'Florea' (Sugar-Honey-Caramel-Fruity-Berry' flavor)
'Florea' is a 'strain (mutation)' of 'Mitchurinska 10 ( Мичуринска-10)' that has found it's way to the USA. 'Florea' is originally from 'the Southern tip of Romania' near the Bulgarian border, it was introduced to the fig community by a former 'Figs 4 Fun' forum member named 'Vasile Surugiu' (he's also known as 'Herman2', as 'VS', and as 'hermansur'), it's a clone of his father's fig tree, that grew in his father's garden, his father passed away while clones of his tree grow in the USA, in South Korea, and there was a rumor that it's found it's way all around the world. 'Florea' was named after 'Vasile's' father, representing that 'Florea' was originally his father's fig tree, and in a way the clones of it still are.
'Florea' varies from clone to clone, not just in the leaf growth, also in the growth of it's fruit, the variance appears to be 'Florea' reacting to different climates/climate change, as well as it's reaction to different levels of nitrogen, of rain, of poor drainage, and of moisture. Cuttings propagated from 'Florea' can have two different leaf shape types, one of it's leaf shape types can be described as 'Somewhat narrow' long 'five lobed' and 'paw like', with a touch of angel wing, with a touch of spade, with pointed tips." The other leaf shape can be described as rounded 'fat lobbed', most of them are 3 or 5 lobes. If there are 'fat lobbed' leafs on a 'Florea' fig tree then it is very cold sensitive at that time, and it needs time to loose that leaf shape before it starts gaining cold hardiness, and before it starts producing figs. Leaves on the most vigorous growth of 'Florea' are the 'fat lobbed' leaves. Vigorous growth can make a fig tree way more cold sensitive, and it can interfere with cropping. 'Florea' is one of those cultivars that can grow too aggressively, yet it's neat that it's leaves can show you if it's very cold sensitive, often whenever a fig tree acts seemingly unusual that is called a juvenile phase/juvenile stage, and rightfully so because it will outgrow those things. This cultivar can get well developed in just 2 to 3 years. Some people are calling the shape of the 'fat lobbed' leaves of this cultivar 'duck foot'? 'Florea' is a healthy disease free tree. Yet at least some people have a 'Florea' tree clone that is diseased with FMV. If your 'Florea' has 'FMV' then burn it, and get 'Florea' from a different source. FMV makes fig trees not as cold hardy.
One of the disadvantages to this cultivar of fig, just like any other cultivar that produces very sweet figs, the ants, and the bees love it's fruit. It's also a favorite fig cultivar of Chipmunks, of birds, and of Squirrels. It's figs dry well on the tree, they stay attached quite well. Yet too much rain, too much moisture, poor drainage, and too much nitrogen causes the figs of 'Florea' to go from 'eyeless' or from 'tiny eye' to an 'open eye', that causes it's fruit to split open at a wide open eye, and to sour, while at the same time a few of this tree's figs may still have a totally closed eye/mostly closed eye, yet the figs of the 'Ronde De Bordeaux' cultivar split more easily. 'Florea' has excellent tasting figs in dry climates that have a cold winter, but not in climates that are rainy and soggy while the fruit is developing, it's figs sour easily in 'New Jersey'. Little to no rain while the fig fruit are developing/ripening is when the fruit does not split or sour, when there is no eye or the eye is tiny, if at that same time the summer heat is at its peak then the flavor and the richness of the figs are noticeably better 'at their peak quality'. Oddly this cultivar got a great review for having rich/high taste figs being grown in 'Seattle Washington, a review that was made by Ben B, an 8 out of 10.
In a lot of climates it's best to remove the breba figs of 'Florea', that allows the main crop figs to start forming earlier. Breba crop fruits start to ripen on 'Florea' in 'late June', main crop fruits start to ripen on 'Florea' sometime in late July to early August. In some climates it's main crop figs start to ripen in 'mid-August'. In the 'Pacific Northwest' it's main crop figs start to ripen in late August. In southern British Columbia, Canada' it's main crop figs start to ripen around 'the 2nd to 3rd week' of 'September'. If the vegetation growth is not growing too vigorously then 'Florea' sets crops without the pinching of leaf buds.
