Harvey, 

I'm unaware of any bing cherries in my immediate neighborhood, or the neighborhood in which I found the fig with the wasps.  I live in a micro-climate (in an area of many different micro-climates) in the Santa Cruz Mountains some 15 miles away from Campbell and plant/tree activity can vary significantly.  For example, on my side of the ridge I get about 40" annual rainfall, whereas just down the road 1/2 mile they will only measure 30" a year.  Yet up the mountain about a mile, they measure 60".  Campbell get about 14" or so annually.  It's crazy but interesting. 
Also, I don't know if you have any apricot trees, but mine are in full bloom.


Francisco,

I'm not sure if the eye was open or closed when I cut through the fig.  I went back yesterday to take a look at the tree and saw that most eyes were closed, but some were open.  I also went to take a look at a tree I knew of closer to the Niles area Harvey mentioned in Fremont (off Durham Road) and saw a lot more fig wasps in the figs, along with the fact that most eyes were closed but some were open.  Admittedly, I didn't pick a lot of fruit so as not to disturb the wasp activity (I want to keep as many of these guys around as possible!). 

Here's some photos I took of the tree + fruit from the one in Campbell:

 

 

 


And these are from the one in Fremont on Durham Road:

 

 

 

 


And thanks for the website links from Harvey and Cooper... I'll get to those as soon as I can!

I started on a new job a couple months back and since I always have my “fig radar” going, I noticed these large fig trees on the property across the way.   I finally had the opportunity to ask for some cuttings when I saw the owner pruning his other fruit trees.  He told me lived there for about 27 years and all he knew about the figs was that they were white.  The house looks like it was built in the ‘30’s (maybe older, making these trees about 80+ years old) and his lot was probably the last of a larger ranch, which is all commercial buildings now.  I told him his kids were lucky to have forts in fig trees J. 


 

 

rcantor- I love my area, too... can't beat the micro-climates we have, being between the coast and the valley floor of the Bay Area.  We are above the fog in the summer and the coastal breeze usually keeps us cooler than San Jose, which is much appreciated when temps get above 100 down there.  Sometimes we get trapped in an inversion layer and experience warmer temps than the valley, but its infrequent and short-lived.  Just a few weeks ago San Jose was in the 90's and we were 104, but it only lasted a couple of days before the fog cooled us off.  I love the weather here but hate the politics, but have been unable to find any place comparable (weather-wise). 

One place that is pretty comparable weather-wise and complimentary to my lifestyle is a little town called Three Rivers, which is just below Sequoia National Park.  About 5 years ago we came close to moving there, having purchased 3 acres of river-front property.  It would have been an IDEAL location to grow figs: warm weather, rich & sandy soil, and lots of sun and water.  (In fact, there are many fig trees growing wild in some of the smaller streams in the area.)  I think my Turkish beauties would have loved it there....

7deuce - Glad to hear that your Turkish beauties are doing well (though I'm envious just a little bit)... can't wait to see pictures and hope you have a successful crop!

So I woke up this morning around 4:30 am, which is my norm.  I had my coffee... didn't have to work today... so pretty soon I'm bored.  Then I had an idea.  It was a GREAT idea... at least at first.  I thought that since it was so early I could go "borrow" a branch or two from this beautiful fig tree that I spotted days earlier that was clinging to life on the side of a freeway.  Its location was precarious, to say the least, but not on anyone's private property so I thought it would be an easy snip, snip and I'm outta there.  Since it was so early and it's a Friday, I figured there'd be few cars on the road and no one really paying attention to me.  It was starting to get light out so I headed out.

I was on the road and was merging onto the freeway and I had positioned myself so that there were no cars behind me so I would have plenty of time to pull off my heist.  Since I was not quite sure exactly where it was located, the fig tree snuck up on me way too quickly and I had to abruptly pull over.  It wasn’t exactly how I remembered it; there wasn’t much room - just enough for my truck to be over the line - and it was near the end of an over-crossing/flyway off ramp.  It seemed the fig tree was growing out of a crack in the concrete, on the side of the ramp.  There were a few more cars on the road than I anticipated and I felt a bit like “Frogger.”  When it was clear, I jumped out of my truck, ran around to the side, grabbed a branch and leaned and reached over the guardrail to snip off a good-sized branch.  After I got the branch, still leaning, I lost my footing and dropped my Corona pruning shears.  They fell about 6 feet below me, lodging themselves in the branches of the tree.   Frazzled, I went to jump back in my truck to take off but then I realized… hey, that’s $30 I’m leaving in that tree.  So I got back out of my truck, dodging cars.

I ran ahead 50 yards or so to jump the guardrail, ran back down the steep embankment… but now standing at the base of the fig tree I see my pruning shears about 12 feet above me, with no way to get to them because the tree’s coming out of the crack in the side of the flyway.  So I do what any normal person would do… I start shaking the &%#$ out of the tree to dislodge my shears.  It works, sending a couple extra branches down with them (yay!).

Then I run back to my truck, hoping that Highway Patrol doesn’t see me coming over the embankment with an armful of branches.  I dodged a few more cars and hopped in my truck. 

When I got home I saw that the branches had a variety of lobed leaves, ranging from 3 to 7 lobes.  First I took pictures so that I could “show off” my fig find, then prepared the branches for rooting.  Then I got on Figs 4 Fun forum and searched this anomaly and came across a thread that is remarkably similar to what I got, titled “Local Nursery Brown Not.”  It starts sinking in that maybe it’s a Brown Turkish fig… and my heart sinks.  I’m thinking, Did I really risk my life for a Brown Turkey?  I probably have like 10 of them started in 1 gallon pots…

So here’s some photos of my heist…would love some input on its possible variety, even if to confirm its a BT.  Also could use some advice on early morning activities so as not to do something so foolhardy again J