Gooday from New Zealand

[arfabuck]

Hello fellow fig lovers, marvellous to be in contact with like minded beings.
I grew up on the island of Malta just after the war and figs, ( and prickly pears, pomegranate, sea eggs and cordite from .303 shells ) were the daily foraging diet as food rationing left us kids perpetually hungry. From memory there were about 14 different varieties of fig tree and we knew exactly where they were and when they were ripe!
Now domiciled in New Zealand for the past 50 years and endeavouring to sort out exactly what varieties are in the country as the chance of anything new is pretty remote. The quarantine rules for imports are very severe, minimal costs of $5,000 plus 6 months in a quarantine station per cutting. You would have to be very passionate about figs and have deep pockets to ever think of importing a new variety. The market is negligible and most Kiwi's do not know what a fig is.
That does not count for illegal imports, but the penalties are high and detection arrangements are very, very good.
There are 186 listed varieties in the NZ Tree growers database from previous trials, however doubles/synonyms account for at least half of those listed. The Adriatic has at least 12 synonyms in the database, so there are probably max 60 varieties here, - with little chance of increasing that number in a hurry.
Some enthusiasts are venturing into cross breeding from imported seed and a few are trying hand pollinating from the 2 known caprifigs that are here.
20 volunteers from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South Island have banded together to plant all known varieties in a 5 year trial to categorise exactly what is here, which variety is best grown where etc. etc.
Already we have established that with the right mix of varieties we can enjoy figs for 7 months of the year. My first breba, ( Vlassoff ) ripened 10 December and the last ripe fruit was picked 6 June ( Adriatic ).
Cheers Art

[Rob]

Well, hello to you,and it is great to have you with us. Your time in Malta would have been very interesting, I would think, and the shift to NZ would have been a pretty big change, but it is a very pretty country, although I was only there once, and that was just a day.

It sounds like your restrictions are even more serious than ours, but really, it is all about protecting what we have, and we both have a lot that others do not have.

With growing from seed and crossing, as you probably noticed, we have dedicated topics to cater for it, just to keep things grouped for easy access, so that should fit in well with you. Having caprifigs there is a great help, so my question is, do you also have our pretty fig wasps, or are yours parthenocarpic (persistent), so you just harvest pollen?

[arfabuck]

Hello Rob and thanks for the welcome.
NZ does not have the wasp and there is no chance of getting it. Already denied by Min Ag.
A few growers have had success hand pollinating/caprifying female figs but the caprifig was an unknown variety so not yet proven if persistent or not.
The Vlassoff ( San Pedro ) variety had a breba with pale pulp and a honey flavour. The caprified fig had a red pulp and citrus/berry flavour.
Top Chalice and Excelsior were the two caprifigs imported 2002 and 1968 respectively. There is no record of their characteristics so they are part of the 2024 NZ fig trials to find out exactly what they are capable of.

[Rob]

You are very welcome, and thank you for the wasp update, it was something that I always wondered about, but had no real information on. One thing that may help with breeding, is different caprifig pollen? If you could check if that is possible to import, and since you are one of the few countries in the southern hemisphere growing figs, and our times align, I could easily send pollen from multiple trees as I did last season here. It fits easily into an envelope, and it's cheap to send. This was my set up with pollen earlier this year.

[arfabuck]

Well thank you kind sir! I had not considered importing pollen. It is not a banned substance so methinks an order in the post the same as seeds would do the trick. The only stipulation by border quarantine is that the package must be clearly marked with identification of contents. Fig seeds have "Ficus Carica var xxxx" and pass through no problem.

It will remain to see which varieties are at the receptive stage for pollinating when your pollen arrives. I know it can be stored in the fridge for a while but I am always wary of going down that route. I use refrigeration for graft cuttings and storage of cutting chems ( IBA, IAA ) etc but am still caurious. Oldskool.

[Rob]

It sounds very doable then, so whenever I have some here I can let you know, or you can update me when figs get to a receptive stage later in the year. I can easily send 3 or 4 different types, and you can note the outcome from each.

Honestly, there is nothing we can't do if we put our minds to it, and customs do not prohibit it.