my ficus seed auction ends on 19 july at 6:00 pm (pacific time)
descriptions and pics...
ficus carica x coronata?
on 23 may 2026 i put pollen from my ficus coronata, which i believe is parthenocarpic, into the small figs of several different cultivars of ficus carica. the problem is that the figs hadn't been covered previously so its entirely possible that they had already been pollinated by carica's wasp. so expect that most, if not all, the seeds will simply be ficus carica. of course i'm really hoping that at least some of the seeds will be fathered by coronata! after pollinating the carica figs i covered them with organza bags.
the first figs to ripen came from an unlabeled plant given to me by my friend figology. i sent him a pic and he guesses it might be pastiliere.
left: naturally pollinated?
right: artificially pollinated
date harvested: 5 july 2026
both figs showed signs of black fig fly (bff). i threw the left fig into the blender with several other figs to extract the seeds, so i have no idea how many sinker seeds it contained. the right fig contained numerous floating seeds but only 10 sinker seeds.
left: unpollinated
right: artificially pollinated
date harvested: 10 july 2026
again both figs showed signs of black fig fly (bff). the left fig didn't contain any sinking seeds. i didn't attempt to pollinate it and neither did any wasp. to be clear, since i didn't attempt to pollinate it, i didn't cover it in an organza bag. the carica wasp is in my area but evidently not all the time. this cultivar must be parthenocarpic, since it ripened without pollination.
the fig on the right, which i did attempt to pollinate, only contained 3 sinker seeds. just because a seed sinks in water doesn't guarantee its viable. and just because a seed floats doesn't mean it isn't viable. however, generally a sinker seed is much more likely to be viable than a floating seed.
given that it seems highly possible that the carica wasp wasn't in the area when these two figs were receptive, i can't help but be a little bit optimistic that my pollination attempt was at least a tiny bit successful. i mixed the 3 sinker seeds with the 10 sinker seeds from the other fig.
the "pastiliere" tree is in a 15 gallon pot and has 2 more figs that i had attempted to pollinate. they look much more promising than the 1st two figs. uh, it feels like i need to start using the abbreviation "ap" for attempted pollination. the tree has 2 more ap figs that look promising. then again, maybe the only reason the 2 remaining ap figs are larger isn't because of more successful pollination, maybe its simply because i covered them before the bff got to them. or maybe the carica wasp got to them before i did? the proof is in the pudding (sowing the seeds and evaluating the seedlings).
aside from these 2 ap figs, there are around a dozen or so ap figs on other carica cultivars.
ficus (carica corky’s x palmata) x ?
this is a cross from mike fons. he gave me a cutting, which i grafted, but my writing is a bit illegible...
i'm pretty sure that says "corky palmata". from that batch of cuttings that mike gave me, the only alternative would be "smith palmata". i showed pics of the fig to mike and he's pretty confident that its ficus carica corky's x palmata #1.
its not a big fig normally, thanks to palmata, but this one is extra small from lack of water. ficus palmata hybrids are showing some promise in florida and other tropical places for rkn tolerance.
since my fig was naturally pollinated, i have no idea who the father is.
ficus fraseri x carica
ficus fraseri is a sandpaper fig (sycidium subgenus) from australia. initially the hybrid seedlings indoors in bags were slow but then i realized that the medium might have been too dry, because when i moved the stunted seedlings outdoors and regularly watered them they started growing quite well.
so far i've only grafted one seedling onto carica. the scion initially seemed very compatible with carica, but then growth stalled and the upper leaves started to yellow. this occured right around the start of summer. either its a matter of delayed incompatibility, which would be a bummer, or its because the hybrid can't handle hot, dry, direct summer sun/heat. i think this might be the case for ficus fraseri which seems to be an understory tree.
i moved the grafted hybrid to a somewhat shadier spot...
seems like its starting to grow again, but that might be wishful thinking on my part. we will see. in any case, the point of seeds is variation, so no two hybrid seedlings will be equally graft compatible with carica or any other ficus.
ficus carica x johannis
these seeds came from a batch of dried figs that mike fons bought from yunnan china. he sowed the seeds and one of the seedlings had particularly spidery leaves...
i refer to it as his super spider and really love it. maybe he will officially name. back in april he shared with me 12 figs from the same batch, which i soaked in water for a day...
