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).

I know Black Madeira has a reputation for being difficult to root, but in my limited experience, I have just a little more trouble rooting cuttings of Black Madeira than anything else. I don't think of the ones I've tried to root this year that I have lost many and I once rooted and grew 4 trees out of one eight inch BMad UCDavis cutting. IMO It doesn't really like to throw out big roots while "in the bag"-- a lot of times, it will just develop callus on the base and little white nubs on the bark. At that point I will move them to a cup or even better, keep them horizontal under 1/2 inch of rooting mix in a clear container and check them for roots every few days. They root slowly, but they do root--It just takes them awhile. Just my 2 cents.

Dan: About 9 years ago, I contacted a good friend and fig collector by the name of R. Watts and asked him what his best tasting dark fig was. He told me that Black Madeira was probably the best out of all his dark figs but that he preferred Italian-258 as a close second because it sometimes produced two crops and consistently bore alot of figs for him to eat. So he was kind enough to share a rooted Italian-258 with me. Personally, BM reminds me of the chewing gum that has a syrupy filling. Once you bite into it, there is this burst of an intense, sweet berry flavor that just lingers on. Italian-258 has a similar intense flavor but with a persistent aftertaste that, to me, tastes more like a fig and not so much like a berry! I personally like figs that taste like figs, not other fruit, as others might prefer.

Good luck to you Gorgi, i hope it works somehow for you. I do recall from readings about invitro trials that its been said that FMV spread slowly thruout a plant. Just maybe you can get a part fast enough where its not been spread into yet. In the lab they cut a bud that just appears and dissect the inside of it under a microscope and extract the middle part called the meristem which is very very tiny to the eye and contains everything to sprout a plant under strict sterile circumstances, they also further state that its free of the FMV because when extraced as like i said it has yet to be infected.I believe that Herman's success is quite possible with a little luck that his part might not have had the FMV infect it yet and you with same luck can also achieve it its worth a try! Looking at his is probably the best specimen around that i have seen so far of black Ischia type. Also i believe Hermans plant will thrive well even if it gets reinfected as an adult by another plant as it might have the ability to fight it off better by being older and stronger but thats just my thinking on the subject.