It's figs have a reddish brown/green to dark purple skin with an amber/strawberry pink to reddish pink interior. The small to medium figs from the 'Florea' cultivar are very sweet when fully ripe, as sweet as the sweetest candy, it's fruit may have a slight spicy taste. It's figs have a berry flavor, ranging from slight berry flavor - strong berry flavor. It's berry flavor can taste like fully ripe mulberries, or like strawberries, or like 'Concord grapes'. It's sweet smelling figs also have a mild caramel like taste, they can have a mellon like taste, as well as a 'mild citrus like' flavor like that of some Mt Etna figs and like that of 'Ronde De Bordeaux', only weaker. It's figs can be rather crunchy with seeds, yet that decreases with time. Fruit may be sweet despite heavy rain. Some people say that this is one of the best honey figs, some people say that it tastes like pure honey, yet 'Ross Raddi' has put 'Florea' in to the 'Caramel', and in to the 'Fruity Berry' flavor group, others have put 'Florea' in to the 'Sugar' flavor group. This cultivar I think could fit in the flavor group 'Sugar-Honey-Caramel-Fruity-Berry' flavor group if there was one, and if the flavor did not vary so much from climate to climate. The flavor of it's figs linger on.
'Florea' produces at a young age, sometimes the same year that it's rooted. This cultivar starts low to medium production, yet it is very productive when the tree is mature enough, many of the nodes having one to two figs each. This cultivar is high production even in a pot, often high production as young as 2 to 3 years old. It takes only about '63 days' for 'Florea' to go from tiny figlet to ripe fruit. Which is unusually fast compared to most cultivars of fig trees. It's figlets also show up earlier in the year than the figlets of most other cultivars of fig trees, weeks before most other cultivars. Not only does it start cropping earlier in the season, it continues to crop until frost. 'Florea' usually starts forming figs at virtually the same time as 'Ronde De Bordeaux' does, yet since 'Florea's figlets usually form in to ripe fruit about a week quicker than 'Ronde De Bordeaux' does the fruit of 'Florea' usually starts to ripen about a week before 'Ronde De Bordeaux'. There's not much fig fruit competition during 'Florea's' first few weeks of production each year, that is due to the unusually early start to it's fruit production each year, 'Florea' has a head start providing ripe figs for short season climates. Good fruit is good fruit. The quality of it's figs can improve with the age of the tree if it's in a suitable climate. 'Florea' is usually more productive than 'Ronde De Bordeaux', which can be very rewarding to people in short season climates who wish they had more figs per season. Many people find the first figs of the year the most rewarding, missing fresh fig fruit and eating the first figs of the year is rewarding/it's exciting. This cultivar is the first or second cultivar to produce fruit each year 'in many people's collections'. This cultivar is a dependable producer. Even if this tree has serious die-back it often still produces the same year.
'Florea' is not the most cold hardy fig tree out there, yet it's certainly one of the most cold hardy. In hardiness zone 6a and colder winter protection is needed, in zone 6b - 7b protection is recommended, especially for younger trees, for larger crops and for the danger of colder years, in zone 7b+ protection is not needed, yet blocking the northern winds would still be good.
Like many other fig cultivars this cultivar is cold sensitive for the first 2-3 years, some people wait for it's trunk to get 2 inches or more in diameter before planting it in the ground, like any other fig tree it's best planted in front of the south side of a building 'when planted in a climate with a cold enough winter. Blocking the northern wind is one form of winter protection!
In 1994, in the garden of Vasile's father his unprotected 'Florea' was hit by -13 degrees Fahrenheit, that cold killed most of it's lateral branches, yet not it's main trunk, so his father pruned the tree down to the trunk. In the year 2000 Vasile's father told him about what happened in 1994, and told him that during the summer that followed that cold damage to the tree, the tree was loaded with more figs than ever. What a story to be told, while a member of your family is visiting you! Although during 'January nights 'Florea' was hit often by approximately -13 degrees Fahrenheit, that became common in the garden of Vasile's father. Vasile gets breba figs after freezes of 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
A young 'Florea' tree was killed down to a couple of inches off the ground when hit by -12 degrees Fahrenheit, it rebounded well.
An unprotected 'Florea' died after being exposed to about -30 degrees Fahrenheit, the unprotected 'Sweet Diana' fig tree near it survived that same cold. 'Florea' can survive unprotected down to somewhere between -13 degrees Fahrenheit, and -30 degrees Fahrenheit.
The wood of 'Florea' has less pith in the center, unlike other cultivars of fig trees the pit inside the wood is not white. The hard wood of 'Florea' is also harder than the wood of other cultivars of fig trees. This is believed to be the reason that 'Florea' is so cold hardy.
'Florea' is one of the easiest to root fig trees, just a few days after starting the rooting process someone had noticed roots of a 'Florea' cutting already growing out the bottom of the Styrofoam cup.
