What is your earliest fruiting fig? Also what is your best tasting early variety?

oat said:
Yes, that is true. I have noticed that many of the figs don't ripen all that late if they get a proper start in the spring. The ones that got a sluggish start are way later in my orchard.
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That's an important observation. I've had really late varieties ripen before some of my early varieties, if you count from the wake-up time to peak ripening (when figs start ripening in significant numbers).
 
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FamilyPhishFigs said:
Florea and pastiliere I keep seeing pop up, might have to grab those too.
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Some people say Florea is good for only being early. It is a decent variety(not the wow type) if ripen all the way.

Pastiliere is a bit of a toss. It is tasty, but on the small side and then it is water sensitive in a way that it would drop fruit especially in a young tree. Many people mistaken that as a sign of Smyrna. It has been established as a Common for many years. It needs consistent watering to avoid fruit dropping. In cooler climate, the watering issue is likely to be less of a problem than in hot, dry climate.

Both are cold hardy, candidates for in ground cultivation once established.
 
Figgin' A said:
That's an important observation. I've had really late varieties ripen before some of my early varieties, if you count from the wake-up time to peak ripening (when figs start ripening in significant numbers).
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In my case, I didn't even give them a proper headstart. Just left mine in the hot dark garage for 2 extra weeks and the unpruned BMs start ripening on 7/11 and finished ripening almost all a month later. And I kept them indoors by the east facing windows (not recommended as BMs need sunlight to ripen properly) But timing wise, I love to have it finish before the rainy season and not having to do much for headstart.

The BMs ended up ripening before the Florea and even the Improved Celeste.
 
grasshopper said:
Some people say Florea is good for only being early. It is a decent variety(not the wow type) if ripen all the way.

Pastiliere is a bit of a toss. It is tasty, but on the small side and then it is water sensitive in a way that it would drop fruit especially in a young tree. Many people mistaken that as a sign of Smyrna. It has been established as a Common for many years. It needs consistent watering to avoid fruit dropping. In cooler climate, the watering issue is likely to be less of a problem than in hot, dry climate.

Both are cold hardy, candidates for in ground cultivation once established.
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I think it just doesn’t like your hot climate. Pastiliere is not a small fig. It’s more medium. I think it’s average 50 grams. Some can get larger. I think in the right climate it’s top tier.
 
grasshopper said:
In my case, I didn't even give them a proper headstart. Just left mine in the hot dark garage for 2 extra weeks and the unpruned BMs start ripening on 7/11 and finished ripening almost all a month later. And I kept them indoors by the east facing windows (not recommended as BMs need sunlight to ripen properly) But timing wise, I love to have it finish before the rainy season and not having to do much for headstart.

The BMs ended up ripening before the Florea and even the Improved Celeste.
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Impressive and totally attainable. Another confirmation that how you grow your figs matters a lot.
 
oat said:
I think it just doesn’t like your hot climate. Pastiliere is not a small fig. It’s more medium. I think it’s average 50 grams. Some can get larger. I think in the right climate it’s top tier.
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grasshopper said:
Pastiliere is a bit of a toss. It is tasty, but on the small side and then it is water sensitive in a way that it would drop fruit especially in a young tree. Many people mistaken that as a sign of Smyrna. It has been established as a Common for many years. It needs consistent watering to avoid fruit dropping. In cooler climate, the watering issue is likely to be less of a problem than in hot, dry climate.
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Pastiliere barely fruits in my climate and it’s small. I think I only had one year when it set more than two fruits, and even then it was only like four. That was really the only year I had one. I hang onto mine because people say how great it is, but… like seriously, it does not produce for me. I didn’t know any others were having issue in drier situations, so that’s good to hear.
 
Inflorescence said:
Pastiliere barely fruits in my climate and it’s small. I think I only had one year when it set more than two fruits, and even then it was only like four. That was really the only year I had one. I hang onto mine because people say how great it is, but… like seriously, it does not produce for me. I didn’t know any others were having issue in drier situations, so that’s good to hear.
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Do you have it in a pot or in the ground? Mine is in the ground and getting pretty big.
 
grasshopper said:
Some people say Florea is good for only being early. It is a decent variety(not the wow type) if ripen all the way.

Pastiliere is a bit of a toss. It is tasty, but on the small side and then it is water sensitive in a way that it would drop fruit especially in a young tree. Many people mistaken that as a sign of Smyrna. It has been established as a Common for many years. It needs consistent watering to avoid fruit dropping. In cooler climate, the watering issue is likely to be less of a problem than in hot, dry climate.

