Monday, August 29, 2016

Myrica Rubra a Successful Sprout!

After a 4 months and about 100 seeds I have 1 successful sprout of Myrica Rubra. I'm excited but also somewhat not too hopeful since you need a male and female plant to successfully produce fruit with this plant.



Myrica Rubra seeds are notorious for losing viability soon after leaving the fruit. So the germination rates are extremely low.

Previous Post on Myrica Rubra


I have a cup over the new seedling to maintain the same humidity as the bag it sprouted from. The cup next to it is a Noni plant. The cups have holes in them to keep it from getting too humid.


After about 2 weeks in its new pot.

9/10/16 A second Spout!


Update 1/15/17:

For some strange reason both my Myrica Rubra Sprouts have browned and died.


Monday, August 22, 2016

Akane Apples and other harvested items from the garden

8/16/16.

My Akane Apples have ripened and they are quite tasty. Crispy with a very tart kick. White flesh and Red skin. There's a nice bite and vinous flavor with each chew the sweet tart flavor soaks your tongue.



I don't know if the fruit socks did more or less damage to the fruit. It may have protected them from apple worms but the earwigs seem to love living in the open flaps. So most of the fruit had 1 or 2 living in them. They dined on the ripening fruit and left unsightly scars.

Next year I will have to leave earwig traps and remove them manually. They've ravage my peaches to which I was not happy about.



I've read that leaving out balled up newspaper by the base of the tree will coax them in. But then you'll have to probably drown or burn the paper to get rid of the earwigs in them.




And from other parts of the graden. Asian Pears from my combination tree and cucumbers and lemon cucumbers.


Sungold tomatoes and Serrano peppers

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Osborn Prolific - The other strain

I trade cuttings with another collector late last year. It was Osborn Prolific for Osborn prolific. Mine was Green and Purple with an amber interior and hers was red with a yellow skin.

So we traded. Let's just call this Osborn Prolific type 2 for the sake of not confusing things.

http://www.figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/osborn-prolific-7560696

This is the Osborn that I know. AKA Neveralla.  
This one is yellow green with purple burgundy tones



The Interior is white to amber colored and only has one crop.

The one I traded for. It's red on the inside and yellow green on the skin. Interesting eh?

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Now the tree it came off of is still very tiny. It's a 1st year cutting so I was surprised there were any fruit at all. It weighed in at 17 grams



This is the Osborn Prolific next to a Peter's Honey breba. Osborn is on the right. I didnt expect too much from such a small plant. The flavor was a bit disappointing and bland. I'll have to wait until next year to see how it will taste.


Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Peter's Honey Fig Breba 2016 - Grown in Ground this year.


Peter's Honey Fig Breba 2016 - Grown in Ground this year.



I was contemplating of getting rid of this tree last year because I thought is was too sweet and the skin was too leathery. I'm glad I did not. Because this year I got a chance to taste the brebas and boy are they good!

The skin was much thinner. And the flavor was much better than a main crop fig. More melony tones which I prefer. Last year it was just pure honey. It was also much bigger then last year. 55grams vs 22grams

One thing to note I had a sprinkler on timer on these trees and they have helped with the juiciness.

This is an extremely productive tree. Every branch is just littered with figs. It's also a long season producer. Which makes a great compliment to extend your fig eating season.

I take back everything I said about this fig last year. It's a winner in my book (when planted in ground here)






Peter's Honey left / Osborn Prolific Right. Interesting thing to note. The 2016 Brebas have a tinge of purple in them.


2015 the main crop is completely golden. These are from the same tree.


Watch the video.

This aint a Kadota fig! + tasting a VDB In ground

I thought I purchased some Kadota cuttings a year and a half ago in February of 2015, well big surprise. It's not even close.

Kadotas are suppose to have a amber interior but this little fig is red on the inside. It was tasty and really similar to the King Fig but now I have to figure out what variety this is.



This is the 2nd time the cuttings that I've purchased off of Ebay have been something they are not.  That's why it's important that we buy from reputable sellers.

Both figs were from the same seller. Which worries me because I've purchased multiple figs, cuttings and plants from this person.


Looks like I need to spread some slug killer around these trees. They are leaving unsightly scars on my figs.
 
This little breba was almost 15grams. The taste and size was very similar to the King fig I just ate. They even ripen around the same time. The leaves were slightly different however. I wouldn't be surprised if they were they same fig.  There was a slight hint of raspberry tones and quite juicy for a small fig.

On the same day I had the good fortune of picking a ripe breba from my in ground Viollette De Bordeaux. The flavor compared to a potted plant is like night and day! The in ground VDB was so much juicier and had slight melon tones vs the typical strawberry jam flavor that I was used to. Which is a good thing to me.

 
I've had this tree in ground for about a year. It has done real well against the winter cold. It's  productivity and taste makes it a real winner here in Seattle.

almost 35 grams.


Watch the video here.

Monday, August 8, 2016

King Fig from Portland Nursery

King Fig from Portland Nursery



When I initially bought this plant from Portland nursery last year. I was thinking that it probably is a Desert King. Hence the King in the name. So I gambled and bought one anyways. I like Desert King so what's another plant to the collection?


Well this year, it ripened a little tiny green guy and it sure wasn't a Desert King.


The size was small but it packed a very good punch in terms of flavor. It has raspberry tones and quite juicy for a little fig. I'm not quite sure what to compare it to yet. Maybe an Ischia type??

King Fig - Breba
Taste: 6.8
Size: 2
Productivity: 2 (Only 1 ripened)
Total = 10.8

Watch the video here.


Update on the Main crop: My guess is that this King fig might be a filacciano bianco

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Image may contain: plant, flower, nature and outdoor

Image may contain: plant, outdoor, food and nature

Image may contain: plant, food and outdoor

Monday, August 1, 2016

Lebanese Red Fig Tasting - Breba 2016

Tasting a Lebanese Red Fig Breba.

This fig tree belongs to my brother, He's also into figs. This fig came off of a beautiful 4yr old tree. I have to admit that the color from these brebas are quite unique. The bronze and red colors really live up to the name.


This fig was about 12 grams. Small for a breba and was starting to dry on the tree. It has a light floral taste and slight figginess with little seed crunch. It was a good fig but not sweet enough to make it a great fig.

Nice fig and keeper here.

Lebanese Red: Breba
Taste: 6.7
Size: 2
Productivity: 4
Total = 12.7





Watch the Video