Fig varieties for the Willamette Valley

Careful variety consideration seems to be the trick with figs in our area.

Mar 30, 2024

Cliff notes:

Many gardeners report success with figs. Other gardeners have been frustrated by: no fruit, fruit drop, or fruits not ripening.

Selecting the right variety will set you up for success. Other than that, problems are usually minimal, but can include squirrels & birds (and other critters). Rarely bees & ants are reported.

The tried and true for our region include: Desert King, Lattarula (AKA Italian Honey), Negronne (AKA Violette de Bordeaux), Olympian & Stella. Others warrant caution, including Brown Turkey (this may be because of name confusion - see full write-up below).

Problems: biggest issue is tree getting too big (easy to prune once you know how). 10 reports out of over 80 for squirrels and birds being a problem. Occasionally raccoons. Wasps rarely a problem. And 2 gardeners reported ants getting to their fruits before they do.

Check out the color on this Violette de Bordeaux from Michelle King’s garden! It is a variety that several gardeners in our region have raved about.

My garden

I planted a fig as one of my very first trees when I moved to this property in 2009. It grew well, not overly vigorous, wide and reaching roughly 8 feet in that time. Seemed awfully healthy. But it only gave me two fruit in its entire life. Out the tree went, about 8 or 9 years later.

I figured the tree must really want more sun than I could give it. The original site I had that tree got sun from around 8:30-3pm, the most important hours of the day, so I was a little stumped that I got next to no fruit.

A little while later, I bought — totally on impulse — a Little Ruby. I didn’t plan that at all and - oops - ran out of sunny spaces to put it in. So I planted it and I figured I’d just move it at some point when a sunnier space opened up. The area it is in now gets shaded by 1pm.

This year, it surprised me by cranking out a decent amount of fruit. The flavor is good. Nothing special. But a decent fig that produces in its semi-shaded spot.

My “oops” turned out to be an excellent lesson - some figs seem to fruit ok in shadier conditions. This led me to question whether my initial problem with that first tree was something other than the sun exposure.

I’m not entirely sure what variety I had originally planted. I think it was Brown Turkey. Combing the internet now, I can see that Brown Turkey indeed has a somewhat poor reputation. Note on One Green World’s website, they sell “Vern’s Brown Turkey” and that it was named in order to distinguish itself from the “less reliable” Brown Turkey. The director at the Home Orchard Education Center also mentioned to me in passing that this is the variety that they like.

Perhaps I got the dud variety in that initial fruit tree. Should have done more research. It is so flipping frustrating to find out now that I could have been harvesting figs all along had I simply planted the right variety.

Some time ago I also planted Negronne… which I also put in a less-than-optimal position and ignored it. It hasn’t done anything. I assumed that it was the lack of sunshine that had been an issue. I have been considering just pulling it after my first experience.

But after reading through the reviews that I posted below from other Willamette Valley growers, I went out to dig it up and move it. First thing I spotted: what appears to be Breba crops forming! When I got down to the roots, I found the roots severely root-bound from my initial planting AND huge boulders hampering root growth.

Stay tuned to see how this tree progresses now that it has been moved.

Side note: I’ve made a few friends in the area who grow figs and let me pick quite a few - typically in September. Delicious. Though, there is a phenomenon of some of the figs starting to ferment with no indication that it is going sour on the exterior. Does anyone out there know what causes this? Is it something to do with variety or insects? Is it that Spotted Wing Drosophila?

Gardener reviews: here’s where I again turn to gardeners on social media to find out what the tried and true varieties are for our region. I asked around in about 20 Facebook groups that are devoted to areas within the Willamette Valley.

There was so much info that I collected that it was too much to list, so below you will find a summary. The document where I collected this information can be accessed here.

There seem to be two types of fig growers in our area:
-Those that grow figs for significant food production.
-The second type are “fig addicts” who grow as many types as they possibly can. Often they grow the marginally hardy varieties in pots and bring them indoors, babying them along with tender care. They practically send me spreadsheets (I kid you not) of all the figs that they grow. Haha! Though I think that is a super cool hobby, it is not one that I have time for. I’m solidly in the other camp of food production.
Psst… Guy (my 16yo son, who does subscribe to these posts), I could see you becoming a fig addict some day.

A few photos to get that mouth watering:

Negronne figs from a 3 year tree, courtesy of Nisha George.

These are Petite Nigra, growing in a West Linn garden. This gardener reports the reddish ones are not ripe.

Variety considerations: with few exceptions, I’m only going to mention the varieties that have been mentioned more than once, starting with the most commonly planted varieties in our area:

First, note that in our region, we do not have a long enough season and hot enough summers to ripen MOST types of figs. There are, however, some kinds that start making fruit on wood from the previous year, which ripens early-ish the following summer. In a typical year, they are early enough to ripen before the rains come in September. These are called the “Breba” crop and most of the varieties that are successful in our region are known to have good Breba crops. Sometimes a second “Main” crop comes on after the first Breba, which may or may not ripen before the fall rains ruin them all.

