mellea mushroom that appeared yesterday.
   

Mara zone 9b SoCal

Want: Zidi, Black Madeira, Italian 258, 

Has anyone here used ReadyGro Aeration mix as a source of coir? I went to my local garden specialist store yesterday and that seemed like a better product than the flat coir brick. It has a formula of 70% Coco Coir to 30% Perilite already, with a few additives to buffer the mix. They have already treated the coir to remove the salt and toxins, so it seems all you have to do is add a little perlite to get the optimal 50/50 mix.

I found this info from a study from UC Davis comparing various rooting medium for Rhododendron rootstocks. Perhaps it will be relevant to rooting fig cuttings as well?  There’s a dramatic difference among the different rooting mediums. Coir and Perlite seem to double the chances of rooting over all but one of the alternatives. 

Rooting Medium Rooting % at Six Weeks

UC Mix and Perlite (1:1) -43%

Perlite and Vermiculite (1:1) -29%

Coconut fiber (coir) -29%

Coconut fiber and Perlite (1:1) -64%

Sphagnum Pea -21%

Sphagnum Peat and Perlite (1:1) -14%

Ca saturated Sphagnum Peat -14%

Ca saturated Sphagnum Peat/Perlite (1:1) -21%

 

(Rooting success of Rhododendron occidentale cuttings in several types of propagation media. )

http://slosson.ucdavis.edu/newsletters/Reid_199829064.pdf

I have had a fruiting grafted Li jujube for around twenty years now in the front yard. It holds up well as a small tree in our dry, baking heat in late summer/ early fall and produces an abundance of jujubes each year over several weeks time. At best, they have a delicious, crunchy apple taste, like a ripe Pink Lady. It’s hard to catch them perfectly ripe for eating. They quickly turn to mush and are uneatable. Warning- suckers of the root stock will start appearing all around the tree for around a ten foot radius. I don’t think I’ll ever plant one in the ground again.  I have a Sugar Cane jujube in a pot that I bought last winter, but I don’t know if it survived the heat bake we had last fall. It went dormant and hasn’t sprouted out yet. I don't think I would prefer it over my Wickson crab apple tree, wish I had planted a three in one or four in one planting of other fruit trees in the same space. Figs would love that location. But if I chopped it down, I would be fighting the rootstock suckers for years. 

    A Chinese-American man was delivering packages for UPS a number of years back, and discovered my fruiting Li tree. He made a big fuss over it, said it was my $10,000 tree, and is welcome to come back every year and help himself to jujubes when they are ripe. He said in China the trees are prized for their association with optimal health and a long life. 

"Another member contacted me and informed me of concerns of cuttings he purchased from 77peony which is used by the same person using the svet_vasyl-2008 account (and maybe others).  The paperwork that arrived with cuttings from 77peony had the following notice which seems to be an effort to cover-up discrepancies for mislabeled fig cuttings."

77peony is offering cuttings of "ST.JEAN". She says: 

“All “mother trees” bought from Encanto Farms as a starter trees or cuttings. All trees grown in a pots in zone 6 for propagation purpose only and kept indoors during dormancy. Please do not ask for pictures of a figs, as all figs removed to encourage growing of tree itself. In any case will not see many figs in zone 6 without special care. If you do not want to bother with starting cuttings please come back in April, when I will sell a rooted starters of all varieties I have for sale now. Do not be shy, ask all questions, I will share all information about figs and varieties I have so far. Please ask all questions before you bid. Thank you.”

Is it possible she is trying to make right and get the correct cuttings or could she be lying about having trees from Encanto Farms? She doesn’t sound like she’ll be going away any time soon.

Is Marrabout and Sultan de Marabout the same fig?

I couldn’t find Sultan de Marabout in the Varieties section of the board here.

Rolling River has Marrabout for sale: “A Smyrna type fig it needs the fig wasp for pollination. Large purplish-black skinned, strawberry fleshed fruit has excellent, rich, sweet flavor. Figs ripen over a long season and are great fresh and have the classic Smyrna nutty flavor caused by the fertile seeds.  Hardiness zones 8-10.”

