O'rourke. ( EL )

[Erick]

I ordered a small o'rourke tree from edible landscaping when I first got started with figs. I was reading on the forum and found that some thinks that the variety they sell is actually Imporved Celeste. I was wondering what the main difference is between the two? Thanks

[AscPete]

From an earlier topic on Improved Celeste (hybrid)

http://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-home/7789-improved-celeste

They are 2 different cultivars with different taste and growth habits.

[Erick]

Well I read in here that all of this types of improved celeste and o'rourke are good tasting figs and worth having. Then I read where someone said that the o'rourke that came from edible landscaping is a poor fig. I was just wondering does anyone have this fig and if so what do you think of it?

[AscPete]

My personal opinion is that its an Improved Celeste (hybrid) and a poor tasting fig. I will post photos and comment on the figs later in the season since the tree is already producing figlets. BTW this cultivar has only been available from EL for the past 2 years.

Here is a F4F member's comments on the O'Rourke EL... http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox....12&postcount=1

[Erick]

Ok thanks for the information this helps but I was trying to get a o'rourke or improved celeste ( one of the better and cold hardy ones) I need to find someone with one of the good varieties and try to get one from them.

[brettjm]

How about the one from JF&E? Is it an actual O'rourke?

[Erick]

The link in post #2 says that it is one of the good ones I think Brett you can check it out..

[PawPaw Gene]

I have an O'Rourke that comes from cuttings taken in the LSU orchard. I find it's an excellent fig. It has a great taste that is different from Celeste. Also with all the rain we had last year that caused me to lose 95 percent of my figs, O'Rourke came through beautifully. I did not lose one fig to rain, bugs, or souring. The only other tree that I have that I can say that about, is Alma. Also the O'Rourke kept on putting on figs and ripening them to the first frost.






"gene"

[crademan]

Gene, thanks for posting the great photos and useful information about your O'Rourke fig tree.

[Erick]

Gene your o'rourke tree is really nice, how old is this tree.. It sure is loaded down with figs. Does your o'rourke fig have a closed eye?

[PawPaw Gene]

Erick, I got my O'Rourke in 2010 so this is it's 5th season. The eye is closed tight.
"gene"

[paully22]

Gene, the said variant is doing very well here, early & no issues with souring/splitting. Very
happy with it & it produces loads of reliable main crop as well as it is earlier than Champagne
& Tiger. It is such a good producer where I have to stop its productivity in order to have it
winterize.

How's your Cajun Gold in terms of reliability ?

[PawPaw Gene]

Hi Paul, I still have a lot to learn about my Cajun Gold. Our seasons have been so varied the last few years that it hard for me to get a consistent opinion. The first few years I had this tree it bore some awesome tasting figs very much like the LSU Gold I bought it for. I think it is sweeter and it definitely put on many times more figs. It holds up to rain fairly well, about like a Celeste. Too much rain can ruin the flavor and sweetness as in many figs. It has never been hurt by cold weather although our winters are mild compared to some, but last year we got down to 22 degrees with no die back. If it has a problem its overproduction of figs. That was not a problem for the first few years but the last 3 have been that way. Once it starts putting on figs it doesn't stop. The growth continues all summer and doesn't stop until a frost hit it. At that time it will still have hundreds of unripe figs on it. I've pinched it back to force it to stop growing and ripen figs. That helps some but it resumes growing after a couple of weeks. This year I will prune rather than pinch to see if that will stop the growth and promote more ripened figs. My tree now is in a chicken yard, which could be part of the problem with the chickens providing an abundance of nitrogen. Just a guess. In it's first years it wasn't in the chicken yard and I don't remember it having the growing habit and not ripening all of it's figs. That is the reason I have given out this fig and shared it with members of the growing community. I want to get some feed back from others outside of this area to see if they are having different results. So any on you have it please let me in on the details.
Thanks,
"gene"

[Taverna78]

I am jealous you have fig already... I have only tiny fig on one of my 1gal pot. That's all ahaha.

My Papa put olive oil on his finger and touch oil to every fig eye that is not ripen on time. Normally the ripen in 24 hour-48 hour after.

How are you Cugino Gene?

[Darkman]

Hi Gene,

No excessive fertilizer on the CG you gave me yet it still has a clump of figs on the young plant. If it does this after getting planted in the ground I may have to prop the limbs! Should have a ripe one soon!

[Altadena Mara]

The plant on the left is labeled O’Rourke and is from Petals from the Past.
The plant on the right was from Almost Eden and sold as Celeste Improved.
I'm hoping one of them is a real Celeste Improved.

[Chris]

Hi Mara, the one in the white container is from which nursery? Can't see the other picture.
Looks like at least one must be true IC from this post http://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-ho...proved-celeste Pete: "Almost Eden's alleged "improved Celeste" is a regular Celeste, . . . Petals ft Past's Tiger is O'Rourke and their O'Rourke is the IC Hybrid."

I'm going to try to get both later this year.

[Altadena Mara]

Chris, the plant in the white container is labeled O’Rourke and is from Petals from the Past. The other plant is in a one gallon gray pot just to the right of the white pot in the same picture and seems to disappear into the ground. You can see four and a half leaves on it. It's from Almost Eden and sold as Improved Celeste. The leaves are consistent with the pictures of those varieties on Jon's Fig Varietal Info website. I bought the IC/not O'Rourke when I read your post earlier about the mix up.
The picture of the Celeste leaf on Varietal Info shows a five lobed leaf which is different from my tree on the right which Almost Eden calls IC and you say is a regular Celeste. But it's a young tree so could change as it gets older. I'll try to get a better picture tomorrow in daylight.