Both are cold hardy, candidates for in ground cultivation once established.
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About Florea... let's just say I went from three Floreas, which I accumulated in my newbie excitement, to one, which I now use as a rootstock for grafting other varieties. I must say, it's been an excellent rootstock. At the end of the last season, I had only one fruiting branch of Florea, and my wife convinced me to graft something else on it next season. It's a good fig if all you grow are early varieties, but once you get a taste of top-tier figs, you don't even want to look at Florea :)
 
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Figgin' A said:
About Florea... let's just say I went from three Floreas, which I accumulated in my newbie excitement, to one, which I now use as a rootstock for grafting other varieties. I must say, it's been an excellent rootstock. At the end of the last season, I had only one fruiting branch of Florea, and my wife convinced me to graft something else on it next season. It's a good fig if all you grow are early varieties, but once you get a taste of top-tier figs, you don't even want to look at Florea :)
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Yeah, in terms of taste quality, not many can compare with the top tier varieties. Florea, when fully ripened, doesn't taste as bad as some describe it. I am glad to have a copy of it but probably not multiple ones. I guess it is a variety to have if you don't want to spend time doing headstart.

Also, I have a tendency to leave the fruits on the trees till they almost fall apart, which is probably why I have critter issue. :LOL: However, the taste of a fully ripened fig can be very different from one that is just ripe.
 
Inflorescence said:
Pastiliere barely fruits in my climate and it’s small. I think I only had one year when it set more than two fruits, and even then it was only like four. That was really the only year I had one. I hang onto mine because people say how great it is, but… like seriously, it does not produce for me. I didn’t know any others were having issue in drier situations, so that’s good to hear.
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What zone and state are you in pls?
(I ask since I’m considering pastilierre.)
 
Inflorescence said:
Pastiliere barely fruits in my climate and it’s small. I think I only had one year when it set more than two fruits, and even then it was only like four. That was really the only year I had one. I hang onto mine because people say how great it is, but… like seriously, it does not produce for me. I didn’t know any others were having issue in drier situations, so that’s good to hear.
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Mine is an older tree, around 4-5 years but in poor soil in a big pot(20-25gal). It is the baud version. I have the RT in a smaller pot.

In my case, I am thinking to put it in ground or have to fix the soil but I dreaded doing either. Really not looking forward to dig a hole big enough for a 20 gal potted tree or barerooting it and fix the soil.
 
oat said:
I think it just doesn’t like your hot climate. Pastiliere is not a small fig. It’s more medium. I think it’s average 50 grams. Some can get larger. I think in the right clima
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That makes sense. Our weather gets hot early and quickly. 50g would be very nice. I need to think of a way to fix the soil and probably need another pruning. It is not uncommon to have to prune some of the trees yearly here.
 
grasshopper said:
Mine is an older tree, around 4-5 years but in poor soil in a big pot(20-25gal). It is the baud version. I have the RT in a smaller pot.

In my case, I am thinking to put it in ground or have to fix the soil but I dreaded doing either. Really not looking forward to dig a hole big enough for a 20 gal potted tree or barerooting it and fix the soil.
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It is a lot of work, that’s for sure. I don’t envy you with that 20 gal. one. I stopped sending bare rooted trees to people last year because of the work involved and that’s just with 3-7 gallon plants. I’ve contemplated just letting some of these root through the pot into the ground, but I think that would end up a headache too eventually.

My RT one is about 5 years old. I “fixed” it maybe 1.5 years ago with better potting mix and a larger pot, gave everything a trim, and still it didn’t really rebound and produce well.
 
Inflorescence said:
It is a lot of work, that’s for sure. I don’t envy you with that 20 gal. one. I stopped sending bare rooted trees to people last year because of the work involved and that’s just with 3-7 gallon plants. I’ve contemplated just letting some of these root through the pot into the ground, but I think that would end up a headache too eventually.

My RT one is about 5 years old. I “fixed” it maybe 1.5 years ago with better potting mix and a larger pot, gave everything a trim, and still it didn’t really rebound and produce well.
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Since this seems to be a watering problem, I can either switch it to a SIP or add additional emitters to keep the media moist.

Or I can graft it to something in ground. That way, I don't need to dig a hole for a 20 gal pot and do root pruning again. It is reasonably productive. I didn't think of it as watering issue but this makes sense.
 
grasshopper said:
Yeah, in terms of taste quality, not many can compare with the top tier varieties. Florea, when fully ripened, doesn't taste as bad as some describe it. I am glad to have a copy of it but probably not multiple ones. I guess it is a variety to have if you don't want to spend time doing headstart.

Also, I have a tendency to leave the fruits on the trees till they almost fall apart, which is probably why I have critter issue. :LOL: However, the taste of a fully ripened fig can be very different from one that is just ripe.
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I agree, I wouldn't call Florea bad. If it tastes bad, there is something wrong with it and/or with how you grow it. I had a few last summer, and they were quite enjoyable.

figs-507.jpg
 
Figgin' A said:
I agree, I wouldn't call Florea bad. If it tastes bad, there is something wrong with it and/or with how you grow it. I had a few last summer, and they were quite enjoyable.

figs-507.jpg
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That is a good looking Florea. I tend to have too many rich, heavy, sticky figs that having a simpler juicer refreshing ones can help cleanse the palate in between.
 
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