Figs

[dandelion]

I harvested a crop of 2 figs from my small Brown Turkey Fig tree last month. More fruit has formed since then: the tree now has about 20 figs which are almost full size but not ripe yet. It also has tiny emryonic fruits which I assume will grow on next season. However, I wonder what to do with the other crop. Is there any chance of it ripening? The tree is in a pot which I have now moved into an unheated greenhouse.

[dandelion]

[saddad]

The large fruit may ripen, especially if you have it in a greenhouse and it stays sunny. The embryo figs will die in an unheated greenhouse over a typical English winter and should be knocked off once the plant is dormant (after the leaves have fallen).

[dandelion]

Thanks. I'll keep my fingers crossed for the larger fruit.

[Jayb]

Good luck, hope they ripen.

[pumkinlover]

They ripen quickly so if you get a few nice days they might well!

[artichoke]

I am puzzled by the advice to remove the "tiny embryonic fruits". If these are really tiny, and almost hidden in the leaf axils, they are next summer's fruits, and also are rather difficult to get at and remove..... Some will be killed by prolongued frosts, but most will survive, as in my large outside trees.

It is the larger but undersized fruits on stalks, trying to become a second crop, which should eventually be removed if possible. The RHS says:  "However, if the smaller pea-sized embryonic figs developing in the leaf axils survive the winter........they will ripen and be ready for cropping next year".

My outside trees never manage a second crop, but perhaps yours will in a greenhouse.

[Nigel B]

After the leaves drop, anything bigger than a pea gets knocked off as a fig that tried to ripen this year but lost the battle.
Anything up the size of a small pea should survive the winter and become the fruit you will eat next summer.
It works for me. :)



I'll also be cutting mine back over the winter sometime as its starting to steal next door's light.
Anyone have advice on how best to go about it so it doesn't affect next year's crop?

[Vinlander]

tree now has about 20 figs which are almost full size but not ripe yet. It also has tiny emryonic fruits

Is there any chance of it ripening?

Hi dandelion,

If you have any fruits that might be full-sized but simply haven't softened yet then you can try tying individual loose clear plastic bags over the most likely candidates.

I do this on the spring crop to give some protection from starving pigeons, but it definitely speeds up the ripening.

Make sure you use scissors to cut a pencil-sized hole in the lowest point on the bag - otherwise any moisture from the fruit will condense inside and can drown it.

I can't confirm if it works on fruits that haven't reached full size but you could try a few, after all on this crop - unlike the spring crop - you have nothing to lose.

Cheers.

[artichoke]

My trees are also getting too big. For what it's worth, we removed completely two or three large branches from low down on each tree last autumn, after leaf fall. The remaining branches, 6 or 7, have provided loads of figs this year. Lots of little shoots have sprung up, of course.

When the leaves fall again, I mean to thin out the small shoots, and remove 2 or three more branches from each tree, especially the ones still bearing masses of ripe figs out of my reach.....

Although the RHS has v complex advice on pruning, I think this works for me. These are about 15 years old, very robust, and the remaining branches only fail if there are bad frosts or a chilly summer like last year. I am treating them like any other soft fruit bush, just on a larger scale.

At my allotment site there is a vast fig tree leaning over a nearby wall outside the site, very generous with its figs that no-one else takes any interest in. This year someone slaughtered it, cutting back every branch by about two thirds. Of course there are no fruit this year.

[realfood]

I harvested two crops from my outdoor fig in Glasgow this year, so it is perfectly possible to get two crops in this country. It all depends on the weather. We had a mild Winter which meant that the overwintering figlets survived to ripen in July. the second crop ripened in September and is continuing into October.

[saddad]

I'm very impressed to hear that... but I'll stick with my one crop method... it works well enough for me.