Col de Dama Blanca/Negra

[kubota1]

This is the first ripe fig from this tree. It's a main crop that formed on the trunk. Hopefully I get some dark ones this year so I will know for sure that it's true to form. To those that have this variety can you compare the leaf pattern to yours.
The fig wasn't bad for a 2nd year old tree. It kind of had a berry flavor. I can't say what berry. Once I get more to ripen I will be able to give a better flavor description.

[quackmaster]

That's a good sign when I fig taste good on a young tree. This has been one of the harder ones for me to source out, I'll get it sooner or later. Thanks for the review Art.

[WillsC]

Art,

Soon as the rain stops I will go take a leaf picture for you..if it ever stops Had a month now of at least 1/2" per day.

[rayrose]

I wish you could send me some of that rain. I had 1 inch the entire month of July.

[kubota1]

Wow! My figs would all be splitting with that kind of rain.

[figgary]

My plant is younger/smaller than yours, Art, but leaves are the same.

[kubota1]

Thanks Gary

[Rafaelissimmo]

Art

Great post. You are the first to have fruit from this cultivar. Congrats! In the event you enter this into the varieties list, the correct name according to Pons' book is:
Coll de Dama Blanca-Negra.

[kubota1]

That's good to know. I won't add it until I know that it's true to name.

[WillsC]

Art,

Here you go.

[kubota1]

Thanks Wills. Did you get any fruit yet?

[Rewton]

Wills, yours look a lot like mine. I have a wide array of leaf types on mine from one lobe to three lobe and a few that look similar to the ones Art shows. It looks like you are seeing something similar. Mine is a 2nd year tree with fruit that will hopefully ripen soon but is probably not fully switched over to its mature leaf type yet.

[WillsC]

Art,

No ripe fruit yet it has figs on it. Is a young plant from cuttings started this last winter.

[Rob Ster 010]

Seems right to me.

[kubota1]

Thanks Rob. Nice looking plant.

[AscPete]

Thanks for sharing the photos and info...
Looking forward to the updated description of the flavor.

[exoticplants1]

I got one small tree from bass's fig get together.the leaves are starting to look like yours.thanks for sharing photos.

[kubota1]

This is the third fig picked from this variety and another to pick tomorrow. This had no berry taste and was very sweet. It kind of has it's own taste. Fairly rich tasting. Not honey, but kind of similar. It's hard to describe. No signs of any dark figs.

[Rob Ster 010]

How many branches does yours have Art?
Are they producing white figs on all branches?

[kubota1]

This tree has grown so good that these are main crop figs that started on the main trunk. There are twelve branches with figs just starting. Do you think that each branch might produce different colors?

[Rob Ster 010]

yes certainly. i've seen a video of Pons his orchard where it was clear to see the black figs are on 1 branch and the green on another. When my cutting was just rooted it pushed 2 buds. Both the leaf shape and color of the leaves were totally different on the branches. I have to check in my archive to see if i can find the pic.

[Rob Ster 010]

Here it is. I think the bigger branch will be one that produces white figs and the smaller one dark figs.

[kubota1]

Thanks for the great info Rob. That's good to know.

[lilfiggy]

Pretty figs and nice looking trees

[Rafaelissimmo]

Art I am finally getting a decent sized leaf on mine, attached is pic, hope that helps. No thumbs, but maybe too soon for a fully developed leaf pattern.

[kubota1]

Thanks Raf.

[Rewton]

I harvested my first Coll de Dama Blanca-Negra today from tree in its 2nd season and grown in a container. Note that mine and Art's came from the same batch of cuttings. Sorry the close-up photos are not very good quality but I was forced to use a camera that has never done well with close-ups. This fig was green with some dark sugar spots around the eye. There is another that should be ripe in 2-3 days off of another branch that is putting on some darker color. The leaves on mine do not look much like Art's but do seem to resemble those on Wills'. Most of the new leaves have 3 major lobes and some have small thumbs to make 5 lobes total. Early on this plant had many single lobed leaves. Note that my CdDN in its 2nd season still has mainly single lobed leaves but one branch is now putting out the more characteristic 5 lobed leaves. I suspect my CdDB-N will start putting out more 5 lobed leaves as it gets older. The shape of the figs on mine are not exactly consistent with the photos of Pons' CdDB-N or of other CdD varieties. The pulp was not particularly dark red either (consistent with Art's). However, the fig was quite tasty - sweeter than average with quite a bit of seed crunch. It didn't have the richness and complexity of some figs though, such as my Adriatic JH, but the tree is young. I'm still reserving judgement as to whether this is true to type or not. We'll just have to compare notes as these plants mature and let the full picture come into view. It would be interesting to get the opinion of Mr. Pons on these photos.

