Hi Bill,

I think I have an extra Ischia Black cutting from UCD that I rooted last year. However, I am in Princeton and the tree is in my fridge in Houston. If no one else has extras, I can bring it to NJ in a couple of months.

~james

James,thanks for your help. Bill.

I have Black Ischia, but it has been a difficult grower. It is possible that it is more affected by FMV than most varieties, affected in growth and fruit, over and above the normal discolored and misshapen leaves.

The fruit, however, is excellent.

I do Have one from UCDAVIS for three years and is only 15 inches tall with no branching.So it intrigues me thinking it must be good if it grows so slow.But i keep it because it did not fruit yet.If after fruitting it does not keep them,then i will decide what to do next.
I do protect it every winter by taking it inside my Garage so freezing is not Why is not growing.Hope this will help.

Thanks Jon and Herman . Jon mentioned the fruit is excellent,so I have to give it a try. Bill

My Black Ischia tree was used as fossil fuel this winter. It too, grew very little over the course of three years. It bore fruit but it wasn't anything special compared to similar figs like my Negronne, which, in my opinion, taste better.
Now I have another 5 gal. container to work with...

I do recall that the "Black Ischia" mother trees at the USDA fig grove (Wolfskill Experimental Orchard) were small and bushy, quite a bit smaller than most of the other fig trees. So the variety does seem to be a slow and relatively weakly growing one, whether because of increased virus susceptibility or its intrinsic nature. (So I can understand why the USDA staff may not want to cut wood this winter.)

"Black Ischia" is an excellent-tasting variety, though -- it tends very strongly to "jam like" flavor characteristics.

Hello,
Last 2005 fall, when I last visited Herman, he gave me what
was then an green in-ground ~8" Ischia Black spare specimen.
I dug it out and I must have done a very bad job doing so.
I did not get a SOLID clump, maybe some previous watering
would have helped. Anyway, I took it home, potted it in
a 6" pot in my GH and after a couple of days it showed it's
disapproval by dropping all it's leaves. I put a 2" dia. tin
can with dirt above the normal 'dirt line' to maybe improve
rooting. Since a while back ALL stayed status quo! A few
weeks ago I moved it to a (upper) hotter spot in my GH.
Lo and behold FINALLY, I now see the very tip and another side bud breaking.

This must be one tough fig cookie to get it established!

George (NJ).

Correction:
make that 2006 fall (not 2005)...

For the slower and less vigorous figs, why not try bud graft them on a vigorous rootstock like the hardy Chicago. I'm sure it will have better growth. I have different Alma in pots, that are barely growing, I might give that a try.

Bass