Unknown Carini (unknown variety of fig tree, Carini, Sicily)

[alanmercieca]

Here are photos that I took of my 'Unknown Carini' cuttings last night, two of them are already starter trees. There are actually 5 cuttings in the right jug.

Here are photos that I took of my 'Unknown Carini' cuttings today, there was actually that much vegetation on one side of the above right gallon jug.

[pppldj]

Those 'Unknown Carini' starters are looking good. I bet they really take off when they get to see the big halide in the sky firsthand. Are you able to shuffle them yet?

PPP

[alanmercieca]

Those 'Unknown Carini' starters are looking good. I bet they really take off when they get to see the big halide in the sky firsthand. Are you able to shuffle them yet?

PPP

I recently just started to fig shuffle the ones that I feel are ready. Temperature wise I could leave them outside all the time now, yet it has been windy here so I give them a break from the wind at night. They did not seem to mind the up-potting.

Edit: They are still in the shade. In about a week I will start to adapt them to the sun.

[pppldj]

Mine have been in a sunny window that gets good morning sun up to about 1:30 in the afternoon. They are ready for full sun. I left my small Hollier out overnight and it caught a light frost that did very slight tip damage to the emerging leaves, Not bad at all, but won't take a chance and leave them out overnight anymore. The frost came and the local temp was in the low 40's. Doesn't make sense to me.

PPP

[FiggyFrank]

Here is one I started a couple of months ago. It never needed a humidity chamber. Slow growing, but it should explode when it warms up outside.

[drphil69]

I started 2 cuttings about 3 weeks ago and the carini are great rooters! Both of them developed nice roots at the side of the cup before leaves, which makes transitioning to dry air so much easier. (I rooted in the cups, in humidity bin, with bottom heat.) They also rooted the fasted of 11 varieties, with Nero 600M a close second.

[alanmercieca]

Most of the Unknown Carini cuttings that I have tried to root focused way more on root growth than vegetation, the two that grew decent vegetation they had medium vegetation growth, yet I do not know of any variety that the cuttings have better than medium vegetation growth during the cooler months without a significant heat source, and plenty of light from grow lights.

Here is one I started a couple of months ago. It never needed a humidity chamber. Slow growing, but it should explode when it warms up outside.

I started 2 cuttings about 3 weeks ago and the carini are great rooters! Both of them developed nice roots at the side of the cup before leaves, which makes transitioning to dry air so much easier. (I rooted in the cups, in humidity bin, with bottom heat.) They also rooted the fasted of 11 varieties, with Nero 600M a close second.

[alanmercieca]

(Bordeaux Berry type of flavor)

I wrote this up from some notes that I took from Frank's forum threads about his family's Unknown Carini, and with some questions that he answered for me.

Frank, thank you for the cuttings and for answering my questions.

Unknown Carini (Unk Carini):

Fruit taste: Tastes like a sweet to very sweet refreshingly juicy berry, rich jammy, and delicious, with zero seed crunch, has a flavor nearly identical to Gino's black, with less sweetness than Ginos Black and tastes very similar to Longue d'Aout figs with the same level of sweetness Longue d'Aout, sometimes the figs can taste like honey, like melon, like citrus, taste figgy, for a while the figs that it produces get better with age. brebas are slightly richer in flavor than the main crop (that's rare in figs).

Fig production: This variety produces 2 large crops of figs a year, one 4 year old in ground tree had about 50 figs on it after it died to the roots one winter, it can produce both brebba and main crop unaborted figs as early as the 1st or 2nd year of being a tree. Figs have a closed tight eye, and their tender skin turns to a shade of golden or golden burgundy when ripe, in an agreeable climate a mature tree produces medium golf ball sized figs, slightly larger in some cases. Flesh is deeply strawberry colored, and rarely the breba can be the size of a large plum, it's figs are basically the same size, and have the same characteristics as Gino Black, it's very unlikely yet in some rare cases the figs can get nearly as big as Longue d'Aout figs.

Fig production time: Breba figs ripen June - July, main crop figs ripen August - October in zone 7a Virginia.

Growth: This variety is definitely one of the easiest varieties to root, sometimes it roots so well that roots take growth priority over the vegetation, it roots as easily as Egyptian Pharaoh, and as a tree it's a powerful grower, it's mature height is over 12 feet tall, equally as wide when allowed to grow freely.

History: Brought to the USA from Carini, Sicily (which is a province of Palermo) by figgy frank's relatives, his grandparents moved to Cleveland Ohio from Carini in the late 60s, his grandfather was given cuttings from a cousin of his in the early 70s, who also lived in the same area of Ohio which is zone 5 and 6, Frank's grandfather had 3 unknown Carini trees on his property, he’d send Frank cartons full every year since he was a child, he would winter protect them each year and as far as Frank can remember none of them ever completely died off. Frank's granddad passed away in 96, and those trees may or may not still exist.

Fank's dad had given Frank's cousins a cutting over 15 years ago, and that tree LOVES the alley it's growing in, his cousins have a few Unknown Carini of nearly identical age in Virginia, Frank's dad took cuttings from his trees since the early 90s and has planted several in VA, zone 6 and 7. The 12 year old tree that Frank always talks about resides in his old hometown in VA where his Father planted a cutting.

Frank's oldest Carini in his yard is approaching 5 years old, Winter 2013/2014 was the very first time that this fig tree of Frank's died to the ground, it has a great foundation, it was unprotected and it come back strongly in his zone 7a Virginia climate to give Frank about 50 figs in 2014.

[drphil69]

Pleamon - most window glass blocks a lot of UV, so be careful transitioning to full sun. Being in a window is not the same as direct sunlight.

