It splits and has a mild watery flavor. I no longer have it.

bonsaist....

That doesn't sound too good, especially coming from an experienced grower. Splits, and a mild, watery flavor....

Ummm...sounds more like a dud, than a stud.

Still like to hear from others who have tried this variety.

BronxFigs

If you have the room, why don't you just grow it for a while and see for yourself how it does/tastes? It will be a learning experience for you. Put it in a warm, sunny place to give it more sun and heat to grow?

I didn't try it here because Lafayette is so very hot and humid and I've heard it splits and sours.

Just some thoughts,

noss

noss...

I will try it in The Bronx, NYC. I have no other choice. I sent for a rooted, whip last season, and it arrived too late for any figs to form, but this year I might get a few figs. It's already starting to show some green, and the buds are starting to swell. I have the small 4 foot treelet in a 5 gallon container, which will give me some good growth this season. I'll try it out for this year, and maybe next year, if it has some potential.

I think the splitting and souring problem can be partially solved by controlling how much water gets to the roots as the figs start to ripen. This is easy to do if the trees are in a container.

So, I'll give it a shot, and hope for the best. The treelet was too expensive to just toss it. By the end of this season, I will have a much better idea just what "Texas Blue Giant" is all about.

BronxFigs/Frank

Good luck with your Blue Giant tree, Frank.

The reason I was saying to keep it in a very warm place is it might do better in the hot South, as in TX, so that was my thinking about that. I just didn't say the reason I suggested the warm, sunny place.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you about how the tree is doing, so please keep this thread bumped from time to time?

noss

noss....

I too am curious about this variety, and how it might perform up here in The Bronx, NYC.

I grow 'Atreano" up here with no problems, and God blesses me with very large, golden-yellow figs every year, since 2007, but it's a good short-season fig. "Texas Blue Giant"....who knows? It may like the long, hot, weather that you get down south, to ripen.

I will grow it this year, and make some notes regarding cultural practices. I'll tell you now that I will not allow any breba-figs to form, and if I have to, I will pinch back to 6 leaves...that's if the tree is very vigorous. I'll have to see how this tree grows before I figure out a plan of action. I may have to grow it a few years to decide if I keep, or, if I toss. It may turn out to be a variety that grows best in the south, and in the heat. That's what all the catalogs say, but I will not know until I try it. I'll grow it out on the back deck, in the full, broiling, NYC, morning-till-evening sun, along with the "Atreano" tree, so I could do a side-by-side comparison.

Time will tell, and then I'll tell, to this forum, just what I think of "Texas Blue Giant". I did ask a very experienced grower who lives in New Jersey, his opinion regarding this variety, and I was told that there are much better varieties, for my growing conditions, that will also produce very large, "black" fruit, and that it's the breba-figs on this 'Texas" that can be very large. But I never grow breba-figs....so, this tree may ultimately get tossed anyway.

Thanks for the growing suggestions.

Frank

Frank,

Have you seen this thread? http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fig/msg072029117194.html

igo4fish...
I could not get a connection to the link that you provided. Any title to the link you listed? I'll do a forum search.

Thanks,
Frank

hyperlinked.

Here is a link that might be useful: 'texas blue giant' ..... hero, or ....zero ??

igo4fish....
Oh yes,.... funny, because I was the original poster seeking information about this fig variety, last year, when I first bought the tree.

I restarted this conversation because I was hoping to hear from some zone-6/zone-7, cooler, east-coast growers, and get some opinions on how this variety performs in our cooler climes.

Thanks one and all for giving me some information, but experience is still the best teacher, some I will grow it and see what happens.

Frank