Okay, look. Two minutes in and I found out more about figs than in years of growing them. I have successfully propagated them, have set fruit, but no harvest. Now I know why. Huge fan and so to be merch buyer. Thanks again for all the info. Priceless!
That's what's so nice about these varieties. They're so common, affordable and easy to get. I don't like recommending hard to find, "premium" figs because they're so difficult to get and so expensive, you'll never convince a new grower to start by growing those.
My wife did that with our black lab. She went out to pick figs and she would pick one off the tree and feed it to her. Now she goes out and eat all the figs that she can reach on the tree.
If you found this video helpful, please "Like" and share to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching 😊TIMESTAMPS for convenience: 0:00 Traits That Make Fig Varieties A Must-Have 2:53 Must Have Fig Variety #1: Ronde de Bordeaux Fig 4:30 Must Have Fig Variety #2: Olympian Fig 6:28 Must Have Fig Variety #3: Chicago Hardy Fig 7:38 Why These Are Must Have Figs Over Other Fig Trees 8:44 Direct Fig Variety Comparison 10:24 Fig Taste Test
MG, You read my mind! After watching your videos with your enormous variety of fig varieties, I wanted to ask you your opinion what would be your top victories. Many of us simply don’t have the space to grow more than a couple of trees so this video it’s greatly appreciate it. The rationale for your selection makes complete sense. Thank you as always.
Thank you! Just to be clear, these are not my *favorite* figs. Rather, these are figs that I recommend every grower try, because they are so versatile. If I were only allowed to keep one fig tree, it would not be one of these varieties. It would be, probably, either Col de Dame Blanc, White Madeira #1, or I-258. But, it would be irresponsible to recommend them because they require much longer growing seasons, I-258 does especially poorly in rains, etc. They will fail for many growers if they don't have the right conditions, and they're also expensive and harder to find. I recommend these figs because they're so easy to grow, so easy to find and do well in so many places. They're a great place to start!
@@TheMillennialGardener What do you like about I-258? My area (Toronto) only gets about 3 inches per rain in the summer, a fair bit less than Wilmington, but our summers are cooler. I heard of people growing it here though, the particular person I'm thinking of has it in ground, and wrapped in burlap, heated cables, home insulation and Tyvek to protect it from our Zone 6 winters.
Wow, I didn’t expect you to say that! I have my very first fig tree in a pot and after learning it’s tells it is thriving. It needs to be SOAKED once a day, and twice on hot days. If I skip a day the leaves droop, if I don’t get right on it the leaves drop. It loves water.
Hey I'm not sure if you'll see this but a good video idea might be ranking varieties based on certain criteria like flavor, productivity, size, etc. Another idea could be categorizing figs by Honey, Berry, etc. and then ranking them. As someone new to growing figs, I find organized rankings very straightforward and informative.
If anyone is looking into these varieties, consider Kesariani, which is a Hardy Chicago / Mt Etna type variety, rather than the regular HC. Kesariani is like HC in many ways, but it has a better flavor, which I'd rate as borderline spectacular, particularly if harvested when the fruit is just beginning to shrivel/dehydrate. Millennial Gardener is always hyping up Olympian, it was never on my radar but now I want to try this fig . Hopefully I get a chance soon
I received 2 different cuttings back in February of this year 2021. They were some unknown varieties. Took em anyway. Rooted them and they grew very well and gave fruit within the 8 months. Crazy. I’m pretty sure one of em is the “olympian” because the figs on that sucker is humongous. And taste exactly like a peach. Very delicious. The other I think is a “kadota”. Pretty good but not like the olympian. First time growing them and I’ll just say that they are better than I expected. My kids don’t give me a chance to eat em😂🤦🏽♂️👍🏼
Olympian is a variety of fig known as “English Brown Turkey” or EBT. There are several varieties that are similar to Olympian, and they are all classified as English Brown Turkey. Olympian is very common, but it is impossible to know for sure. As long as you like the fruit and it does well for you, that’s all that matters. I very much like my Olympian.
I totally agree with you. Having a successful crop lift spirit and excitement more than fancy ones that do not deliver as well. I am growing Negronne as my first cos it is tested to be ok in OR and the size of the tree. Our house cannot grow tall and big ones that will block neighborhood view. I also will grow Siletz next season as my first determinate. I have learned so much from you and thank you.
Negronne is actually the same fig as Violette de Bordeaux. They are synonymous, so that's actually what you're growing. My very early tree in this video is Ronde de Bordeaux, which is considerably earlier. If you find your season isn't long enough for VdB, RdB will be an excellent substitution. They both have a similar flavor. They are small, dark purple-almost black figs with a fairly intense berry flavor. I think you'll really enjoy Siletz. It's a great tomato and will do well in your climate.
