Author Topic: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Madeira Figs in Florida? - Or any fig  (Read 9344 times)

chad6159

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Just doing some research on figs so when the time comes I pick a good variety. I keep seeing that the Figo Preto and the Black Maderia are the best two figs. But I have also seen where they supposedly do not like really humid climates. So I am wondering what kind of figs you grow (and what is your favorite) in South or South West Florida and does anyone have a Figo Preto or a Black Maderia.
« Last Edit: October 01, 2018, 11:23:55 AM by chad6159 »

NissanVersa

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida?
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2018, 07:41:48 PM »
There are many people growing those figs in the humid gulf coast that I know about.  Also those to figs may be synonyms for the same variety. If anything they are very similar, and there are so many other incredible figs out there.

chad6159

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida?
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2018, 07:59:36 PM »
Thanks! Well idk if Ill even get one. I can only seem to find cuttings. There are some on ebay, but if they are not reputable they can just say it is whatever and sell it.

What other varieties do you know of that are good? I am pretty new to figs and have only really tried ones from Publix (brown turkey and black mission) haha.

cmichael258

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida?
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2018, 08:28:43 PM »
I am growing Black Madeira in St. Pete area and as you can see from the photo, it doesn't mind
the heat or humidity.

If you are buying on ebay, beware as there are many scammers as well as sellers who don't really know
what they're selling because they sell them before they fruit and can't verify it's the "real thing".

Your best bet is to join the Ourfigs.com forum. Great group of knowledgeable growers who can steer you
in the right direction.
https://www.ourfigs.com/


Michael

chad6159

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida?
« Reply #4 on: September 26, 2018, 09:39:55 PM »
I am growing Black Madeira in St. Pete area and as you can see from the photo, it doesn't mind
the heat or humidity.

If you are buying on ebay, beware as there are many scammers as well as sellers who don't really know
what they're selling because they sell them before they fruit and can't verify it's the "real thing".

Your best bet is to join the Ourfigs.com forum. Great group of knowledgeable growers who can steer you
in the right direction.
https://www.ourfigs.com/



How do you like your black Madeira? I would assume it has to taste better than black mission or turkey figs.

achetadomestica

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida?
« Reply #5 on: September 26, 2018, 10:39:35 PM »
I regret trying to grow figs here in humid Florida.

The figs get ripe July though September in the height of our rainy season.
The figs taste washed out and are not 100%
Two years ago I started a LSU gold fig in the Spring and it had a late crop at the
 end of November. The figs had honey dripping out of their eyes and were the best sweetest
figs I have ever eaten.  I currently have 5 figs of which 4 are LSU types which were
made for the South. I have ripe LSU purple right now and you are welcome to come over and
sample them. Pm for directions I live less then an hour away.
If I was you I would be planting stuff that doesn't like frost like Achacha or other Garcinias.
I have been eating Lisa atemoyas all week, I wish I had your weather and my 2 1/2 acres?
Have you ever eaten Annonas? The hell with washed out figs
But if you are not convinced I will hook you up with some fig cuttings

cmichael258

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida?
« Reply #6 on: September 27, 2018, 12:05:28 AM »
I am growing Black Madeira in St. Pete area and as you can see from the photo, it doesn't mind
the heat or humidity.

If you are buying on ebay, beware as there are many scammers as well as sellers who don't really know
what they're selling because they sell them before they fruit and can't verify it's the "real thing".

Your best bet is to join the Ourfigs.com forum. Great group of knowledgeable growers who can steer you
in the right direction.
https://www.ourfigs.com/



How do you like your black Madeira? I would assume it has to taste better than black mission or turkey figs.

My BM had only one fig last year and I picked it a little too early. Even then, it was better than Brown Turkey and Celeste.
It had a major growth spurt this year and is holding about fifteen. I will be patient this time and hope that we don't get too much rain.
Michael

chad6159

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida?
« Reply #7 on: September 27, 2018, 08:02:36 AM »
achetadomestica,

I do love sugar apples, the wife however does not. From what I have seen they do not give you much fruit for the size of the tree either.
LSU Purple I have heard does not produce good tasting figs for the first few years(and could take up to 7 from what I have heard).
I have never tried, let alone heard of Achacha or Garcinias, Ill have to research them.

cmichael258,
I have heard BM and Figo Preto are slow growing figs, but they are the best you can get, so to me its worth it. My biggest worry is like others have said, because of all the rain we get they will be washed out. Good luck on being patient, I know its hard especially when its the first fruit from the tree!

