Mine fruited fine (only a couple of figs on a two year old tree), but ripened too late in the season to give much more evaluation. Didn't appear to require pollination.

Pitangadiego,

One thing to keep in mind is that there may very well be naturalized caprifigs somewhere fairly close to your property. I've read that they are fairly common along streambeds, etc., in Southern California.

I'm pretty sure that there are caprifigs around even in my Bay Area location.

There are *seedling* figs coming up in the neighborhood -- I've found them growing in a number of scattered locations throughout my garden.

The neighbors have a large fig tree that started as a seedling volunteer -- they complain that the figs that it produces are dry and inedible. That sure sounds a lot like a caprifig to me. (They keep the tree because they enjoy it as a specimen, and for its summer shade.)

I may be misinformed, but I *think* all of this could only be happening if there was caprification going on -- i.e., both the caprifig and the pollinating wasp are present in the vicinity, and so fertile seeds are being produced.

Anyway, this could explain why your "Marabout" has fruited. I know that as far as USDA/Wolfskill is concerned, "Marabout" is definitely a Smyrna-type fig (i.e., requiring pollination to set fruit).

So Parkwood --

depending on your location, you *might* be able to just plant this cultivar and expect fruit. Caprifigs and the wasps *may* be present in your vicinity. I'm pretty sure they are present in mine, so I just got some cuttings of "Marabout" to trial myself.

However, growers in the Midwest, East Coast, etc., would most likely be out of luck on this one.

I definitely have viable seed from my figs, but don't know of any caprifigs bear by.

Pitangadiego,

If you are getting viable seeds, I *think* that means that caprification has occurred. (I'm not an expert on this, so I hope that someone will correct me if I'm mistaken!)

I'm not sure how far the pollinating wasps can travel, but they might be able to fly to your trees from caprifigs out of immediate sight.

Parkwood,

Here's a link to an article on fig pollination. (I'm sure that it has been linked on this forum many times before.)

This piece mentions the naturalization of caprifigs in Southern California. (And, as I said, I think they're up here in Northern California as well -- or at least my corner of it.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Fig Pollination Article

I can't ever remember seeing a wild fig or "naturalized" fig in San Diego. I'm not say7ing that they don't exist, but it would still be rare. As I understand it, there are thousands growing wild in the Sacramento Delta region.

Wow, that was a fascinating article on fig pollination.
I didn't know it was that complicated.
Ashok, where do you live in northern California?
I live in San Mateo on the San Francisco peninsula (bay area)---do you know if there is naturalization of capri figs here? That article seemed to say how good eating smyrna figs are, so I'm wondering if anyone has eaten them fresh and what they thought?

Found this: My favorite fig, however, is one that I grow in my back yard -- Sultane de Marabout, a Smyrna-type fig introduced into the United States in the early 1900s from Algeria, it's a big, maroonish-green fig, with golden-amber flesh, intensely honeyed, with an exotic hint of muskmelon. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/23/FDGVGKJP161.DTL

1. The apparent increase in male caprifigs in wild (naturalized) populations (e.g. creeks and riverbeds in the Vista area of northern San Diego County) may be due (in part) to chance caprifig seed parents giving rise to more caprifig (GA/GA and GA/ga) zygotic combinations. To test this hypothesis, caprifig syconia (mammoni crop) from naturalized populations should be studied in order to determine their percentage of viable seeds. If the original naturalized figs were caprifigs (rather than female trees), and if they were the seed AND pollen parents, this would most certainly favor caprifig progeny (regardless of whether they were homozygous or heterozygous caprifig parents).

2. It might also be that some of the original or present-day caprifigs in the Vista area (northern San Diego County) are homozygous (GA/GA) and would always give rise to caprifig offspring.

3. Many of the closely-spaced caprifigs in Vista populations may have originated asexually from adventitious stems.

4. There may be selective survival factors limiting the female trees. (i.e. caprifigs may survive better in wild, naturalized locations).

5. Another plausible explanation has been suggested by Boris Igic of the UCSD Department of Biology. A study by Professor J.R. Kohn of UCSD has shown that inbreeding depression affects sex ratios (Nature 335: 431-433, 1988). Self-pollinated populations of hermaphroditic caprifigs may not suffer negative effects from inbreeding depression. They may actually survive and multiply faster than unisexual female trees. This hypothesis certainly deserves further research, particularly with respect to caprifig populations. http://waynesword.palomar.edu/pljun99b.htm

Parkwood,

I garden in Concord, in the inland East Bay region.

As to whether there are caprifigs/wasps in the San Mateo area -- I just don't know.

Caprifigs and the associated wasp seem to have been introduced into areas where figs are (or were) grown commercially. In this part of California, that would be the Central Valley.

Concord is (relatively) close to the Central Valley -- so perhaps the caprifigs and wasps have been slowly spreading outward to this area.

San Mateo is quite a bit farther away from the valley, and separated from it by the Diablo hills and the bay. So it seems less likely that you would have the plants and the pollinators around.

Unless Smyrna figs were grown commercially in the Santa Clara area -- perhaps then the caprifigs/wasps might have made their way up the peninsula.

I just don't know.

I am absolutely not an expert on this!

I recently had the opportunity to taste a number of figs, including the "Marabout" cultivar, at the USDA Germplasm Repository fig grove near Davis (the cuttings folks order from the USDA originate from this planting).