@@marcellasmith8942 I think zone 6? Central NJ. Just pruned and wrapped my tree today for winter. We’re suppose to get a lot of snow this year with el Nina. Picked figs right up until last week. Crazy prolific this year. I hope following your pruning technique was why? Next year I’ll try fertilizing.
It struggles for me some, but then again it may just be my personal tastes. A lot of people love it, and it is one of the MOST adaptable figs, so it is a must-have to try for everyone in my opinion.
I have a Chicago Hardy and never seen a single fruit! Maybe it doesn’t like the spot - I’ll dig it up when it’s dormant and try it in a pot. That has worked for me when a fig is struggling, thanks to inspiration from The Millennial Gardener!
Thank you for field trial level videos! You and Enlightment Garden here in Pheonix 9B are my go to sources as I build out my fig collection. Have 1st year Black Mission, VDB, & Lebanon Red with Black Madiera cuttings in rooting mode. You've convinced me to add an Olympia. Keep on keeping on!
I have a 4 year old little ruby fig in the ground. Its growth has been amazing. It was about 18" (bare stick) when we planted it. Now its over 7ft tall and bushed out about 8-9ft round. We had an amazing crop from it this year. Its a berry type, so smaller fruit, but they were so sweet. If you get the chance to trial this one, I highly suggest it.
Figs are amazing trees. They can go from a dormant cutting to giving you ripe fruit in 7 months. What other fruit tree can do that? There aren’t many. There are so many great varieties out there.
I've found that the things that often "taste the best" don't grow well. The key to success is planting the best tasting things that enjoy your unique climate. I've spent 4 summers scouring seed companies and nurseries for things that do well here in my strange and unique climate, but the research is starting to pay off.
Thank you so much. I just now have discovered your channel. I live on what is called the Cumberland plateau in East tennessee. I am at an elevation of 2300 ft. I am considered zone 6 but of course in these areas of Tennessee between valley and mountain top you have different microclimates. My house and garage is shaped like a giant L with the inside of the L facing south. I have been growing Celeste for 20 years here quite large trees now with one winter 12 years ago going to five below zero killed the trees to the ground. Just last year I acquired two Chicago hardy trees and one olympia. They have not set fruit as of yet. The Chicago hardy has a couple of small ones now that will not ripen before my first Frost which is only in a couple of weeks. Do you sell cuttings? I would like to have a couple of the cuttings from you. Such great information and thank you for putting together a valuable video for me and other fig lovers.
My favorites are the white Royal and Kymi fig Trees. Kymi is a place on the Greek island of Evia and the figs are perfect to dry. The white royal is best to eat fresh, both together make the best combo to have both dry ad fresh figs. The dry figs especially are kept all year.
I just ordered my first figs yesterday, here in Zone 6 near Toronto, Canada. I ordered Osborne Prolific, Chicago Hardy, Olympian and Violette de Bordeaux. VdB will be cutting it close in our growing season, the others should be ok though from what I can tell. Keeping my eye out for RdB - the local retailers didn't have it or were out of stock. Also keeping an eye out for Improved Celeste, Florea, Nordland, White Triana and Brooklyn White. Our frost free season is relatively long, but days are cool by eastern North America standards (but still warmer summers than Bordeaux's), with average high of 82F and average low of 65F in July. Our summers are not too wet at 3 inches per month (compared to 4 to 8+ inches in most of eastern NA), we can get heavy summer downpours, but not much in the way of tropical storms, and light precipitation events are more common in summer here than in the south (which seems to have mostly just heavy downpours). In the next couple years we'll probably more to a smaller town, where the heat island and lake moderating effect is weaker, which will mean cooler nights and a shorter frost free season, so maybe I'll have to use a small unheated greenhouse for the VdB.
It's my first year growing figs and I have acquired both Olympian and Chicago Hardy. Ronde de Bordeaux is at the top of my wish list. Not sure if I will get it this year but I will next year for sure. Thanks for sharing.
Agreed! Figs in the Mediterranean hardly get Summer rains. They do tolerate extreme droughts. If it's too cold or too hot most fig varieties do not produce well.
By way of experimentation, I left out 3 potted figs last winter. I am in 7b, Pendleton, Oregon. Pendleton is a desert climate with winters down to 0 degrees F. Last winter we had a low of 10 deg. F (but the figs were covered with snow). Both the Laturella and Olympian, although a couple of weeks behind the ones I store in an unheated shed have all set bumper crops of figs. The Olympians are the best by far.
