Last winter I purchase a nice little Green Island Ficus from Dale Cochoy
(it's doing very well, by the way Dale). At any rate, the thing is loaded
(literally) with what I believe are figs. I know I've read on the list that
most figs are not fertile unless pollinated by a small wasp. Well, small
wasps are in pretty short supply indoors in Cleveland in the winter! So,
are these "seeds" fertile or not...can I plant them and expect them to grow?
Seems an awfule shame to waste such an abundant harvest. I will - if I have
a successful Christmas ;-) - post some pictures.

Jeff Isom
Cleveland, OH / Sunset Zone 39

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Jeff,
Sorry to say they won't be fertile.
Put them out after they get red and the birds will eat them all!
So they won't go to waste.
Jerry Meislik
Whitefish Montana USA
Zone 4-5
http://www.bonsaihunk.8m.com/
Last winter I purchase a nice little Green Island Ficus from Dale Cochoy
(it's doing very well, by the way Dale). At any rate, the thing is loaded
(literally) with what I believe are figs. I know I've read on the list that
most figs are not fertile unless pollinated by a small wasp. Well, small
wasps are in pretty short supply indoors in Cleveland in the winter! So,
are these "seeds" fertile or not...can I plant them and expect them to grow?
Seems an awfule shame to waste such an abundant harvest. I will - if I have
a successful Christmas ;-) - post some pictures.

Jeff Isom
Cleveland, OH / Sunset Zone 39


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Sorry, Jeff.

Those little things (NINA!!! What are they called?) are not fruit. The
actual blosson is inside them, and the tiny wasp must crawl inside to die
and fertilize the plant.

If you want fruit, you and your plant have to fly to the native habitat of
the tree and hope to lure the wasps.

Even then, it probably won't be palatable.

----- Original Message -----

Last winter I purchase a nice little Green Island Ficus from Dale Cochoy
(it's doing very well, by the way Dale). At any rate, the thing is loaded
(literally) with what I believe are figs. I know I've read on the list
that
most figs are not fertile unless pollinated by a small wasp. Well, small
wasps are in pretty short supply indoors in Cleveland in the winter! So,
are these "seeds" fertile or not...can I plant them and expect them to
grow?
Seems an awfule shame to waste such an abundant harvest.

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+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

Bart said:
Sorry, Jeff.

Those little things (NINA!!! What are they called?) are not fruit. The
actual blosson is inside them, and the tiny wasp must crawl inside to die
and fertilize the plant.


Umm.... hypanthia? A fig "flower" is an inside-out compound aggregate of hundreds of flowers. Remember this the next time you bite into a fig newton: Dude, you're eatin' a dead wasp.

Other relatives of the fig include the mulberry, and the "Osage orange", quite strange in its own right.

......What was the question? Oh. Nope, no viable seeds. Sorry.

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Bart said:
Those little things (NINA!!! What are they called?) are not fruit. The
actual blosson is inside them, and the tiny wasp must crawl inside to die
and fertilize the plant.

A receptacle? The "fig" is an inside-out stem containing many flowers inside. Each crunch you hear in a fig newton is an individual fruit. Except the crunch that represents the dead wasp.

Nina.

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Jeez Nina ..... I used to like Fig Newtons.
Now I'll never be able to eat one without thinking of dead wasps !!

Mark Hill - Harrisburg PA - Zone 6A (where is currently feels like Zone 9)


-----Original Message-----
From: Internet Bonsai Club ] On Behalf Of
Nina Shishkoff
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2003 11:14 AM
To:
Subject: [IBC] Figs? On a Green Island Ficus

Bart said:
Those little things (NINA!!! What are they called?) are not fruit. The
actual blosson is inside them, and the tiny wasp must crawl inside to die
and fertilize the plant.

A receptacle? The "fig" is an inside-out stem containing many flowers
inside. Each crunch you hear in a fig newton is an individual fruit.
Except the crunch that represents the dead wasp.

Nina.

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****
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****
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+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

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In a message dated 12/24/2003 12:10:25 PM Eastern Standard Time,
writes:

A receptacle? The "fig" is an inside-out stem containing many flowers
inside. Each crunch you hear in a fig newton is an individual fruit.
Except the crunch that represents the dead wasp.

Nina.


I think you will find that most modern cultivated edible figs are self
fertile.