Desert King is the most commonly planted variety in our region. Over 20 gardeners report success. It ripens a huge Breba crop starting Mid-July, and sometimes a second main crop. What surprised me most about reading the reviews on this one was that many folks raved about the flavor. And not just the gardeners growing one or two varieties - there are growers who grow dozens of varieties and Desert King is still listed as tops for flavor and production. This surprised me because I have tried them before (albeit only once that I can recall) and found their flavor to be kind of boring. A couple of gardeners also said that the flavor wasn’t their fave. Perhaps the ones I had were growing in too much shade, not pruned for maximum sunlight, or picked too early. I’m going to have to give this one a try. Even if the flavor does turn out rather boring, they are still excellent for processing into jam.

Brown Turkey is the second-most commonly planted variety in our region. 21 reports. Quite a bit of caution is warranted on this one. While many gardeners report success and prolific fruiting, several others report failures. A few gardeners noted it doesn’t produce. One said it died in a cold snap. One said theirs is stunted. Several said the fruit ripens too late. The difference between success and failure could be that some gardeners are planting a strain of Brown Turkey that is supposedly better, called Vern’s Brown Turkey. There’s often mixup at the nursery with all fruit trees, and gardeners or nursery growers could simply be not remembering the Vern part of the name. I suspect that those gardeners reporting success with this variety may well have Vern’s.

Lattarula AKA Italian Honey is the next most common in our region. 12 reviews. One gardener reported they are growing both lattarula and Desert King, and prefer Desert King for flavor. Another gardener noticed the exact opposite. I’m not sure why you’d choose one over the other. Perhaps other growers can chime in.

Negronne AKA Violette de Bordeaux: is next up. Absolutely rave reviews on this one. 7 gardeners out of over 80 have reported major success. None that have noted failures. See the above photos.

Stella — 5 gardeners reported success with this variety, no failures. Thumbs up.

Chicago Hardy: 5 gardener reports. 3 of which are poor (not fruiting or inferior flavor). The main draw with this one seems to be that it will do very well in super cold regions. I’m not seeing much point of growing it here when others will do.

Olympia: 5 gardener reports. Folks like this one, but one gardener reports they find Negronne a better flavor.

Petite Nigra: only one gardener reported on this one. It is a dwarf variety that sounds like it has excellent flavor, fruiting even in shadier conditions. See the above photo.

Des Tres Esplets: only one gardener reported on this one as well, but it sounds super interesting for flavor and color, and is noted to be one of the very best for short-season growers. In our climate, there is potential of up to 3 crops.

There are tons of other varieties that gardeners are trying. But most don’t have the reputation that the others do. There is a group on Facebook specifically devoted to PNW figs, I encourage anyone who wants to grow different varieties listed here to ask them about the varieties they are curious about.

Problems that have arisen:

Overgrown trees seem to be the biggest discussion topic. The problem is that the trees put figs only on the newest growth, and if you let the trees get too large, they’ll get so big you can’t reach the fruit.

A Desert King fig, growing way too big to easily pick the fruits. If your tree gets this big, please note that you could simply whack it to the ground, let it regrow and start over - pruning it correctly each year.

As for pruning, I’ve read a few articles on the topic, and found them a little confusing to follow. This video out of a Seattle garden shows a nice pruning method that keeps the tree very low and maximizes Breba crops. And for those that might like to keep their trees a little higher off the ground, this video is also excellent.

Animal predators

Birds, squirrels, and raccoons eating all of the fruit is the next biggest problem reported. 10 accounts out of 80 is rather minimal, but it is very frustrating when it does happen. I read one account that green fruits tend to get attacked by birds less than darker-skinned fruits. No idea if that is true.

Some success can be had by wrapping each individual fruit with a barrier, such as Organza bags, which are easy to use. But these could be quite laborious with larger quantities. You could simply choose to bag a few of them, to ensure you get some of the fruit… leaving the rest for the wildlife.

Another idea could be to build a baffle on the tree out of sheet metal, making it so crawlers are unable to get up the tree. But then, you’d also have to train the plant to tree form with a trunk that you could attach a tall enough baffle to.

Insects:

Rarely, ants can be a problem, attacking the fruits. Some success could be had with a product called Tanglefoot. Basically you wrap the tree at the base with a sheet of tinfoil, and paint it with this sticky substance. The insects get stuck and die.

Wasps can become an issue. One gardener reported that you could fill a bucket with water and add old fruit to it. The wasps are attracted and drown. Or perhaps you could just put up a wasp trap if they become too numerous. I tend to have moderate tolerance for them in my garden, because they are good at pest control, but when they are so numerous I can’t walk out the door for fear of getting stung, I will take action.

The Spotted Wing Drosophila is reported by Home Orchard Education Center as being one of the insects that attacks figs, but I did not hear of this issue with any of the gardeners I polled. If you happen to have a small maggots in the fruit or fruit flies around your tree, check out this post.

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Drop me a comment with your experiences!

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