You will want to be careful leaving out potted figs in Zone 7. Under normal circumstances when they're planted in-ground, the ground itself keeps the root mass warm, so even if it gets down to 0 degrees F, the earth itself is probably in the 20's and warmer the deeper you go, which isn't really a challenge for fig roots. Once the roots start getting exposed to the teens, you can get yourself into trouble. If the roots freeze through in the mid-teens, it could kill the root mass. Your saving grace may have been the snow insulating the roots and keeping them in the 20's. If your low temps get into the teens or single digits for prolonged periods of time and you don't have snow surrounding the roots to insulate them, you could have your trees killed. Be careful. The "death zone" for fig roots is somewhere in the mid-teen's.
@@TheMillennialGardener So far, I have only one fig that I planted in the ground that actually produces figs, but they do produce lush foliage that I enjoy greatly. I have been experimenting with figs for about 8 years now, destructive testing you might call it, to find the limits. I have set up all of my potted figs in self-watering pots at least 10-gallon pots, and that might have something to do with my survival rates. I plan to make a temporary greenhouse for my outdoor potted figs this coming winter. So far I have wintered over outside in pots Petite Negri, Olympians, and Latturella (Italian honey fig). Latturella is the least hardy in my climate.
I live on the Texas Gulf coast and the only fig worth growing are the closed eyed figs, I like Celeste and LSU purple both are heavy producers in this area. several neighbbors feed off my celeste tree.
You use organza bags tooooo!!!! I thought I was so clever! LoL! I did mine to keep the squirrels off my figs! Yes, well that isn't working so we'll for me! Little buggers take fig and bag! Chew right thru them to get to the figs! But, thank you for the posting! Now I know which one I have! Chicago Hardy! It survived our freeze here in Houston this year! So good! My first year they didn't get very big and had only about 10! This year! This year I've got a bumper crop! Thank you for the posting!
I don't have an issue with squirrels at my location, luckily. I use organza bags for insect control, since that's my #1 pest by far. I don't really have a bird or squirrel problem, although they can be effective against birds. They won't be a challenge for a squirrel, though. You may need bird netting or something like that. There are tens of thousands of varieties of figs, so unfortunately, if you don't know the variety for certain, you can't assume. There are more than a dozen figs that closely resemble Chicago Hardy. Marseilles Black VS, and Sao Miguel Roxo, for example, are two figs that I have that are pretty similar. Thanks for watching!
Interesting. I'm in the South & I put my Chicago fig container in my south-facing car port where it gets partial sun & only gets rained on when it blows in from the side & I've been surprised at how well it's doing. (I didn't know figs don't like summer rain!) It's about 5 years old & I grew it from a leafless twig I had found on clearance for 50 cents at Home Depot. It hasn't been a good producer (3-5 figs/year), but the figs that made it were SO good. I didn't even know if I liked figs, so it surprised me & now I'm considering planting a fig hedge!
The fig will do very well if you keep it out of rain. As for your production problems, you're under-producing because it isn't getting enough sunshine and fertilizer. Figs want 8 hours of unfiltered, direct dun a day, minimum, and A LOT of fertilizer. I have a complete fertilizing procedure here: ru-vid.com/group/PL1gY7BoYBGIFNbJEUdApbh_E57uNBLG2j Your fig will do much better if you feed it more and drag it out into the sunshine. When it rains, you can pull it back under the carport. If that sounds like too much work, you can get a little plant dolly for around $15 so you can wheel the pot back and forth. Remember, the fig tree only needs to be kept out of rain while figs are ripening, so for 80% of the year you can leave it exposed. Pulling it back under during storms will help protect the fruit as it ripens.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thank you! I'm so new to this! I'm going to be doing some backyard landscaping, so I think I'm ready to put it in the ground, plus get some other varieties you've been talking about. 😁👍
Ronde de Bordeax (early ripening), Olympian (production, easy to find, early, and huge fruits)), and Chicago Hardy (early, tight eye/rain resistent, adaptability).
Great video! Was great to hear about the Olympian. I live near Olympia, WA! I'll be looking for it. I just got my first fig trees this year. I have Chicago Hardy and one other.
@@TheMillennialGardener I'm not sure, it was a gift. I planted it in 91 and last year it produced over a thousand figs. I'm taking some cuttings march 1st weather permitting would be happy to send you some
Fig preserves are the best tasting of any other preserve. Even better than strawberries. My Sicilian grand mother made cookies and pastries from figs that put Fig Newtons to shame.
Oh my. I should be able to grow figs well in Oregon. We don't rain all Summer long in the Willamette Valley. We are in zone 8b. We do get a little cold in Winter. Usually just one week or so of weather in the teens.
