Dan whats the difference between jh adriatic and adriatic? Up here the marseilles have been very good while the violette de bourdeau not quite as good and the white genoa very good, not great as in the past.

Ed, JH Adriatic and Strawberry(Adriatic) are very close in taste......too early for me to tell about productivity. The Strawberry appears to be a bit larger fig. I hope to be able to make better comparisons next year between those two cultivars and the other Adriatic-type cultivars that I am trialing. One of the "Unknown Late Green" figs that I ate today had an eye so tight and closed that it looked whitish/green with absolutely no trace of red. Only when the fig was cut open could I see the deep red pulp that was inside.....this one has a more acidic taste to it, sort of like the 143-36 UCD cultivar. I can definitely see a difference in leaf shapes and eye sizes in the Adriatic-types that I am trialing.

Dan

Thanks for the info Dan. I am taking notes for future reference...

Silvia

Hi Dan,The Strawberry Adriatic that you are talking about;is this Adriatic from UCD or the strawberry fig that you sent me cuttings of? In my backyard this summer JH Adriatic was productive and excellent tasting.It ripened all it's figs.The Adriatic from UCD was a larger fig and only ripened two figs. The rest of the fruit never ripened.The taste was very good but you can just tell it needed more heat to taste as good as JH Adriatic.So Far in my fig growing trials JH Adriatic is the winner.Did not taste the strawberry that you sent me yet Dan as the tree is too young.
Stay Well'
Anthony

Hello Anthony,

I do not have the UC Davis Adriatic in my collection. Your Strawberry Adriatic came from an Italian heirloom fig that was growing in Abbeville, La. You will love its taste too. They begin ripening in the beginning of August (a month after Celeste) in my area and will continue until first frost. Those that ripen during cool weather are still very sweet and rich tasting. I ate another Smith fig today and it actually had a stronger fruit taste since the cold weather......it is tied with my LSU-IC for the third best tasting fig in my collection this year. My JH Adriatic and Strawberry Adriatic are right behind in taste. Some Celeste are still ripening, but the I cannot eat the skins because they are so bitter. The pulp is still good eating;however, no where near as good as they were earlier in the season. Many others that are ripening now are bland and/or insipid. I ate a Jack Lily (large banana yellow, productive cultivar) fig today that was surprisingly good.

Anyway, those Adriatics are a great MID SEASON fig for my growing area and varieties that I highly recommend to my neighbors and friends for extending their fig growing season in this area where the Celeste and Southern Brown Turkey cultivars constitute >90% of the figs grown.

I have been eating good ripe figs from June 14 until now (five months). Unless we get an early frost/freeze, this likely will continue through November. The cultivars that I have listed in this thread produce very good tasting figs late in fig season. This is very good information for those who want to extend their fig growing season like I do.

Dan

What is a good source for JH Adriatic? Thanks!

Tim

JH Adriatic is not available in the retail trade. It is a rare cultivar that comes from forum member "MountainMan" which he has generously traded with others.

Dan

Thanks Dan, I'll put it on my wish list and keep an eye out for it. Tim

Thanks Dan, I appreciate all your knowledge.

Anthony

Hello Dan,Is your Strawberry Adriatic also called CHICO STAWBERRY. Phil

Hello Phil,

I have the Chico Strawberry in my collection too. It is not the same fig as the Strawberry Adriatic or JH Adriatic. Chico is a green/yellow fig with highly colored pinkish/red eye scales.....very pretty and unusual looking round fig. It has a peach flavor whereas the Adriatics have a blood red interior with more of a Strawberry taste. In fact, the Strawberry Adriatic fig's interior looks just like a very ripe strawberry fruit. When you eat it...the seeds will give you a very pleasant crunch just like what you get when you eat fresh strawberries or fig Newtons. The Adriatic's seeds are not as flavored as the seeds of the Yellow Marseilles. The seeds of the Yellow Marseilles gives that fig a very delicious and pronounced NUTTY taste as well as a pleasant crunch. I have not grown the Chico Strawberry long enough to know all of its fruiting characteristics....however, I believe it will not be as rain and bug tolerant as the JH Adriatic and the Strawberry Adriatic as it has a somewhat open eye. Next year I expect to report on the performance of the other Adriatic-type cultivars that I am trialing.

Dan

A few more notes on my fig trials.....

Today I ate a few figs from a cultivar that was given to me as a "Southern" Brown Turkey.....not to be confused with the South Eastern Brown Turkey, nor the California Brown Turkey, nor the English Brown Turkey. The figs were good but not as rich tasting as its earlier figs. The person who gave me this fig told me that it is believed to be a bud sport of Celeste that was found growing in an old Celeste orchard.

According to some collectors, the South Eastern Brown Turkey produces red eyed figs early in their development.....while a Celeste fig's eye does not turn red until perhaps just before ripening. In this supposedly "Southern" Brown Turkey strain the eye stays completely closed and non-colored. It looks just like a regular Celeste but tends to be more of an ever-bearing fig. This cultivar will be watched much more closely by me next year as I compare it to the many other Celeste and Brown Turkey stains that I am trialing.

I can see where this story might have some merit. At one time there were many fig orchards in Louisiana to supply the needs of the canning and fig preserve business....most trees were Celeste. A fig tree in a Celeste orchard that produced more crops of figs than its other Celeste neighboring trees would attract the attention of the orchard owner and probably would be propagated. Time will tell if this southern cultivar is really something different or just a fluke of the weird weather.....more fun for me next year.

Also, late ripening Smith figs are still very good to excellent tasting....sweet and rich tasting with a very deep red interior pulp. The figs ripening now have a thicker neck and the skin is tinged with purple/violet stripes.

Dan

A few more notes on my fig trials in Cajun country......

Today I ate seven Jack Lily figs and two Negronne. The Negronne figs were not good and I removed the rest of the figs from my tree. However, the Jack Lily figs were still very sweet and still had a nice fruit note to them. The flavor was somewhat reminiscent of its sibling LSU Gold fig. What's nice about this fig is it's high productivity and nearly closed eye which makes it rain tolerant and bug resistant. Looks very promising.......time will tell.

Dan