[Rewton]

Rafael, I'm not sure I have a common language with him. Can he read and write in english? If not, if you could post the link to this thread on his FB page (or the photos directly) and ask what he thinks that would be great. One question I would have is what his experiences have been propagating CdDB-N and how they behave when they are young. You might imagine that depending on which branch a cutting is taken from you might get a somewhat different fig but now that I think about it further it probably doesn't work that way. Axier has posted photos of green and dark figs on the same branch.

[Rafaelissimmo]

Steve I will check with him. I will say that Pons and other expert growers all agree that this is an utterly fascinating cultivar. The mother tree apparently sprouted between a CdD Blanc and a CdD Noir. It is a variety worth closely studying and observing, in all its iterations. I forgot to mention that both my Rimadas are showing stripes on fruit, so they are both true to type. I will also check with Axier how his fruiting is going this year, his plant should be maturing fruits soon.

[Rob Ster 010]

I always write a message in english and have google translate translate it to catalan.
Always works fine and he knows exactly what i mean.

[twovkay]

Nice looking plants from all. Can't wait to see and hear about the darker figs on this one.

[Hershell]

I few pictures of my tree to compare. The dark side is yet to be determined.

[kubota1]

Thanks Hershell. Looks exactly like my plant.

[Rob Ster 010]

Hershell, i asked Montserrat just to be sure. He told me both black and white figs appear mixed on the same branches.
I think the branch with all black figs in the video was merely a coincidence.
Your leaves look exactly like mine btw.

[Hershell]

Thanks Rob. I'm sure in time I will see some. This is a young tree.

[HarveyC]

Here's mine.

[kubota1]

Thanks and good luck. Hopefully your first two will be different colors.

[Rewton]

Harvey, couldn't tell from the photo but do the leaves on yours resemble mine? I'm seeing a lot of variation in leaves but the fruit (at least on the outside) seems consistent for those of us posting here. The fruit on mine looks pretty much identical to what Hershell showed.

[HarveyC]

I'll try to get a better shot tomorrow, was windy when I took this shot. I think some leaves were single-lobed but the tree is a young one.

[HarveyC]

Here's a photo of a fully-developed leaf taken today.

I tried to upload from my phone earlier but it was too large for the forum even after I cropped it. My phone takes large photos of pretty high quality and I need to figure a way to easily re-size for posting.

[Rafaelissimmo]

Wow, that is one huge leaf!

[HarveyC]

Wills, is there any options in vBulletin to allow it to re-size for a user? One reason I like just posting photos to my Facebook page is that I don't need to go through any extra steps. Since impromptu photos are always taken with my phone, it's a bit cumbersome dealing with extra steps, saving a re-sized photo, finding the director when uploading, etc. Sorry for the whining, but I like it simple.

[rusty hooks]

Wills....I belong to another group which had a similar situation and they installed a photo resizing add on which makes it very easy to upload anad post photos which are out of size restrictions...I'll see if I can get the program link...I believe we use V-Bulliten as well....more later....I'm a field worker today

mistake....the other site uses "Simpleportal"...sorry

[Hershell]

It was eather pick it today or loose it. That's not the best display that I've saw so I have a lot to work on.

[Rafaelissimmo]

How was it Hershell?

[Hershell]

It was ok. Nothing extra but it was the first off of this very fast growing 7 month old tree. I would give it a 6 but know it will get better with time.

[Rafaelissimmo]

I see that there is a clear trend toward the "Blanca" and not the "Negra" here!

[Rewton]

Wait, mine seems to be producing some dark figs! Shown are three different figs on my CdDB-N. Neither of them are ripe - they probably need at least two more days. The darkest one might be the furthest along but is still quite firm. The other two (I think) are at about the same stage of development. I think the 2nd one will darken quite a bit more while the 3rd one will remain a "blanca" save for some sugar spots. At least that is my prediction. I'll follow up after they are ripe.

[Rewton]

One thing about my tree is that I left town during a very hot weekend about 3 weeks ago and left the watering to a neighbor. All was well except the CdDB-N's leaves were drooping. I watered it immediately but some damage was done and it lost some leaves. It didn't lose the figs but they seem to be ripening at a smaller size than I would have expected.

[Rob Ster 010]

That's great Steve! The black figs are supposed to be a bit bigger and heavier than the white ones.