I would love cuttings of your figs. I live in the south. It gets wet a lot but I can regulate how much water it gets in pots! Large pots until it is big enough to go in the ground. I have a blank backyard and full sun. I grow my small green fig in my screen room because it is very young!
My Bordeaux had a quick early crop and now just starting to pick the main crop. Very sweet. It's loaded. I'm in NE Pa. and we've had it dry. I was starting to worry even though it looks happy. Very robust leaves.
Nice video I was using those 3 varieties as rootstock to graft because I ran out of trees to graft ,I'll will give a try to those after watching this video!
Cool I love figs. Being in Toronto Canada I think Chicago hardy would be best suited, we are at the same latitude, maybe even outdoors year round. However, I’ve grown figs indoors in the window facing south.
Finally someone that knows what is talking about.A person born in Sicily we got figs that where huge with taste.I have 8 plants of all different varieties from Sicily they do not mature all the time ,if you get early fall rain and cool temperature ,season over.A fig is an inverted flower and you are eating a sweet flower with seeds.
Yes, that's all true. I've found a way to make the figs ripen earlier is to put black weed barrier around the ground. It attracts a lot of additional heat, and it helps them ripen more quickly.
I tuned in from Greece, and quickly realized this doesn’t concern me at all. But still was amazed of all the facts i didn’t know. We literally have wild fig trees growing all over so I never really put much thought to it. Nice video though
Parts of Greece colonize the wasp. Plus, you have the perfect climate since figs are native to your region. Figs are alien to mine, and our precipitation pattern is opposite yours, so figs really struggle. The best figs I can ripen in my climate on the best days of summer are nothing compared to yours!
You inspire me to do more fig growing. I took your advice and pruned my brown turkey to about knee high in February and it hasn't produced as many figlings this year. I fertilize and mulch but bummed my figs arent plump like yours...and im in zone 8b!
Where are you located? We had a very bad winter this year between the record cold throughout Texas and the southern plains, and the record late frosts in the Southeast. Things have been slow this season, and the tree may need more fertilizer to grow more quickly.
@@TheMillennialGardener im in myrtle beach. Our late frost on April 1st wasnt as bad as you had gotten. I covered the fig that night and had no burning of the leaves
good video. everyone always just recommends chicago hardy for a cold hardy fig but from what I can tell so far oylmpian is better in that regard (I got both a while back, still no figs tho)
@@TheMillennialGardener I ordered a small Olympian fig plant last night and am so happy to add it to my LSU Purple I just got the other day. I guess my next big decision is do I plant them in ground or in big pots. I am thinking big pots and see how they do in the location that gets the most sun here in my front yard. Tough decisions! 😊
Just found your blog! I live in Davie Co. NC. City of Mocksville in zone 7b while I believe Wilmington is 8 maybe. I hope I can get really helpful gardening tips from you, especially with fig trees I'm so eager to learn. I love figs but can grow anything & everything other than figs. Even Meyer lemons thrive for me but not the figs which are my absolute favorites!! Just subscribed to your channel. 🧅🍋
hi, great video. Couple questions; Do those fig trees produce only on new growth, new and old growth, or only on one-year-old old growth branches? Different types grow differently. I ask because in my zone, the fig tree branches will freeze to the ground every winter. I'm looking for fig trees that produce only on new growth branches. If only on old growth, the tree will never produce anything for me. And if both new and old growth, I will only get half of what the tree is capable of producing, and its said the first crop on new growth is never as good as the 2nd crop on older growth branches. Finally if it produces only on new growth, those are the varieties I'm looking for. As a final requirement, some fig trees will produce a far superior crop in taste and size etc if pollinated by a special wasp that only lives in warmer climates. There is no hope of the pollinator wasp living up here where it will be below freezing 5 months of the year. Thank you.
Great video....about the taste of Olympian figs, my wife and I just tasted one, and none of us think it has that peach flavor...far from it. It is more like caramel / brown sugar with a hint of melon flavor with the skin, kind of like Celeste or brown turkey. It is a good fig, no doubt.
I think you may have picked it too early. If you taste hints of melon flavor, that's a classic indicator that the fig is underripe. When Olympian ripens, it loses that "melon tone" and tastes more strongly of peaches. Olympian is a fig that will drip honey from the eye when ripe, so let it get really soft if you can.
@@TheMillennialGardener We have tasted various ripened Olympian figs for three years...the very soft ones taste like Celeste, jammy and caramel like, which a few of these are all we can take at one sitting. Soft with a little melon taste with the skin provides the best overall flavor for us. Did I mention that we are from the peach capital of the world? Heck, we know what peaches taste like...
