Late Bordeauxs, Mt Etnas, a few others

[mountainfigs]

More fig poaching in picture 3. On the right, remains of a Lyndhurst White, swiped overnight. On the left, remains of its synonym Latarolla, swiped during the day.

On the plate, four columns, left to right, top to bottom:
1st column: Petite Negri, Negronne
2nd column: Lyndhurst White, Lyndhurst White, LSU Purple
3rd column: White Triana, Dark Portuguese, Zingarella, Sicilian Black
4th column: Marseilles Black, Marseilles Black

In order:
Most carmelized: Zingarella
Next most intensely flavored: Petite Negri, LSU Purple (back to maple sugar candy form), Negronne
Very good, fruity: Marseilles Black, then Dark Portuguese

Lyndhurst White and Sicilian Black were too watery to have much sweet fruit taste, and these were picked early to prevent critter theft. White Triana was essentially unripe.

Next year will require more strategic placement of pots to prevent losing figs to the wildlife. Will consider netting for some pots and in-ground bushes.

[Dale_M]

If over night, at least you know it's not birds. My wife has had some success recently in deterring nocturnal creatures with liberal doses of cayenne powder.

[mountainfigs]

That's a good idea. Lost a ground level Forea last night that might have been saved by cayenne.

[mountainfigs]

Mt Etnas in bowl and a couple Late Bordeaux, the two darkest ones. Negronne the larger, Petite Negri the smaller. Guests ate most. No complaints!

The two at the bottom (in first pic), most odd looking: the bottom left greenish one was super sweet, while the bottom right one was not ripe.

The Mt Etnas here: Hardy Chicago, Sal's, Gino's Black, Papa John, Marseilles Black - multiples of some.

[greenfig]

Tony,
You mentioned in some other post and here that the Zingarella you have is a Mt Etna fig.
My Zingarella that came from R Watts looks very differently from yours by the shape ( more round) or inside. It also has nothing in common with my MBVS or Gino's Black or Sal's. I would never say they are similar.
Here is my post about Zingarella :
http://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-ho...r-s-zingarella

[mountainfigs]

Yes, this keeps coming up. Different people have different types of figs that have been given the name Zingarella. One appears to be the Mt Etna type, while the other appears to be Palermo Red (aka Sal's Corleone, Aldo...). At least these cultivars look in most every way like Mt Etna and Palermo Red.

[greenfig]

Tony,
I have Aldo with many figs that need some weeks to ripen to be able to compare and confirm your statement . That would be interesting if my Zingarella is the same. I will definitely update.
I will compare the leaves tomorrow as well.

[mountainfigs]

I've posted pics of a number of figs on plates, so I figured it might be worthwhile to post some pics of figs on bushes for a change. These are mostly Mt Etnas, as I consider them: Rossi Dark in ground, Takoma Violet in ground, Hardy Chicago in ground and in pot, the rest in pot or put in ground this spring: Marseilles Black, Gino's Black, Dark Portuguese, and Sal's.

Non Mt Etnas include: Petite Negri, Brooklyn White, LSU Purple, Emerald Strawberry (143-36), and unripe Janice Kadota and Florea.

[AscPete]

Thanks for sharing the photos and info..
When did your in-ground figs start to break bud this season? Thanks.

[mountainfigs]

From my notes:

• some Mt Etnas budded out from ground around April 25
• low limbs protected by mulch budded out around April 20
• one breba on low limb protected under thick layer of leaves (Natalina) later fell
• fig fruit nubs by June 6 appearing on in-ground: Natalina (with low limb) and Marseilles Black (w/ ll) and Mount Etna Unknown (no low limb). [update: these bushes are loaded with fruit, however none have yet ripened fruit. The in-ground Takoma Violet, Hardy Chicago, and Rossi Dark that have ripened fruit may have budded fruit later; however, except for the Rossi Dark, they receive more sun. The Rossi Dark is not loaded like the others which probably allowed it to ripen earlier even with minimal sun.]

[mountainfigs]

More Mt Etnas today on plate

left column: 4 Marseilles Black
center column: 3 Zingarella
right column: 3 Mt Etna Unknown
bottom 3, left to right: Rossi Dark, Sal's, Spanish Unknown

All from pots, except Rossi Dark and Sal's which are fruiting after total dieback to ground.

Other pics are more Late Bordeauxs: 5 Petite Negri.
Another dozen Petite Negri and look alike Negronnes went to neighbors.

Late Bordeauxs have more reliably intense flavor in pots than these Mt Etnas. Mt Etnas remain good to very good and are earlier and more productive than the Late Bordeauxs, though the Late Bordeauxs are somewhat earlier and more productive this year than I had thought they might be.