Luisport

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida?
« Reply #8 on: September 27, 2018, 09:44:05 AM »
achetadomestica,

I do love sugar apples, the wife however does not. From what I have seen they do not give you much fruit for the size of the tree either.
LSU Purple I have heard does not produce good tasting figs for the first few years(and could take up to 7 from what I have heard).
I have never tried, let alone heard of Achacha or Garcinias, Ill have to research them.

cmichael258,
I have heard BM and Figo Preto are slow growing figs, but they are the best you can get, so to me its worth it. My biggest worry is like others have said, because of all the rain we get they will be washed out. Good luck on being patient, I know its hard especially when its the first fruit from the tree!
Hi! Yes i can tell you portuguese fig varieties are really good! My pingo de mel figs are big and so great... besides the honey sweetness the grains are so tiny that hardly are felt. Black figs are really good too. They are used mostly to dry and used like that or  with almods and nuts, make paste, etc! I live on a production area of figs and olives...  ;D

simon_grow

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida?
« Reply #9 on: September 27, 2018, 09:56:13 AM »
For those of you that may not be aware, if you are trying to grow Black Madiera, it is recommended that you graft it onto Brown Turkey for better growth and higher productivity.

Simon

chad6159

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida?
« Reply #10 on: September 27, 2018, 10:23:08 AM »
For those of you that may not be aware, if you are trying to grow Black Madiera, it is recommended that you graft it onto Brown Turkey for better growth and higher productivity.

Simon

Thanks for that little bit of information! I cant seem to find BM for sale anywhere. Besides cuttings on ebay, that I don't trust.

simon_grow

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida? - Or any fig
« Reply #11 on: September 27, 2018, 10:58:52 AM »
Try posting on this forums buy/sell and if you still can’t find it, try the Fig forum. I’m not growing it myself but a good friend told me about the slow growth of BM on its own roots.

Simon

achetadomestica

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida? - Or any fig
« Reply #12 on: September 27, 2018, 11:10:06 AM »
Chad there are reputable sellers on Ebay along with the scammers.
Several of the people who sell on Ebay also are members of the fig forum and
tell you as a reference.  Be patient everything I want does come around,
what's the difference if you get it now or in the Spring? I guess it's part of this
hobby wanting something new, NOW!
My LSU purple I have had for 6-7 years and it's just that the figs ripen at the
worst time here. I ate those LSU golds in the end of November and then I ate
them this year in July and it's like night and day. I give the LSU purple figs to
a neighbor and she loves them. I tried this late Spring to cut the LSU purple way back
hoping it would have the figs in November but they are ripening now. I checked my celeste
and it is getting small figs now which will ripen this winter and they are very good figs.
The LSU Black is suppose to be a late fig but they are also ripening now and they are OK

I did meet someone and he keeps his figs in pots under a overhang and they don't get
hit with much direct rain and he said this helps? Mine are in the yard.

Jct

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida? - Or any fig
« Reply #13 on: September 27, 2018, 01:32:43 PM »
Figs do well in a pot, I have a couple in the ground, one took about 3 years to fruit heavily while the other hasn't done anything.  I rooted a couple of varieties this winter and one is producing figs already!  Pretty excited about it, but I did prune away most of the figlets, but am keeping 3 on one branch. THe pots constrain root growth, so energy is pushed into reproduction instead of growth. Like achetadomestica mentioned, you may have better luck keeping them in pots.  IN addition, you can more easily control their size, which is my plan.  My available yard space is pretty much full, so anything new has to be in pots. You can cover the top of the pot when rain threatens to control how much water they receive.  For my inground figs, they get drip irrigation 3x week and while I provide supplemental water to all my other trees and veggies, the fig gets nothing.

Best of luck!
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chad6159

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida? - Or any fig
« Reply #14 on: September 27, 2018, 02:15:11 PM »
Thank you guys for the wealth of information. Ill have to post here and on the fig forum mentioned and see what I can come up with. Shoot I think brown turkey figs are great, but knowing better things are out there, why settle for something you can get in a store if you can help it. Just how I look at it I guess.

kc_moses

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida? - Or any fig
« Reply #15 on: September 28, 2018, 09:13:50 AM »
From what I read, you want to get the Black Madeira KK figs. There are 3 variety of Black Madeira, the KK version ripe later (after September) so it should work well past our rainy season in Florida. I too is on the mission to find this figs. I don't mind getting cutting since I have experience rooting MBVS figs before. There is currently one seller in ebay who sell the BM KK fig cutting but the price is getting high. I'm going to wait and see if there would be people selling in ebay. Throughout the fig forum, some one call "PA Figs" and "HarveyC" are reputable ebay fig seller, but I couldn't find their listing at the moment.