Like always great video. I have a question whenever you have the time. I've acquired 20 plus varieties of figs and I figured that I won't be able to plant all of them in ground, what would be the next step to follow up a 5 gallon bucket? Thanks in advance.
The next step after a 5 gallon bucket is a #15 container, in my opinion. I strongly recommend these containers: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LuBHbBmh3hU.html All of my black containers are these, and they will be the permanent home for my container-grown figs. These containers are absolutely outstanding for figs.
I'm not far from you..just on the other side of Raleigh NC. I need to come buy 2 of your fig trees. Tip: if you make fig jam..or fig preserves add strawberry jello..and make strawberry fig jam. OMG delish!! I promise
I've been wanting to make fig jam for 3 years! I just don't have the production for it yet. I'm going to need something like 5 lbs of figs at a time to make it worth my while to bust out all the canning equipment. It's definitely a goal of mine, though!
I have 2 of the 3. No Chicago Hardy here. For some reason my RdB was really late setting main crop figs this year. It was a rock star last year but just slow going this year for some reason.
That's unusual for RdB to set late. I'd recommend a higher phosphorous fertilizer earlier in the season to coax it into fruiting. The good news is it ripens so quickly that you should still get figs.
@@TheMillennialGardener It may be the extreme heat wave we had in June. Other people in the area are reporting similar with their RdB. Everything else is doing well.
That’s fine. I’m not saying don’t collect figs. I mean, look at my collection. I’m a fig nut. My point is that your foundational figs should be figs like these, because if you have a bad season, the higher end figs tend to be destroyed. You need figs like these in your collection so you have a fig season in rough years. If all you collect are rare figs, you’ll have some bad seasons with awful production unless you live in a Mediterranean climate. And “rare” figs only start out as rare. “Rare” today is common in 4 years 😂
I do live in a Mediterranean climate and also if you do you’re research you can time the market picking varieties that are expensive but aren’t to popular so by the time you get to selling rooted cuttings of you’re own, the prices haven’t went down hopefully. If you have got really good foresight you can predict the market and buy varieties that will actually get more valuable over time
I live on the west coast. We have drought that virtually NEVER ENDS!!! But I get excellent figs. I have 2 Little Miss figgy trees, some propagated figs from my great grandparents tree, Olympian, celest, purple lsu, O'Rourke, col De dame noir, and the martinenca Rimada.
@@TheMillennialGardener 🤣🤣🤣 we have earthquakes, vicious wildfires, and sometimes mudslides when or if we get enough rain. We're due for a tsunami and a massive earthquake too. We also have 20 something odd volcanos and something called volcano fields. It's awesome! I love my home so it's cool. 🤣
Don’t know where you are but here in LA we can go for months in the Summer without rain. We were without rain so long my Concord grapes drew moisture from the fruit. All I see here is Brown Turkey figs which I don’t like. I have a viola Bordeaux coming. Would like something with a strawberry or cherry flavor.
Before I saw this video I had ordered a 'Chicago Hardy' fig tree just based on it's cold hardiness. And I'm glad to hear it's also rain hardy. Glad to hear from you in this video that I ordered a halfway decent fig tree 🙂.
Nice presentation! I have one open spot left in my yard where I want to plant a fig tree, but I didn’t know what kind. Since I live in Olympia WA, it’s pretty obvious now! An Olympian fig tree! Thanks!
Thank you. I've never had Stella, VBT or Texas Everbearing. I've been trying to grow LdA for 2 years now. I've tried 2 sets of cuttings - all failed. I've tried 2 plants. The first died last year, and the second is currently in the process of dying. It is the *only* fig that won't take for me, which has me so confused. I want to try it, but I can't seem to get LdA to grow for me.
thank you so much for all these great videos. I'm a master gardener that came from Reno to the south.....never seen rain like we have in Central Georgia. Any suggestions on southern varieties that can deal with rain amd significant summer heat/humidity?
I watch all your videos and I learned a lot,I have 4 varieties Petite Negra, Black Jack,Dark Portuguese,and an Italian fig that I don’t know it’s name but has a large and sweet fig this morning I picked the first fig of the season I wanted to wait one more day but was so big it start to split, for curiosity i weight it it was 179 grams, a large fig!!
@@TheMillennialGardener MG , my name is Nick Marchesani ,I live in Long Island,do you have an email address I would like to send you some fig pictures,thanks Nick
The best tasting fig is the one that you ripen the best. 2 of my 3 varieties taste great but the 3rd hasnt fully developed its fruit yet so maybe it needs to be more mature or i need to do better.
Not as much as I used to back in the old days. I'm not young enough to recover like I could a decade ago and when I didn't have so many life responsibilities 😄