[Altadena Mara]

This is what Almost Eden is selling as Improved Celeste now. As you can see, the leaves are one to three lobes so far, which looks different from the leaves of Celeste posted on F4F Varietal info site. What do you think it could be?

[AscPete]

They are typical juvenile Celeste Leaves...

[Altadena Mara]

AscPete#14.1 AscPete commented Today, 10:41 AM "They are typical juvenile Celeste Leaves..."

Thanks AscPete for the identification. Jon says Celeste is one of his favorites in this area so I'm sure I'll like it. Perhaps there's really no improving on Celeste for this "Fig Heaven" part of California.

[Chris]

Pete,

Since I plan to get these later on and from all the post on this and the other forum it looks like the following:

O'Rourke: Durio, Petals From the Past (Tiger)
IC: Just Fruits & Exotics, Petals From the Past (O'Rourke)

Issues:
EL O'Rourke (inferior IC), Almost Eden (IC is just a Celeste and their O'Rourke is always out of stock), James Robin (buys cuttings from others so may vary year to year)

WOW my head is still spinning from reading through all the posting on these . . .

Thanks!

[Erick]

[Erick]

This was me trying to get more info about the o'rourke from EL..

[AscPete]

I have always recommend the other fig cultivars from Edible Landscaping, but have simply stated my personal opinion about their Improved Celeste (hybrid) that is sold as O'Rourke. Info as to the source of the cuttings used for propagation could be helpful, but I doubt that it will be forthcoming. They grow the mother trees for most of their offered cultivars.

[AscPete]

Chris,
Welcome to Our Figs forum community.

The cultivars O'Rourke and Improved Celeste (hybrid) are very easily ID'd by their leaves and figs even with varying cultural practices.
Attached are older leaves and figs of the O'Rourke PP (sold as Tiger from Petals ft Past). Their source traces back to LSU before the "LSU Official releases" and had been documented (mentioned) in older posts on the fig forums.

[Chris]

Pete,

Thanks. I have to admit that I am a converted lurker . . .

From some of the online posting and resources the fruit is more of a lighter bronze color http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/.../45/5/826.full


Would the PP be darker because it was an earlier version and not the final release (e.g., "source traces back to LSU before the "LSU Official releases"")?

How does the Durio version compare with the "tiger" from PP?

Chris

[AscPete]

Sun (or lack), Temperature (warm or cool), Fertilizer (available or deficient), Soil (or potted), Location (Zone) and Water availability all play a role in the appearance of a ripe fig. These combination of variables make up the "Cultural Practice" and determine the final produce. There are many cultivars that look very different based on these variables, that's also why the Leaves and Figs have to be compared together.

The O'Rourke PP may well be a different cultivar from the one that was released, but it also could be the same. There were hundreds of seedlings (Celeste Hybrids) that were grown and a lack of documentation of the selections that were put out for "evaluation". If you look at post #7 Gene has pictures of his O'Rourke that was taken directly from LSU and the fig exteriors ripen similar to the O'Rourke PP, they turn red with visible stripes then get a darker maroon color.

I don't have a Durio version so cannot comment, but you could search for posts with members pictures and compare them to all the available info for the LSU O'Rourke...

[Chris]

Thanks Pete! Now I know . . .

It is hard for me to trial figs due to limited space so I do more research and make sure I get the right ones for each of the main categories of figs.

Still learning . . . but figs trees with the variability between and within each variety does not help.

[jmaler]

The O'Rourke fig caught my eye in April of this year. I researched forums and blogs. I noticed folks writing about mislabeled O'Rourkes. I read an article that described the leaves as such, "Mature leaves of ‘O'Rourke’ are palmate with five to seven distinct lobes. The primary lobe is spatulate with an irregular, sinuate margin, giving the primary lobe an oak leaf appearance. The leaf base is sagittate with partially imbricate lobes."

http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/...b-893f297ce448

I held off buying until i found the tree i felt was the real thing. All the leaves of my small O'Rourke exactly match the above description. I happy. Next test will be the fruit in a couple years.

http://www.treesofjoy.com/content/lsu-orourke-0

[Chris]

Forgotten about that Bass may have the true O'Rourke

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=5124385 post #12: "I have two O'Rourkes from JR and Bass, turns out Bass's came from JR too. According to Dan's good information, they are O'Rourke because they have 3 & 5 lobed leaves."

JR's vary from year to year and must have gotten a good batch when Bass got it from him because in the same post Dan said that JR gets his cuttings from multiple sources and to check leaf patterns.

[growcrazie]

thanks for this info, I got a O'Rourke from Petals ft Past this year and found out it may not be as labeled. It looks like it is IC, should I go ahead and label it that. I also got a LSU Black from them, does anybody know if it is labeled correctly?

[AscPete]

IMO, It should be labeled 'Improved Celeste PP' and their LSU Black may be the same as Scotts Black.

[growcrazie]

thanks pete

[AscPete]

I've been harvesting figs from O'Rourke purchased from Edible Landscaping, the tree and figs are similar to the Improved Celeste PP. The flavor profiles are also the same this season. I just ate one that was fully ripe, thin skin, translucent sweet jammy interior that had a light cane syrup like flavor and very mild seed crunch

I've also been harvesting figs from the O'Rourke PP (which was purchased as Tiger) the figs are all larger than last season, possibly due to being up potted to a larger container which is also a SIP. I will be top watering for the next few weeks to see if the figs decrease in size and increase in flavor
The pictured figs average 45 gr or 1.6 oz each. The cut fig was fully ripe with lightly wrinkled skin it was sweet with the typical light maple syrup like flavor and mild seed crunch.

[Fig-Doctor]

I just tasted one of the O’Rourke. It tasted pretty good, very tight eye, soft skin. Only minus is small fruit.