Billy on the Florida Space Coast
Bonsai Societies of Florida Annual Convention Memorial Day Weekend 2004
Radisson Hotel, Cape Canaveral, Florida www.bonsaisocietyofbrevard.org

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Those little things (NINA!!! What are they called?) are not fruit. The
actual blosson is inside them, and the tiny wasp must crawl inside to die
and fertilize the plant.


Umm.... hypanthia? A fig "flower" is an inside-out compound aggregate of hundreds of flowers. Remember this the next time you bite into a fig newton: Dude, you're eatin' a dead wasp.

Other relatives of the fig include the mulberry, and the "Osage orange", quite strange in its own right.


The Osage orange, with its very green leaves and rough orange bark make very attractive bonsai. They have to be fairly large. I have 2 -- a Chinese-style exposed root and a large broom.

Thorns are a wicked problem, though -- although there reputedly is a thornless one.

Jim Lewis -

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I think you will find that most modern cultivated edible figs are self
fertile.


Yeahbut . . . doesn't that just mean that the wasps can just use fruit on the same tree; they don't need to flit from tree to tree?

Jim Lewis -

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I think you will find that most modern cultivated edible figs are self
fertile.
doesn't that just mean that the wasps can just use fruit on the same tree;
they don't need to flit from tree to tree?

Technically, yes, when speaking of other types of fruits like apples or
cherries. Actually, most of the cultivated edible figs do not require
pollination at all in order to ripen. They are either self pollinating or
apomictic (parthenogenetic). The only cultivated figs requiring wasps are
Smyrna figs.
The little green balls on the Green Island fig, unless they are self
pollinating, will probably grow to a certain point and then fall off. It is
difficult to tell exactly what is happening with a fig, since the flowers are
on the inside. You might find it interesting to cut one in half. Remember, the
little figlet is not one flower; it is a whole inflorescence.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

The inflorescence of a fig is called a syconium.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

Ah-ha!

No wonder whenever I pick and eat my figs from my two huge trees in the
garden I feel great! I must have been doing that bee sting pain theraphy that I saw
being used on people on the medical channel! (Are you guys serious? I really
am curious about this one.) I never crunched on wasps, at least I never saw
them. I always peel and then cut in half my white figs before I eat them.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday :-). I finally get to sit down for a few
days!

Ciao!
Patrizia G. Kane
SI, NY--zone 7 & freezing.

In a message dated 12/24/03 12:10:25 PM Eastern Standard Time,
writes:

Jeez Nina ..... I used to like Fig Newtons.
Now I'll never be able to eat one without thinking of dead wasps !!

Mark Hill - Harrisburg PA - Zone 6A (where is currently feels like Zone 9)

-----Original Message-----
From: Internet Bonsai Club ] On Behalf Of
Nina Shishkoff
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2003 11:14 AM
To:
Subject: [IBC] Figs? On a Green Island Ficus

Bart said:
Those little things (NINA!!! What are they called?) are not fruit. The
actual blosson is inside them, and the tiny wasp must crawl inside to die
and fertilize the plant.

A receptacle? The "fig" is an inside-out stem containing many flowers
inside. Each crunch you hear in a fig newton is an individual fruit.
Except the crunch that represents the dead wasp.

Nina.




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+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

In a message dated 12/25/2003 9:41:25 PM Eastern Standard Time,
writes:

No wonder whenever I pick and eat my figs from my two huge trees in the
garden I feel great! I must have been doing that bee sting pain therapy that
I saw
being used on people on the medical channel! (Are you guys serious? I really
am curious about this one.) I never crunched on wasps, at least I never saw
them. I always peel and then cut in half my white figs before I eat them.


You are not eating wasps. As I said in an earlier post and someone even
backed me up. The edible figs we grow don't require pollinators to produce
fruit.
My family in Florida has always had fig trees in the yard. One of my
earliest memories is climbing the fig tree in Daytona Beach. I was a little kid and
edible figs are small trees. The one in my yard now is only eight feet.
I also remember visiting a family in the north central valley of California
who lived in a grove of figs.
Billy on the Florida Space Coast
Bonsai Societies of Florida Annual Convention Memorial Day Weekend 2004
Radisson Hotel, Cape Canaveral, Florida www.bonsaisocietyofbrevard.org

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