The "Marabout" variety tasted darn good -- but I don't recall thinking that it tasted markedly better than some of the other "common" figs that we sampled. Almost all of them tasted pretty good.

The thing is, *all* of the figs that we tasted there were caprified.

Dr. Ed Stover, who led the tour/tasting, said that when "common" figs are caprified (i.e., pollinated) they tend to become larger, sweeter, and more highly colored (relative to parthenocarpically produced fruit). They also develop the crunchy seeds that some find appealing.

So perhaps the key is that *caprified* fruit tastes superior, and maybe caprified "common" figs are comparable in quality to Smyrna-types (which *must* be caprified to exist at all).

But you know, I find it hard to get a good impression of fruit when I'm sampling many different types all at one time -- my palate starts to get burned out from all of the acid.

Maybe if I had the chance to sample Smyrna figs under better conditions (i.e., when my mouth is not starting to become numb) I might find them far better than "common" figs.

But at least on this particular occasion, people were *not* pointing out the "Marabout" and saying words to the effect of: "My God, that one is so much better than all of the others!" "Marabout" seemed to be enjoyed, but I did not notice any consensus that it towered above the other figs.

Pitangadiego,

There are a few caprifigs which supposedly have fruit worthy of human consumption, and the USDA does have some of these in the collection.

You obviously have a massive fig collection yourself, so perhaps you have already received one or more of these types -- possibly under some anonymous accession-number.

So you might have some pollen-producing trees in your own orchard.

Just a thought. Cheers!

Ahhh, life is so simple in the northern climes!.....Elder

Yeah, Elder, you can just forget about the outdoors for 6 months of the year, when it is all white. ;-)) We still enjoy mowing our lawns and irrigating at this time of year.

I guess I'll have to find out by just growing it and see if it fruits. Ashok and Pitandiego, let me know how yours does this year. You guys have better climates for growing figs than me especially Pitandiego (I'm envious!)
I have to deal with some fog here on the peninsula.

This summer, I thought I found a few seeds in the fruit of my white genoa fig. I don't really know what fig seeds look like but I remember eating one and thinking those look like little seeds (had never seen seeds in my figs before but have only grown mission and white genoa). This discussion seems to imply all types of figs can get pollinated but the smyrna types just require it to fruit?
We have an orchid society meeting this Friday and one of the members is also a fig expert from the California rare fruit growers. I'll ask him and see if he can shed more light on capri figs in our area. I think he lives in San Francisco which is closer to me...
Ashok, please tell me about the fruit tasting at Davis.
How did you get invited? My neighbor went to one around there and now seems interested in figs. She's a member of the rare fruit growers association, is that how you got in?
What was the best tasting fig/did they have the tasters rate them?

Parkwood,

I would guess that San Mateo is a decent location for growing figs, but certain figs that require lots of heat to mature properly (e.g. "Violette de Bourdeaux") might not do well in your climate.

But since at least some cultivars can ripen fruit even in icebox-like locations such as San Francisco, I'm sure that there are plenty of great figs that you can grow!

On fig pollination: yes, so far as I understand it, you have stated the case exactly correctly. All figs *can* be pollinated (caprified) but only Smyrna-type figs *require* pollination for the fruit to develop. (Well, non-breba San Pedro-type figs also require pollination to mature ... but now we're getting into somewhat esoteric territory.)

And, as I mentioned, Dr. Stover said that caprified common figs will probably taste better than non-caprified (i.e. parthenocarpically-produced) common figs.

The various fruit-tastings held at Wolfskill (USDA NCGR) are open to the general public -- but they are mostly publicized through the newsletters/mailing-lists of organizations like the CRFG. (I'm not sure of other groups that publicize the events, but they may be out there.) Most of the folks who show up are, I think, CRFG'ers. But I think that anyone who wants to come is welcome.

If you're interested in going, you might want to just write the Wolfskill staff next summer and ask to be advised of any upcoming tastings. I think that fig-tastings are generally held in the August time-frame.

We did not formally rank fruit at this tasting, but the staff does sometimes distribute score-cards and tabulate the preference-rankings of whatever fruit is under consideration.

As for what the "best tasting" fig was -- you know, how about I give you a link to a lengthy discussion on this very topic! I went with a friend to the Wolfskill tasting last summer, and a few weeks later we both went to exhaustively taste the fruits at a large fig-planting in the San Jose region. He wrote up some fairly extensive thoughts on these tastings, probably better than I ever could!

Here is a link that might be useful: Discussion on Fig Taste

ashok: Next tasting, you need to carry along some ginger, and cleanse your palate after each fig--as is done in eating sushi. :-)

Here my first Marabout (there were two) on my 2nd year tree. It was quite persistent, till late, late in the season, but was not able to ripen because of the late fruit set. So, if it requires caprification, I would have to assume that it got it from I do not know where.

It appears that UCDAVIS has three Marabouts:1.Marabout(Smyrna type),2.MaraboutC(Common Fig),1.Marabout/Gulbun(hybrid)It depends wich cultivar one have!!!!
----It does look Ucdavis has the same problem we do.Ha Ha

Herman2,

Really? Yikes, even more confusion! I do know that the "Marabout" I tasted was definitely a Smyrna-type.

Marylandmojo,

Very creative idea! Although I think that eating actual pieces of sushi might help more to clear the mouth of acidic juices -- the rice might absorb and remove them. (And, although I generally love it, I would definitely skip the wasabi in this case!)