Locally I can only find LSU Gold and LSU Purple. I'm growing MBVS and VDB, they are 1.5 years old, very productive but the flavor hasn't impress me yet.

chad6159

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida? - Or any fig
« Reply #16 on: September 28, 2018, 11:06:37 AM »
From what I read, you want to get the Black Madeira KK figs. There are 3 variety of Black Madeira, the KK version ripe later (after September) so it should work well past our rainy season in Florida. I too is on the mission to find this figs. I don't mind getting cutting since I have experience rooting MBVS figs before. There is currently one seller in ebay who sell the BM KK fig cutting but the price is getting high. I'm going to wait and see if there would be people selling in ebay. Throughout the fig forum, some one call "PA Figs" and "HarveyC" are reputable ebay fig seller, but I couldn't find their listing at the moment.

Locally I can only find LSU Gold and LSU Purple. I'm growing MBVS and VDB, they are 1.5 years old, very productive but the flavor hasn't impress me yet.

Yeah, I too have heard that the BM KK is the best variety of BM. Locally I can only get brown turkey, black mission LSU gold and LSU pruple.

CA Hockey

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida? - Or any fig
« Reply #17 on: September 29, 2018, 01:17:48 AM »
Look on figbid.com. For the most part it’s run by ourfigs.com members. Cutting season is coming up and you should be able to find some cuttings.

You can also post on the buy sell trade section of ourfigs.com - that’s how I started with my collection.

Good luck.

My first LSU purple will be ripe any day now. Looking forward to it

chad6159

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida? - Or any fig
« Reply #18 on: September 29, 2018, 09:15:33 AM »
Look on figbid.com. For the most part it’s run by ourfigs.com members. Cutting season is coming up and you should be able to find some cuttings.

You can also post on the buy sell trade section of ourfigs.com - that’s how I started with my collection.

Good luck.

My first LSU purple will be ripe any day now. Looking forward to it

Let me know how they are, I’m looking into getting a couple fig trees.

carcarlo

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida? - Or any fig
« Reply #19 on: September 30, 2018, 12:33:44 PM »
Hi There I'm currently growing Black Madeira and Galicia Negra, the B.Mad. are growing very well and producing extremely good, no problems here with Rain, matter of fact when they go dry for a couple of days, they look droopy, in my opinion they need lots of Water, almost daily they have lots of small roots, mines are in 15 & 25 Gal containers,
First I have to clear something, K.K. stands for Keith Karauski, who sells on eBay and makes a killing selling Black Madeira Cuttings, I have bought from him before, and he has a good reputation, throughout the Fig Forums.
Keith's B.M. as far as he says are from Encanto Farms, and so are my B. Madeira plants, I also have Black Madeira Plants that I acquired from  U.C. Davies National Germplasm Repository, and hopefully someday I will be able to conduct some DNA testing to compare the U.S.strain  & the Portugal's Madeira Island  strain of Black Madeiras.
Some of the sellers on eBay are from Portugal and the Portuguese Island of Madeira where the Figo Preto grows extremely well. On eBay  they will sell you what they call  Figo Preto, (Black Fig) cuttings, and some of the sellers that I have spoken to called them Black Madeira Figs, because we here in the states like the name B. Mad. so much.
WORDS TO YOUR BRAIN! IF YOU BUY FIGO PRETO/BLACK MADEIRA CUTTINGS ON eBAY FROM PORTUGAL KEEP IN MIND THE U.S.D.A. MONITORS eBAY AND THEY ARE STATIONED IN ORLANDO FL., AND IF THEY FIND OUT THEY WILL COME TO SEE YOU, AND CONFISCATE YOUR PLANTS.
Here are some pics. of my Black Madeira & Galicia Negras plants just two days ago, the plant that's full of Figs is a Black Madeira,fixing to go dormant this Month.
I will have some cuttings on Sale soon after it goes dormant.
Carlos








Tropicalnut

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida? - Or any fig
« Reply #20 on: September 30, 2018, 04:00:40 PM »
I have a mission fig in a 30 gal pot that is not producing any fruit. It looks nice and healthy but its just full of leaves. Its been there about 2 years and have only gotten one little fig so far. What am I doing wrong? I live in Phoenix AZ. so I put it under partial shade. Any suggestions are welcome. :)

achetadomestica

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida? - Or any fig
« Reply #21 on: September 30, 2018, 05:04:03 PM »
I have a mission fig in a 30 gal pot that is not producing any fruit. It looks nice and healthy but its just full of leaves. Its been there about 2 years and have only gotten one little fig so far. What am I doing wrong? I live in Phoenix AZ. so I put it under partial shade. Any suggestions are welcome. :)


