Smith Fig - Immortalizing Itself Among Varieties
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- Zone 7A - Greater Philadelphia
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I only go off of your opinion Ross. You introduced me to the many fig varieties and got me into this hobby.
its best to have multi sources like ross said.
@@666Necropsy true but I just love Ross's dedication. Haven't seen anyone else go into this much depth and offer various interesting thoughts and theories
@@AM-lz2jr The Boss has seriously great attention to detail
Before I found Ross, the videos I found were people on the West Coast, a climate very different than mine. That and the fact that he looks at the science and goes into detail, makes his opinion count with me.
I had a smith tree for 20 years after acquiring it from Louisiana back in the 90s. I brought it up to ct 6b. That tree was one of the best! It died in 2011 after a freak cold front came through when I went away on vacation. Great videos! Blessings!
Just started a cutting of this yesterday based on your recommendation. I couldn't wait. Super excited!
I don`t know if we had Smith or Celeste in Louisiana. Everybody shared cuttings or rooted suckers and all the figs I`ve ever eaten were the same little purplish/brown fruit that shriveled and had tiny cracks in the skin when ripe. My new Celeste trees are growing upright and only one has several branches, 2 have only 2, and one is a single stem and all are growing slowly and the stems below the growth are very dark, straight, and slender. They also have long narrow finger leaves AND triangle/shield shaped leaves on the same plant.
Bending a fig limb to the ground is a Japanese technique to get more new vertical growth and higher productivity. I can attest it works very well, at least in my Sacramento fig orchard.
On the pruning question, have you done any videos on which specific varieties never need to be pruned? That would be a great subject.
I've covered dwarf fig trees on my blog. You can read about those varieties, here: www.figboss.com/post/dwarf-fig-trees
Thank you😊🙏😊
Curious on your opinion of Smith vs. I-258?
Smith is better. Even in taste in my opinion. I just ate a Smith the other day that was mind blowing.
Great video Ross. any chance I can purchase any cutting for the Smith variety?
I would love a comparison on this fig versus campaniere
What would be a good fig for SW PA, south of Pittsburgh?
I have a fig tree which the seller calls Texas Strawberry fig. It reminds me of the Smith tree. The seller has a large fig orchard in San Antonio, she said her father started the orchard. I honestly think the Texas Strawberry is the Smith fig tree.
Long finger leaves?
@@RossRaddi my tree is very young and I did not see the original mother tree. The middle leaf is long but I’m sure the leaf pattern will change as it grows.
I only have room for one fig tree (Southern California). Which would you grow if you had to choose:
Smith, Tiger Panache, or Violette de Bordeaux?
Probably VdB. You'll get the longest crop window that way. Although the least flavorful of the 3.
Guessing climate is a big factor in determining what varieties perform (and taste) best. I'm in Sacramento California (hot and dry from May to October) and haven't found Verdino del nord or Smith for sale. Can you recommend varieties for this kind of climate? Also hoping you might be able to comment on Peter's Honey or Panache.
Panache is a wonderful fig in Sacramento.
@@RossRaddi Thanks, your videos make me want to buy an acre to get some fig trials going.
45 degrees is the best hormonal balance for fruit and growth. this applies to apples,peaches,plums,ect.
Can you elaborate what you mean?
45 degree branch angle. i thought this was pretty common knowledge. the more upright the angle the more growth. the more horizontal the more fruit.
Great video Ross. You mentioned that Smith does not typically respond well to pruning, do you recommend pinching a Smith tree in the early summer? Thx
I'm not entirely sure. My Smith trees have not responded well to pinching as other varieties have. Perhaps the form is the reason why. I'll know for sure next year.
Hi Ross, another timely and great video! I've been checking on the growth of my 1st year Smith rooting from cutting. It has been a vigorous grower with lots of side branches already. You are right, they tend to be more upright. After watching this video, I will put some weights on the branches to bend them a little.
Is I-258 also an upright grower and has an aversion to heavy prunning? My 6 feet height 2nd year I-258 is like a long pole with the first side branch at 3 feet and 4 to 5 branches like a V shape center toward the top. It is getting too top heavy. Would you recommend I air-layer the top half, and prune it down to first side branch at 3 feet? It is in a 15 gallon container and I am in zone 10B, Los Angeles. Thanks for your help.
Every variety needs the right angle to the scaffolds and in my opinion they should have an open center if grown as a tree form. Not a central leader. I258 is not as bad in my experience, but with the wrong form I imagine it would be.
Would using those UV bug zappers in the fig orchard work on SWD's? I don't think, that bees and similar pollinators are attracted to them, so they wouldn't be detrimental. Bees and the like are mostly out during the day, when presumably the zappers would be turned off anyway
I have a small cheap Sunbeam indoor bug zapper in my cabin in the woods of Alabama, & I notice, when I empty it's tray, that it kills a ton of ordinary fruit flies. Perhaps heavy duty outdoor ones deployed in the fig orchard, would be effective against SWD's?
I don't know.
@@RossRaddi Might be worth a try? Better than spraying with Arsonate of Lead or Black Leaf 40 or some other poison like in the "old school" orchard days!.
What type of traps do you set and when? Ty
The bucket of fermenting fruit. I've got a couple videos on this.
Living in the south and wanting figs that can handle this crazy weather. I can't see myself spending the money on smith. I'm just trying to collect more lsu types. Florida 9b
Mine 15 ft tall and just as wide, two years after heavy pruning.
Does bagging them not help with fruit flies?
No.
i was curious what other common figs ripen the same time as smith. is there a list already? every good fig is french right lol j/k
It's mid season, so quite a bit.
Whats SWD ?
Maybe rather than "hype", use "excitement", as in "What's all the excitement about?".
Ross - Maybe I didn’t catch it, but what is SWD?
spotted wing drosophila
Ross Raddi
Thanks for your response and thanks for giving me a new hobby during retirement. You’re the best!
There was an article that came out the other day where researchers used a tobacco variety as an inner stock to graft together a daisy rootstock and a tomato variety and the tomato was able to still fruit afterwards. I can’t wait to try the 1,4 beta-gluconase to graft all of my figs onto my 50ft oak trees. 😂
that fig has a real nutty flavor.
@@666Necropsy That’s such acorn-y joke.
@@jeremybyington lol
science is not consensus
Enough people saying something is true is just about the worst reason to believe something (ie religion[all of them] or politics[all of them]). I'm still trying to get my hands on a Smith though 😁
I'm talking about science vs. Anecdotal evidence and how this relates to trusting the viewpoint of other fig growers. My point is... There's usually something to it (it's not necessarily true especially in the way they might think it to be true) if enough people believe in something anecdotally that hasn't yet been scientifically proven.
@@RossRaddi sorry that came out wrong... I was trying to be whitty and failed
Your trees are all so close together and small they don't have really any room to grow to full-size maturity.
Kapytz. The Jewish word Kuputz. How do you spell it ? Say Kuputz instead of hype
I have no idea.
@@RossRaddi me neither