Three New Fig Cultivars for the Gulf Coast

‘Champagne’, ‘O’Rourke’, and ‘Tiger’ figs (Ficus carica L.) were developed by the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station. ‘Champagne’, ‘O’Rourke’, and ‘Tiger’ are the third, fourth, and fifth cultivars released, respectively, from a fig breeding program initiated in the 1950s to develop cultivars for the gulf south region The three selections were evaluated at research stations in Louisiana. Three selections L55-13-22, L57-11-103, L57-13-121 were chosen for release because of superior fruiting characteristics. ‘Champagne’, ‘O’Rourke’, and ‘Tiger’, are selections from seedlings derived from a cross of 'Celeste' x 'C1’ (a Capri fig from California). The crosses and selections were made by Dr. Ed O'Rourke. The fruit of ‘Champagne’ has a slightly round distal end and tapers slightly toward the stem end with a short neck. The fruit has a partially closed eye (ostiole) on mature fruit. Internal color is gold to caramel color when soft ripe. ‘Champagne’ fruit ripen about the same time as ‘Celeste’, the first week of July in Baton Rouge, La. The main crop fruit of ‘Champagne’ ripens over a 15-day period which is comparable to 'Celeste' and 'Kadota'.  ‘O’Rourke’ has a round distal end and tapers slightly toward the stem end with a long neck region. ‘O’Rourke’ produces fruit about 35 mm in diameter of moderate size (20 grams), light brown fruit larger than fruit (14 grams) from the ‘Celeste’ cultivar.  The eye of O’Rourke is not completely closed compared to a closed eye of ‘Celeste’. Internal color is gold with some red near center of fruit when soft ripe. Fruit of ‘O’Rourke’ ripen 5 to 7 days before ‘Celeste’ or about the last week of June in the Baton Rouge, La. area. ‘Tiger’ fig produces good quality brown fruit with a darker brown stripe visible on most that are 30 to 40 mm in diameter, and weigh ~50 grams. The fruit of ‘Tiger’ have a partially closed eye on mature fruit. Internal color is yellow to gold with some red near center when full ripe. Fruit ripen about five to seven days after ‘Celeste’ or about the first week of July in the Baton Rouge, La. area. The main crop fruit of ‘Tiger’ ripen over a 15-day period, which is comparable to 'Celeste'. Fruit of all currently recommended cultivars of figs will split and crack to some degree during the ripening stage when excessive moisture is present.