Prune heavy when it goes dormant for the Winter. When the figs resumes growth in the Spring the figs
will be on the new growth, If your season is long enough you may get 2 crops of figs. The figs will always grow
on brown branches not the old white 2+ year old branches.

kc_moses

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida? - Or any fig
« Reply #22 on: October 01, 2018, 10:45:16 AM »
Hi There I'm currently growing Black Madeira and Galicia Negra, the B.Mad. are growing very well and producing extremely good, no problems here with Rain, matter of fact when they go dry for a couple of days, they look droopy, in my opinion they need lots of Water, almost daily they have lots of small roots, mines are in 15 & 25 Gal containers,
First I have to clear something, K.K. stands for Keith Karauski, who sells on eBay and makes a killing selling Black Madeira Cuttings, I have bought from him before, and he has a good reputation, throughout the Fig Forums.
Keith's B.M. as far as he says are from Encanto Farms, and so are my B. Madeira plants, I also have Black Madeira Plants that I acquired from  U.C. Davies National Germplasm Repository, and hopefully someday I will be able to conduct some DNA testing to compare the U.S.strain  & the Portugal's Madeira Island  strain of Black Madeiras.
Some of the sellers on eBay are from Portugal and the Portuguese Island of Madeira where the Figo Preto grows extremely well. On eBay  they will sell you what they call  Figo Preto, (Black Fig) cuttings, and some of the sellers that I have spoken to called them Black Madeira Figs, because we here in the states like the name B. Mad. so much.
WORDS TO YOUR BRAIN! IF YOU BUY FIGO PRETO/BLACK MADEIRA CUTTINGS ON eBAY FROM PORTUGAL KEEP IN MIND THE U.S.D.A. MONITORS eBAY AND THEY ARE STATIONED IN ORLANDO FL., AND IF THEY FIND OUT THEY WILL COME TO SEE YOU, AND CONFISCATE YOUR PLANTS.
Here are some pics. of my Black Madeira & Galicia Negras plants just two days ago, the plant that's full of Figs is a Black Madeira,fixing to go dormant this Month.
I will have some cuttings on Sale soon after it goes dormant.
Carlos








Carlos, is your BM bought from KK or UCD version?I know the KK is the one that Keith obtained  from Jon at Encanto Farms Nursery. The KK one is also known to root very well from cutting. Please PM me when you have them on sales. I'm only interested at the KK version.

Also, I read that the UCD version can easily have FMV problem. (https://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-home/248315-black-madeira-kk-and-black-madeira-ucd).

Jct

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Maderia Figs in Florida? - Or any fig
« Reply #23 on: October 01, 2018, 02:25:09 PM »
I have a mission fig in a 30 gal pot that is not producing any fruit. It looks nice and healthy but its just full of leaves. Its been there about 2 years and have only gotten one little fig so far. What am I doing wrong? I live in Phoenix AZ. so I put it under partial shade. Any suggestions are welcome. :)
It's been using this time to fill the pot with roots - one reason to not up-pot in giant steps, but to take incremental steps instead.  In ground fig trees usually take longer to fruit than potted figs as they take the time to grow before fruiting.  Starting to fill the pot causes stress which induces fruiting.  Keep up what you are doing and it will eventually fruit.
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Tropicalnut

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Madeira Figs in Florida? - Or any fig
« Reply #24 on: October 01, 2018, 05:54:45 PM »
Thanks to both of you for the information. I will be patient and prune accordingly. :)

chad6159

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Re: Anyone growing Figo Preto or Black Madeira Figs in Florida? - Or any fig
« Reply #25 on: October 02, 2018, 10:36:21 AM »
Well guys I was ridiculously lucky and was able to find an air layered Black Madeira KK!! It was JUST shipped, hopefully we don't have any issues while shipping.

I will keep it in the shade for a bit. But I would eventually like to put it in the ground. Have any of you guys put them in the ground before? I am thinking of waiting for it to grow more or wait until it is dormant to do so. What do you guys think would be better?

Also if any of you guys have recommendations on potting soil let me know, I usually do not pot plants or trees.

Thank you to everyone that has given advise so far!

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I thought the Black Madera JFE was best for Florida. No?

pvaldes

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> I keep seeing that the Figo Preto and the Black Maderia are the best two figs

This is debatable and subject to cultural practices, bird nets and the presence or not of fig wasp in your area. If you have the fig wasp the fruits will be enriched with seeds that provide a nutty and crunchy flavour. Those figs are in a group named smyrna figs and are the best by a mile, but if the wasp is not in the area, smyrna figs drop before maturation and are useless. In this case common figs can perform much better.

