Re: Figs Next
Hello Reidy (dont know if that your given name or not please say if you want
to be addresed differently)
We have a Brown turkey fig purchased from Deacons in England. Not sure about
their naming reliablility but we have had no cause to question it. this all
leads to our Brown turkey fig which has large fruit - at least a couple of
inches across - starts green and then turns brown - yes it really does turn
brown - as it ripens and it fruits once a year, every year. I'm sure someone
else will have good info on what it might be, but I do not think it is Brown
Turkey.
regards Janet
Richard & Janet Blenkinship
Crete
Zone 10/11
janetble@otenet.gr
----- Original Message -----
From: riedy <rriedy@unm.edu>
To: <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 1999 2:33 AM
Subject: Figs Next
> Hope I don't wear out the mat asking questions, but you medit-plant people
> are so knowledgable, it whets my appetite to ask things I haven't been
> able to get answered out of books or people around here. This question is
> about a fig. I have a fig bush a little over 2 meters high and
> easily that wide that produces two crops every other year, one in late
> June/early July and again in late August/September. The off-year crop,
> like this year, comes in late August. The fruit is quite small-about
> thumb-size-and when ripe is purplish-brown and often has an azure bloom.
> The flesh is coral pink. What a flavor! Like fresh honey. The plant is
> a prolific bearer, and I freeze most of the crop to enjoy through winter.
> Does anyone know if this could be the so-called 'Turkey Brown,' which
> catalogs say is the most cold hardy fig? The woman I bought the place
> from said she remembered her father planting the fig the year the house
> was built in 1960. Since then the village has had sub-zero Fahrenheit
> (below -18C ) temperatures with an all-time low of -25F (-32C) in
> 1974. My first winter here (Dec. 1990) we had sub-zero F temps four nights
> in a row, the lowest hitting -10F (-24C) (knock on wood-we haven't seen
> that in nine years). But it had little effect on this fig, very
> little die back at the tips of some of the branches. So, is cold tolerance
> actually a trait of old figs? I do not touch this plant year around
> except to pick its fruit. I don't water it, fertilize it, spray it, cover
> it or anything. It's not in a protected location. Incidentally, my
> yearly average rainfall is 200mm (7/8"), but we have a very high water
> table, and I understand Ficus in general has
> roots that go to China. Very dry air--as I write this, humidity outside is
> 12%. Our average January nighttime temperature is 17F
> (-9C) and daytime temp 50F (10C); the average July daytime temperature is
> 92F (33C). So as an approximation you can see the fig gets a nice wide
> range of temps.
>
>
