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Improved Brown Turkey and Conadria Failed To Ripen

17 years ago

The first few of my Improved Brown Turkey's fig turned to a brown, but it just never ripens. I've got until mid December till the season ends, but I get the feeling that this tree is going to be a loser in San Francisco climate. Think I should pull this tree?

The same is happening with my Conadria. Does not seem to ripen. I don't think we have enough heat in San Francisco to ripen any of those varieties.

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Comments (5)

User
17 years ago
I have a Italian Everbearing,a Guilbeau,wich are both similar with very large brown purple fruits and red mellon inside and it was maturing but the taste is very poor.I suspect for the same reason.They are similar (by Condit Hilgardia) to Improved and Ca.Brown turkey.
I Condit also say that this fig need caprification to taste best.
In other words without it taste poor.
I would not rush to get rid of them till end of season,and then you decide.
Also if tree is very small and produced a lot of fruits that is why they do not taste prime and refuse to ripe.
If you only got a few fruits that is it , it will not improve.Regards
bjs496
17 years ago
Unless someone from SF chimes in on this one, I wouldn't rush to pull them up (especially if they are still young... i.e. if you've only gotten the first few fruits). Unless you are in dire need of the space, let them sit another year or two. If you need the space, put them back in pots and see what they do. You may get a pleasant surprise.

~james
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Well Jonathan you should specfy wich Brown Turkey you are talking about. Dfic17 is English brown turkey Dfic155,California brown turkey These two are very different,and require diff.climatic condition. Dfic155 require caprification,and high heat to taste best.It is a very large purple fig with light pink interior. Dfic17,is one of the best choices in difficult climates as England,and makes up of 60 percent of all fig planted there.Reason,very good tasting and easy to grow anywhere. It is medium purple with red interior,and very good taste. Outside these two there are at least a dozen of brown turkey impostors with inferior tasting,and adaptability. So you can not condemn a cultivar if you can not name it for sure. Or you can say :the brown turkey i bought from,so and so Nursery was poor tasting,no good,in my climate.Hope this will help
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pitangadiego
17 years ago
Conadria is a very long season fig. Doesn't always ripen even in San Diego.
gorgi
17 years ago
Well figs must be crazy too! I ate my dozen plus off my
young Conadria more than a month ago here in NJ. Even
the then small green one ripened last week. I liked their
non splitting perfect pear shape, even though we had
lots of rain then.
George (NJ).
jonathan
Original Author
17 years ago
My Conadria is young, but it looks very health, and strong. It has a fat 2 inch diameter trunk and growth is very vigourous. I pinched like crazy the entire season.

The Brown Turkey has a similar size trunk and is 10 feet tall, and 6 feet wide. That thing grows fast.

I'm not in desparate need of space right now, so I'll give it two more seasons.

Right now, I still have my mom's yard to work with if I need to plant more trees. But my moms yard is mostly all sand,
and from what I've seen in the past, none of the trees
grown in that sand seems to grow well.

But then again, we rarely ever water area, or add any mulch or fertilizers. So maybe that might be the reason.

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