La Vie Rustica sells Sultan de Marabout: "This fig is incredibly sweet, with complex tones of honey and perfume." “The tree bears only one crop, in the fall. The fruit doesn’t ripen all at once, but over time, from about mid-August through mid-October.” “The original cutting of this tree was a gift to the United States from the Agricultural Commissioner of Algeria during the first decades of the 20th century.”

About the taste, Ashok_ncal says: “The “Marabout” variety tasted darn good – but I don’t recall thinking that it tasted markedly better than some of the other “common” figs that we sampled. Almost all of them tasted pretty good." 

According to this book in Google books, Tropical and Subtropical Fruits: Postharvest Physiology, Processing and …., in 2006, 75% of the figs produced in the Bursa region were Bursa Siyahi. Seventy-eight percent of this crop was exported to France, UK, Netherlands and Germany.

So does that means that not too many Bursa Siyahi fruit stay in Turkey? (22%)  It seems to have both size, flavor, and the ability to be shipped long distances to its credit. I can’t find it listed in the data base here: http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/file?id=1658209

My Bursa Siyahi (Black Bursa) tree arrived yesterday from Rolling River Nursery, an impulse buy after buying their Hollier. They describe it as:

” Considered by many connoisseurs to be the best fig of all, it is exported in great quantities from its native region of Bursa, Turkey to Europe where it dominates the fresh eating market. Large size, black skin and dark red flesh that is firm, yet has a high juice content, with an extraordinary and sweet flavor.” 

We have the wasp and the long ripening season here in Altadena like in Turkey. Is anyone else here growing it? What does it taste like: sugar, honey, fruity? 

Mara zone 9b SoCal

Want: Zidi, Black Madeira, Italian 258, 

So many great suggestions. Thank you all for your help. I only have room for two or three trees. With figs, I think I would like a very sweet, berry taste either with acid or sub- acid.

 Of course, Violette de Bordeaux/Negronne will be first. I can pick that up tomorrow locally. Encanto seems to be the only place for Strawberry Verte and Zidi.
"Zidi was one of the top tasting varieties at UCDavis: Slight berry flavor, strawberry, smooth sweet taste, watermelon & strawberry flavors, fruity, and balanced flavor w/ some acid. http://figs4fun.com/links/figlink293.pdf"

Encanto also have Desert King (DK) and Marseilles  Black VS (MBVS) -if I had more space. Unk. Pastiliere and Hative D’Argenteuil don’t seem to be available anywhere. 

James - Irving, TX Thanks for the Hollier suggestion. It sounds great. I just ordered one. 

Thank you all for your quick feed back.

OhJustAGuy: Thanks for the feedback on your wife’s favorites. I can get Violet de Bordeaux locally and possibly White Genoa.

Greenfig: Any suggestions you could make would be appreciated. I don’t mind expensive if it’s a difference in taste between very good and exquisite.

Hi elferach.

Hi eboone. If I had stayed local, I would have missed out on some of my most delicious apple trees and a few other favorites.  

Hi. I would be grateful for some recommendations for a good fig cultivar to grow in hot Southern California that would appeal to a person who doesn’t like figs. Fig trees thrive here just north of Pasadena, CA.

     We had fig trees when I was growing up that produced figs with thick green skins and a white pulp that was fibrous and tasteless. Mom was always making fig preserves with them, adding strawberries and tons of sugar to give them some flavor. They just tasted at best like weak Fig Newtons and at worst like washed out strawberry jam. I'm growing a similar fig tree in my backyard now, but don't know the name of it. It's too beautiful to chop down and makes great shade. 

     I’ve been searching for new fruit varieties to grow since the increasing heat is blighting my plums, pluots, apricots and apples. People on line are so enthusiastic about figs, I’ve decided I might be wrong about them. The figs with fruit flavors sound wonderful, especially Strawberry Verte and Negronne, (Violet de Bordeaux). I ordered four cuttings of Ronde de Bordeaux on eBay before I discovered on your forum here that 2014.gulen was a fake (thanks). I’ve bid for another cutting of Ronde de Bordeaux and CddG from a good guy, but doubt I’ll get them. Does anyone know some reliable source for these cuttings? I know they're expensive.

Am I going in the right direction with picking figs that have the best flavor and texture? I don't have room for too many. What would you recommend?