[COGardener]

That was me last year lilfiggy. I had eaten some store bought figs but not one of my own tree ripened until last year. The two original yes I was gifted (thank you Andy) and a couple I had bought. This year I expect to enjoy them again and many more.

I'm sure you will as well.

[lilfiggy]

I am looking forward to my first fig. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

[Rafaelissimmo]

I am looking forward to tasting I-258, Coll de Dama Blanca-Negra, Carrapipe Nera, and more Bourjasotte Grise and Black Madeiras! As for rooting, I won't even get into that, there's too many to catalogue.

[don_sanders]

Here's hoping it lives up to the hype and you can spread it around.

Makes me think of some other ratings I love to see. I think he rates on a scale from 1-10 but most score 11-15 with colorful commentary.

[cis4elk]

Ooh, I thought of another one that I really am anxious to see what happens. It's my Smith(not) Verte(not) maybe is Smith after all.. but could still be something entirely different. Boy, that is a lot to write on a tag! Sure was pretty good last year and looked nothing like previous 3 years. It was on the axe list for one last season, heck it's going to get up-potted now.

[Sarahkt]

lmao. Wills, I know you've said you're usually not that great with documenting fruit with pictures and notes, but please remember to record your impressions of this one. For posterity and all that.

[Levar]

Yeah I was planning on San Marzano for a second year with better gardening habits. If I dropped the ball even a little, the fruits were small and tasteless. But I was impressed when they were good.

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll check those out this year.

[Sarahkt]

Hey Andrew, was it you that posted about Arctic Glo recently? Someone posted pics, I forget when/where/who, but it made me start looking into that variety in the first place during the scion exchange planning. That tree is on its way! I took the last one at Grow Organic (lol, sorry, Dan. You snooze...)

I also have an Elephant Heart plum, and a couple pluot trees (Flavor King -- my favorite, and a 4-in-1 I bought last year of Flavor King, Flavor Queen, Flavor Supreme, and Dapple Dandy). I have *a lot* of various stone fruit scion I'm going to try grafting (half this weekend/next week, and plan to repeat with the second half in a month if the first ones don't look good as a backup plan). The stone fruit scion I have are mostly very tiny, so not sure how well it's going to work out. This is my first year grafting, and so far the apples, figs, Asian pear, and pomegranate ones look good. Too soon to tell if they took, but at least they still look alive and aren't shriveling up.

[BrooklynMatty]

Since i didn't have a single fig from any of my original plants last year, i'm expecting fruits from these young plants and am very excited for all of them:

Unknown Sheepshead
Desert King
RDB
CDD Grise
Dominick

Among the 35+ varieties i'm growing from cuttings, i would love to see some fruit from them first year but i don't want to expect too much. I would be happy with any figs at this point

[WillsC]

Don,

Dan being.....(mumbles to himself "be nice be nice be nice" ) difficult it is hard to say what it is. Is it unique? Is it a known variety? Personally I think he hyped it so much as the best fig to ever exist he then would let nobody have it for fear it would not live up to his hype. That is my theory but we shall see. All I know for sure is it IS the tree he has.

[cis4elk]

Let's see...

I-258
Black Madeira
Maltese Falcon
Havasu Purple
Filiciano Bianco
Vista
LdA with another year under it's..roots
and definitely more of Navid's UDG and MBVS with another year under their roots as well.

Of course I could keep going because I can't wait to try them all, I've already thought of 5 more that I left out...

[cis4elk]

I would like to taste Vasilika Melissi too, most of starts didn't grow all that well last year..especially VM. So any fruit it sets this coming year will be removed so it can focus it's energy to growth.

[cis4elk]

Quality is right in the middle is suppose, any fresh homegrown tomato tastes spectacular compared to what comes from the store. I make a good amount of pasta sauce every year that I bag and freeze, so most of my tomatoes go to sauce. Certain varieties we eat more of them fresh and others are more for sauce. Amish paste we probably eat about 10% of them fresh as bruschetta or when no better tomato was available.
I choose to grow AP every year because,
- strong hardy plant, big producer, it ripens a ton of fruit here before the season is over
- fruits are bigger than Roma or San Marzano
- it's a thick meaty tomato without many seeds
-- the seeds are in cavities which are easy to remove with the swipe of a finger
- I grow 2 AP plants each year because they are so good for filling the sauce pot(compared to 1 of the other varieties)

Granted your zone is totally different than mine, which I'm sure affects flavor profiles as well as harvests. Also there is the personal taste thing, but these are my favorite tomato varieties to pick, slice, and eat in no particular order.