Mine have been in a sunny window that gets good morning sun up to about 1:30 in the afternoon. They are ready for full sun. I left my small Hollier out overnight and it caught a light frost that did very slight tip damage to the emerging leaves, Not bad at all, but won't take a chance and leave them out overnight anymore. The frost came and the local temp was in the low 40's. Doesn't make sense to me.

PPP

[pppldj]

Phil, thanks for the advice. I certainly did not know that. I will transition a bit more gradually. Would hate to lose or set back what I have worked on most of the winter.

Alan, that is the best documentation of any fig variety that I have ever seen. It is nice how you documented so many aspects of it's rooting, growth and fruiting including crop counts and timing. So many descriptions leave out important information such as you have listed and may only describe taste and not much on growth habit. Excellent job well done!

PPP

[alanmercieca]

Phil, thanks for the advice. I certainly did not know that. I will transition a bit more gradually. Would hate to lose or set back what I have worked on most of the winter.

Alan, that is the best documentation of any fig variety that I have ever seen. It is nice how you documented so many aspects of it's rooting, growth and fruiting including crop counts and timing. So many descriptions leave out important information such as you have listed and may only describe taste and not much on growth habit. Excellent job well done!

PPP

I always try my best yet this variety there is a lot more info about it out there, most other varites there is very little info about them compared to this one. I am a perfectionest when it comes to what I enjoy doing most. I spent a lot of time taking notes on it.

[alanmercieca]

Wow seriously Tuesday Mar 17, 2015 was the last time I shared photos of our Unknown Carini with the readers of this forum! I do have a photo update for you though! There are lots of melon plants and flowers that are taking over the bed some, that grew from the compost, so sorry for all the green confusion. Photos taken August 8th 2015.

[alanmercieca]

October 17th 2015 the largest leaf on this fig tree was 9 inches x 8 inches.

This tree even had a baby leaf that measured 1 inch X 1 inch.

[alanmercieca]

This fig tree appears to be our most cold hardy in ground fig tree while facing it's first winter, more cold hardy than Peter's honey, than Dominick's Fig, than Croisic, than our Gillette (MWamsley) which has faced 4 winters before this winter, and than our Malta Purple Red which has faced 4 winters before this winter. Despite many hours of freezing temperatures, and facing air as cold as 20 degrees Fahrenheit Unknown Carini still had bright green buds with no damage. Does this fig tree think that it's a hazelnut tree, LOL?

[GregMartin]

Great to hear Alan. I have this one and didn't realize it was supposed to be so hardy. Now it will get extra attention!

[alanmercieca]

Great to hear Alan. I have this one and didn't realize it was supposed to be so hardy. Now it will get extra attention!

One night it hit 18 degrees Fahrenheit, the buds got damaged, yet amazing that it survived 20 degrees and the buds were totally undamaged! Now our Gillette (MWamsley) which has been in the ground since spring 2011 has the least damaged buds, it's the one with the gravel. and the hay both.

[alanmercieca]

This fig tree had some damage, very little. It's starting to take off and even has figlets on it.

[alanmercieca]

24 days after last photos were taken, these photos taken Thursday April 28th 2016.

Another night of light frost had hit. Leaves and figs fell off yet as you can see the leaves growing back.

[alanmercieca]

This photo was taken Friday May 13th 2016, 2 weeks and one day after the last photos were taken

[alanmercieca]

Photos taken 11 weeks and 3 days later on Monday August 1st 2016.

In this photo you can see our Dominick's Fig in the background.

[alanmercieca]

I had a fig from this incredible variety today, peel was not edible, it was very sweet, to me it did not taste anything like Berry, it tasted like citrus to me, vaguely like orange oil, very good indeed. I'd say that the fig I had was a must have fig 2 1/2 times over. Maybe they could have stayed on the tree one more day for further ripening yet the ants were already very excited. Very good for the first crop. Here are photos of the two that I picked Tuesday August 30th 2016, I have marked those two figs.

Here is a photo of one of the two Carini figs cut open. Flesh color is accurate enough to get a basic idea what color it truly is. The color of the flesh as well as the flavors that it was said to be are off from what the fig I got tasted like. Yet I got cuttings from the person who introduced it to the fig community, we will see what later figs of this tree are like.

[alanmercieca]

10 figs were picked from this tree total so far. I picked 2 of them on Thursday September 1st 2016. I tried half of each fig. One tasted like nothing just sort of sweet, the other one tasted somewhat like cantaloupe. I think they were both picked early yet still good. Here are 2 pictures of the two halves at different angles.

We picked 4 more figs from this tree today Saturday September 3rd 2016, the last 4 picked of the 10, these two halves I ate tasted somewhat like cantaloupe with a berry sort of flavor. Very good yet a slight watered down taste because of all the rain, they were all fully ripe, yet a rushed ripe because of the rain. I am thinking that the berry taste is only there when the figs are fully ripe. Here are 4 photos of 2 halves, the 2 fig halves from this tree are marked

[alanmercieca]

Today I picked two sizeable figs from this tree. the biggest I have seen from this fig tree so far. The biggest one was 1 3/4 inches heigh, 1 3/4 inches wide and 2 inches long. Our food scale is not working so for now I am not taking weights of figs.

[alanmercieca]

Being frustrated with the fig color being so off I experimented a little outside in the shade verses outside in the direct sun, an Unknown Carini fig sitting in direct sun to the eye it looked very close color wise to what the camera's photos looked like. In the shade the color was not so accurate. Here are example photos taken Tuesday September 13th 2016.