all their sinker seeds...
i've sowed several of the seeds. they seem a little bit slow to germinate but the germination rate has been decent... maybe around 60%. out of all the viable seeds, what are the chances that one of them will be more spidery than mike's super spider?
ficus lutea x carica
don't expect any of these seeds to germinate. if i recall correctly, i sowed 200 seeds and only 1 germinated, but only partially, and then died shortly afterwards. this is no surprise since ficus lutea is in the urostigma subgenus, which is very distantly related (relatively speaking) to carica. maybe embryo rescue might work.
ficus opposita x carica
ficus opposita is a sandpaper fig from australia. so far the hybrid seedlings have grown quite well. i grafted 4 scions of one seedling onto 2 different caricas and the compatibility seems quite high. this seedling fruited for the first time but so far the figs have been ruined by bff. here are what its leaves look like...
ficus opposita x carica variegated
the pollen came from 4 figs from a variegated carica and 1 fig from another male (bell). don't expect the seedlings to be variegated.
holding your breath: not ok
crossing your fingers: ok
ficus opposita x silverliar (johannis x carica)
i purchased the father from a reputable source as "silverlyre", which is supposed to be female. when my tree fruited for the first time, and the figs were male, i was disappointed and called it silverliar. but so far its my most productive male tree. currently the bar is pretty low though.
the seedlings of this cross are still pretty small but seem to be growing fine...
i'm guessing they will be lobed but we will see. the figs should be pretty small.
ficus racemosa x carica
ficus racemosa at the fairchild botanic garden in miami florida. massive tree with decent buttresses, but i'm not sure to what extent the tropical conditions are responsible for them. here in california, the racemosa mother of my hybrid does not have any buttresses. racemosa is pretty widespread, from pakistan to australia, and exhibits quite a bit of variability over its range.
this hybrid is the first ever cross between carica and a monoecious ficus. the germination rate of the "racecar" seeds has been relatively high, but the seedlings quickly showed signs of outbreeding depression, but not equally so. here's one of the fastest seedlings...
however, so far even the fastest racecar seedling is way slower than the average seedling of ficus opposita x carica. i'm hoping that this won't be the case in conditions more tropical than here in los angeles.
ficus sycomorus gnaphalocarpa x silverliar
this is the 3rd ever cross between carica and a monoecious ficus. so far the seedlings seem to be pretty slow. i'm guessing that this is also a sign of outbreeding depression. here's one of the largest seedlings...
ficus ulmifolia x carica
another one of my sandpaper crosses, but in this case the mother is from the philippines. so far the seedlings seem around as vigorous as my other sandpaper crosses, but several have wonky leaves. not sure if its viral, bacterial or fungal. i'm hoping that they will grow out of it.
here are a couple of the nicest seedlings...
the seedling on the left has been in full sun, unlike the seedling on the right. this variability is the source of all goodness.
species
ficus carica ‘cherry cordial’
given to me by my friend figology, this palmata hybrid shows some promise in florida for tolerance to rkn. i'd love to see some simple side-by-side experiments with these seeds and regular carica seeds to see if there's a noticeable difference when sowed in rkn soil vs clean soil.
ficus carica
seeds from various named and wild ficus carica.
ficus gasparriniana
the only parthenogenic ficus that i grow, meaning that it produces fertile seed without having to be pollinated by a 3rd party. the seeds are the largest out of all my ficus, and they are really packed into the small red fig, which detracts from its mild sweetness. this species is graft compatible with carica, but gasparriniana prefers more shade. on its own roots it is a small shrub.
ficus septica
this species is dioecious and in the subgenus sycomorus. relatively fast growing here in los angeles. survived this last winter outside no problem, but it was relatively mild. the lowest it got down to was probably in the high 30s.
last year i grafted it onto carica but the scion has barely grown at all.
ficus ulmifolia
sandpaper species from the philippines. my particular variety has small figs that are nearly black when ripe with orange flesh...
left: ulmifolia
right: opposita
i've only nibbled on the ulmifolia figs but they are sweet with a melon flavor.
according to reputable sources, ulmifolia is one of the few ficus that regularly fruits indoors. combined with its potential for precociousness (the mother of my hybrid produced its 1st fig at 8 months from seed), this species has considerable potential for developing a productive edible fig for indoors.
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