Better than UCDAVIS Black Madeira?

[FMD]

Black Madeira fig from Madeira Island Portugal (First 4 pictures) and Preto (lLast 3). There is no obvious FMV infestation present in either one. The former is a 1/3 taller than the latter. They've grown robustly and they put out figs early.
My UCDAVIS BM is 5 years old and 1 foot tall!

[WillsC]

They look great Frank. Isn't it amazing how much faster they grow without that pesky FMV.

[Snaglpus]

Hey Frank, give your UCD BM some liquid fertilizer and you will see growth. At least 2 foot or more. The BM at UCD is barely 7 feet tall so I wouldn't worry too much. I give my trees a lot of liquid fertilizer but the best to me is Floralious Plus. It's super concentrated----only 1 teaspoon for 5 gallon of water! Read the comments on Amazon and trust me....this stuff will wake up any slow growing plant.

I use it mostly on trees that have died to the ground due to sever cold weather and the next year you can't tell the tree ever suffered. Give it a try! It's not cheap but when you want results---sometimes price is not an option.

[Altadena Mara]

You sold me, Dennis. I ordered a bottle from Amazon.
We were taught in the Rose Consulting program that roses were pigs and would eat any kind of fertilizer. The important thing was a balanced formula so the cheapest fertilizer would do. Nitrogen, phosphate, and potash were the same in all fertilizers whatever their source.
But it sounds like for figs, trace minerals might also be important.

[Jamie0507]

Between Dennis & Rafael, I'm sold on Floralicious Plus too now lol! It maybe a bit heavy on the investment side to start out with, but the payouts seem to be well worth it! This girl is definitely going for the big bottle of it next time 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 😉

[American Infigdel]

Floralicious Plus is some sort of weed tonic. Doesn't seem to be a fertilizer and it says to be used in conjunction with your fertilizer program.

[rayrose]

Why not use diluted urine. It's very high in nitrogen, which is what figs love, and furthermore, it's
free. I use it on all of my newly planted fruit trees.

[American Infigdel]

How do you apply it?

[Mario]

Good question! 😂😂😂

[rayrose]

On planted non fig trees, I give a gallon of diluted urine weekly. That's all I feed them the first year. On figs, a lot less.

[F. Bennett]

1 foot in 5 years? You have a lot of patience...and/or space!

[FMD]

Frank, with such a slow growth rate you don't need much space. LOL. I guess, patience it is.

[HarveyC]

I suggest you take a small cutting from it next winter and graft it onto a vigorous grower and compare growth. My guess is that the new tree will be taller than momma by mid-summer.

[greenfig]

Wow! I guess I was lucky with my BM! I got a tiny cutting last year, put it in a fridge and forgot about it. Found it in December, rooted and planted in the ground in February. It is 2+ ft tall tree. The only taller is my RdB. Didn't fertilize it with anything but it gets the full SoCal sun 9 hours per day.

[Altadena Mara]

Do you pick off the new figs developing?

[Fygmalion]

Wow, Igor! THAT is a true success story based on the reported slow growth rate of BM....

[Fig-Doctor]

In my experience, FMV infected fig tree can still grow well. I fed one of my FMV infected BM with organic fertilizer almost every week. It out grew FMV then Some branches perfectly fine and some branches still have some sign of FMV (bad). I removed FMV infected branches and now it looks almost perfect and grow pretty fast like other BMs. I highly recommend feed organic fertilizer.

[Brian M]

What brand and what’s in it?

[Fig-Doctor]

I use Espoma Organic Citrus tone 27LB? I use this plant food because it is the cheapest one in the market now . I needed cheap one because I use 3~4 handful each pots (150+). New branches without FMV outgrow old ones. FMV infected branches grow very very slow so I removed them.

[FMD]

Bumped for the sole purpose of shameless self-promotion, but gratuitously asking if anyone else is growing this particular cultivar . LOL.

https://www.figbid.com/Listing/Details/3956426/Black-Madeira-from-Madeira-Island

[ramv]

This is Violeta correct? AFAIK there is no Black Madeira fig in Portugal.

[FMD]

I received my plant indirectly from Francisco, and had no contact with him, but I would imagine you are correct.

[American Infigdel]

Bumped for the sole purpose of shameless self-promotion, but gratuitously asking if anyone else is growing this particular cultivar . LOL.

https://www.figbid.com/Listing/Detai...Madeira-Island

Are you talking about "Madeira Island Black" or "MIB?" If so, there are a couple of very informative threads on it and it is purported to be more vigorous than BM.

[FMD]

I don’t have MIB but if by definition the the UCD BM originally came from Madeira Island as Violeta, then both MIB and Francisco’s fig are probably Violeta.

[fig Lebowski]

If yours is only a foot tall after 5 years it’s not the trees fault it’s yours.

[FMD]

If yours is only a foot tall after 5 years it’s not the trees fault it’s yours.

LOL, the joke's on you fig, this post dates back to 2015. Since then it's grown another half inch.

[fig Lebowski]

LoL

[YATAMA]

I share your cncern. I was provided a potted MIB KK last yearfrom a trusted forummember Has none if the stigmata associated with FMV.Last year it made 2 smallbranches from which cuttings were taken for several forummembers who wanted to trade.Cuttting looked ok but none rooted for one friend here.Those 2 small branches were the LAST thing has grown after benig planted in great soil in my'collection garden" where all other fig trees except a BM are making superb growth not to mention tomato plants taller than I am.Theres so much I do not uderstand but one thing's clear,I have many other varieties that grow and bear perfectly, so sweating and worrig with thr BM series of figs is not worth my time at least here uness someone in this forum has advice tat worked forim to chnge thinhs.Sorry had eye prob and printed gibberish(more than my usual) socame back and edited.Wanted to add what other figs do you think actually taste like BM/MIB besides preto and violeta that grow better?

[barshomi]

I have BMkk,BMucd,figo preto I don’t have MIB and I won’t get one you know why?they all came from the same place same tree different name just for commercial purposes

[scott_ga]

This is a UCD origin Black Madeira which was an air layer dug up this spring (~9 inches). It is now 21 inches and would be taller if I took the figs off and quit pinching it back. I originally started 4 of these from a single UCD cutting; 3 were not significantly affected by FMV. This air layer was from the tree which was the originally most FMV affected. My thought is the UCD BM needs not only pelletized lime (give to all my potted figs), but more fertilizer than other figs. Even the 6 foot potted BM that I had would only put on 6-8 inches of new growth after pruning. The internodal space seems really short on these, so they make a good potted fig.