Does a caprifig drop figs without the wasp?

[greenfig]

I know the Smyrna type figs are being dropped but how about the Caprifigs themselves without any wasp and caprification?

[Harborseal]

The persistent ones will keep theirs, the others generally don't.

[greenfig]

Bob,
Is this documented anywhere or is a sort of a general knowledge?
I’ve seen some caprifig cuttings sold on eBay and that seller is in AZ. Would be interesting to find out what happens to the figs on his trees.

[Brian M]

I sell capri figs on eBay. I have three trees and all drop the crops throughout the year.

[greenfig]

Thanks, Brian!
Did Mara get the cuttings from you? Just wandering.
So if my Capri keeps its figs, it means the wasps are inside? A few members want the air layers with figs and wasps and this could be a way to tell.

[Brian M]

She probably did i believe there was only one other vendor selling Capri figs. The crop that is small and on last year's growth is mamme. That is where wasp will enter. I believe lol...

[Harborseal]

What kind of caprifigs do you sell?

[Q*]

Seems like they are always living inside the figs no matter how green they are....i cut these open 3/1/15

[greenfig]

Nice! The wasp lives in the wild in the Phoenix area?

[Q*]

No they dont...it was taken when i was home visiting family in southern california last weekend

[greenfig]

Ah! That explains it
Yes, I can see the same in my neighborhood.

[HarveyC]

All caprifigs will eventually drop if we don't pick them, thus explaining why Brian is seeing them always drop. Non-persistent caprifigs will drop before becoming mature if not caprified (presumably by a wasp) while a persistent one will not. I don't know of this being documented in writing anywhere but this is what was explained to me by a long-time fig breeder when I met up with him a year a go. He searches for persistent caprifigs by bagging the fruit of the caprifig to exclude the wasp/pollen and, if it does not drop, it is persistent and a candidate for his breeding program. So, this might be a means to help evaluate placement of airlayers as you've described if you know your caprifig is not a persistent one. Otherwise, you can cut open some fruits and evaluate inside under magnification to look for egg galls.

[greenfig]

Harvey, from you description, it seems one tree can have persistent branches and not mixed up.
Is that right?

[HarveyC]

Igor, I don't know if I understand your question. A caprifig tree is either a persistent time or non-persistent.

On a side note, if a persistent caprifig's pollen pollinates a fig, the offspring from those seeds will be 25% common edible figs, 25% San Pedro or Smyrna type edible figs, 25% persistent caprifigs, and 25% non-persistent caprifigs (though some caprifigs are also edible). So essentially all breeding work is done using persistent caprifigs.

That pot head guy that posted about breeding work communicated in a style that I did not care to read but he did make mention of work being done in Japan. Sometime last year an international genome database did reflect a huge increase for figs. I asked a geneticist friend if she could tell what was going on and she found that in Japan they were working on identifying genes in caprifigs and Israel was working on identifying genes in Brown Turkey. She has told me before that one of the biggest uses of genetic technology in plant breeding was to identify traits to specific genes which, in turn, could then be used to assess qualities of seedlings without needing to wait for them to come to maturity.

[drphil69]

Good info Harvey. Can I assume that means the best chance at a common fig from seedling is 25%, and only that high when started from a persistent caprifig?

[HarveyC]

Yes, that is correct. I don't know that is the "best chance" but the overall likelihood. I don't know of any factors that would change that percentage (other than using a non-persistent caprifig).

If I understood him correctly, the breeder also mentioned the male parent had a big influence on skin color and ostiole size.

[greenfig]

I set a few air layers yesterday. Will see how they like the East Coast eventually.