Figo Preto means "black fig" and is used often to name "any black fig". Notice that Black Madeira and Figo Preto can be exactly the same variety under two names.

So I would pick one green/yellow and one black fig first, instead two similar black figs that can be easily the same. There are several very good green figs around and can perform sligthly better if you have a lot of birds (but this guys learn fast).

You could want also a bifere fig providing early figs (to have a longer season starting in July, August). Early figs are bigger and less sweet, but are still useful

> I have also seen where they supposedly do not like really humid climates

Just provide a perfect drainage or culture figs in a hig bed or a big pot. Roots dislike being stagnated. As long as this is fixed, fig trees trive perfectly in humid climates. After all, is a genus typical from rainforests. In Europe the real problem is frost (I bet that cold is not a problem in Florida).

If there is a lot of rain, the fruit can spoil. If is the sase choose figs varieties "closed" with a small "eye". Some figs are selected to be dried and being less juicy could perform better also.

Galicia negra is a common old variety accidentally rebranded and sold in USA as a new cultivar.
« Last Edit: May 07, 2019, 06:52:32 AM by pvaldes »

Tropheus76

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I don't know where Cape Coral is for the OP but in Central FL you pretty much have to grow them in containers with no way to reach the soil or experimentally using the bottomless 5 gallon bucket method. I have one done that way that seems to be doing well and am thinking about something else.

Currently growing BM, Violette Bordeaux, Tiger Panache in pots and trying to root some various Maltese varieties, unsuccessfully so far. My Kadota is the in ground and seems to be doing well so far. I also have a bunch of smaller potted guys I picked up from WellSpring. Its a nursery down in Lakeland but they sell mostly on ebay. good prices, good quality. Decent selection. Ourfigs is a good place to go to, they run figbids which is a fig specific auction site. I think they are quite pricy for mostly cuttings and prefer live plants when I can.

carcarlo

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Hey Guys I currently growing Galicia Negra, not a great producer like B.M but to me is a better Fig than Blk. Madeira any given Day, The G. Negra are easier to root that the NEAR IMPOSSIBLE to root Blk.Mad. here are some of my Galicia Negra  producing in old wood and on green wood at the moment. My Figs are growing in containers I have no problem with rain, the only problem is they will root into the ground, unless you keep moving the container around.
Carlos








chad6159

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A little update. I currently have brown turkey, green ischia, figo preto and black maderia.

My brown turkey is in the ground as well as my green ischia. Both are doing great and are COVERED in figs.
My black madeira is still in a pot and is also covered in figs, has a fig for every leaf(a lot have 2 per leaf), plus some breba figs from last years growth. I have picked half of them off so the tree will still grow this year.

My idea with the brown turkey is to wait and see how BM does for me in my climate and then hopefully graft it onto the brown turkey. There is documentation showing this will make your BM grow faster (a known slow grower) and also produce more.

For the brown turkey I did the bottomless 5 gallon pot "trick" and the green ischia I just put straight in the ground. Both are doing great, besides the common rust issue that we get here in florida with the humidity, but it doesnt seem to really make much of a difference. I heavily mulch both and use ground up crab shells which is supposed to bring in the good nematodes to get rid of the root knot nematodes.
I have seen a bunch of people swear you cannot grow fig trees in florida in ground. But then I saw a bunch of proof that you can with not much of an issue from the nematodes or the figs themselves splitting open (if you choose the right cultivars). The nematodes only live in the first 12 or so inches of the soil so as long as they have roots further down than that the plant will be fine and the above roots that are getting attacked by nematodes do not show an ill effects on the fig tree.

Side note:
When I pruned my fig tree I made 10 cuttings, stuck them outside in pots of kellogs organic potting mix and now I have 10 brown turkey figs that I am going to experiment with. Currently I bud grafted BM onto one and figo preto onto another.
Couldnt believe how easy it was to start brown turkey cuttings.

Tropheus76

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Hey Carcarlo, just to point out the obvious here, why not put you pots on pieces of slate or rocks? I keep mine on leftover solid chunks of granite from counter tops to keep the roots from going down

chad6159

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Hey Carcarlo, just to point out the obvious here, why not put you pots on pieces of slate or rocks? I keep mine on leftover solid chunks of granite from counter tops to keep the roots from going down

Or why not just put them in the ground? If the reason for keeping them in pots is because of nematodes. Well keeping a pot on the ground is inviting nematodes in. If they get in a potted plant I have seen where the fig tree will die. Since there are no roots that they cant get to.

So if you are going to keep it on a pot it needs to be up off the ground like on a concrete slab or something.
« Last Edit: May 08, 2019, 01:48:07 PM by chad6159 »