- Early Girl
- Celebrity
- Momotaro
- Virginia Sweets

I also usually grow Carbon, German Johnson , and Goldman's Italian American.

[mountainfigs]

Yes, ripening even a single good fig, gives the tree character and identity, and can give a good idea of how and where it might be best to tend to it the following year.

Do you have a handy list of the 14 LSU varieties you are growing? Lists of LSU cultivars seem to evolve through the years.

[jmaler]

Last year being my first at collecting figs. It seems I tried to acquire every variety available. I broke the bank several times over.

I only got to taste a few not so great figs from plants' first production. A Noire de Caromb produced a ripe fig in November that was real good. I wish for it to flush full with ripe figs this summer.

Because of the expense of acquiring Galicia Negra, De La Reina MP, Figo Preto, I - 258, Maltese Falcon, Martinenca Rimada and Vista, I want very much to try these.

I got 14 LSU varieties in ground last year so I have high hopes to try these.

Actually, this will be a great year if I could taste a hanging ripe fig from each and every variety I have growing.

[mountainfigs]

Looking forward most to harvesting the 7 varieties from my core orchard:

http://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-home/62082-lucky-7-figs

Otherwise looking forward to whatever cultivars might ripen productively, early, and with layered flavors, cultivars that could possibly make a move into the core orchard. (It's a potted dooryard orchard mainly.) Hopefully some will surprise this year.

Cultivars most looking forward to acquiring:
willing to trade for: Figoin, Barada, Planera MP, Gallo, Noire de Barbentane, Golden Riverside (278-128), select Pons figs

[The Figster]

This has turned into a great source of 'what to grow next' Will BB10 be the new Ponte Teresa ?

JH Adriatic seams to be consistently at the front. The trio of CdD also are getting universal appeal. ( I have N and G looking for B) .....

Its interesting to see the optimism and long lists from those members in zone 9+ as opposed the the shorter more conservative lists of zone 6+


Ian

[don_sanders]

Was it ever ruled out as being Kathleen's Black?

[danw]

Andrew, your post in my Magical Citrus Fig thread is the reason I am after one! And that is even after I had sworn off peaches and nectarines. I always seem to loose the battle against leaf curl, but I am going to try one more time.

[Levar]

This is my first year growing it - I germinated the seeds about three months ago and it's ... too big. Already. It's still coldish out and it's too big.

How do you feel about the fruit quality? Do you like preparing them a certain way?

I think Sun Golds are best just totally raw and undressed - I made a sauce with them for eggplant and it was almost like candy. Novel but good. It probably would've been great with sharp goat cheeses, thinking back on it. Or used as the base for a BBQ sauce for meats.

[cis4elk]

Oooh, and Wills drops the Ace of Spades!

[cis4elk]

Ed, be patient with RdB if it doesn't live up to your expectations, it may take a some years to get great. For me it was still good but nothing fantastic for the couple years of fruiting and I believe it is still improving(I actually didn't get any figs the 1st year and 2nd year they came too late so were removed). If your growing it in a pot(which I think you are) the brebas are really good too, I didn't let mine make any brebas until it was in 4th leaf.

[danw]

That is the first fig I ever tried to acquire. Unsuccessfully unfortunately. It was before I ever even tasted a fresh fig. I was reading about the varieties of the three trees I had just picked up, and stumbled on a post from dan_la. Somehow I got his email through internet stalking techniques and asked if I could buy some cuttings. He said he would have some on ebay in the future and to keep checking. I evidently did not do a good enough job at checking.

I also am really interested to know what you think of the fruit.

But wait, didn't you say the figs don't produce the best fruit in your area? Luther Burbank chose Sonoma county for a reason. My house might be a better location for a test. Just saying!

[cis4elk]

Amish paste is a workhorse here, it just keeps growing and producing like no other.

[WillsC]

That is the one.