I talked about Pastiliere the bad facts about when i know fig will soon drop in recent posting "Pastiliere"
Here i talk about how i know when a fig begins to just show me a sign of starting the ripeining process.
I try to capture in picture for you to see what i see with my eyes but it may be hard cause of sun, but i will take more pictures each day .

I know this may bore some more experienced growers but this is to help the "younger inexperienced " members that just getting into growing figs and help illustrate to them IF they are not sure .
I will post all the way to fig getting ripe and what it looks like (hopefully)

This morning for first time looking at my dark portuguese in its 2nd full growing season a change in one of the figs.
It turned a shade lighter green and swelled just a tinsy but noticeable to me, this is a good sign .
Tomorrow if more  change i will post.  ; )

Same fig today

Martin,

Thanks for sharing! This is good information for me.

JD

Looking forward to tomorrow's picture

Here is todays picture of fig August 7th

Also another has started doing similar not pictured.

Martin ,
This is very helpful indeed .
Thanks for teaching.
Best ,
Kerry

its amazing how fast they go from green to dark. Good job Martin taking pics daily to show the difference really enjoying these.

Nice Martin

Thank you Martin.

Figs have been grown for thousands of years, and yet it's amazing how little information is available on growing figs.

That is what is great about this Forum.  One can learn a great deal here from more experienced growers.

There are two ways to learn: Through studying the experiences of others or the hard way (making lots of mistakes yourself).

Obvioulsy, the former is much better than the latter.

I learn a great deal everytime I visit the Forum.

Thank you Martin, and everyone.

Best wishes.

John
North Georgia Piedmont
Zone 7b

Here is todays picture of fig August 8th

Here is picture August 9th.

Here is ripe dark portuguese i picked this morning August 10th 2010

This tree is still young in its 2nd season and has set a lot of figs that are starting to ripen for its size in 10gallon container.

This is first ripe fig its produced ever.
At sunset yesterday i was out in yard with our dogs and looked at this fig and saw that it was ready, forecast was for chance of rain and possibly in morning as well.
But i did not pick it as i wanted to sit back with the Misses and enjoy the rest of evening have some ice cream and watch some television. 
This morning i pick fig.

As a note this fig is a little bit smaller than the others that are now starting to ripen on this tree.

Not knowing what to expect first time ever eating this type i closed my eyes and tried it. No i dont do this but with a type i never tried yes as crazy as it sounds.

I was very surprised as it was similar to my hardy chicago just a step down from it in richness and seed crunch and look forward to eating more figs from this tree as they ripen.

I would love to see a DNA test on both of my tree's to see how closely related they actually are. 

This has been most interesting Martin.

Thank you for sharing this.

The Hardy Chicagos are pretty tough to beat.  Ours have been outstanding this year.  Even with lots of rain the past two weeks (nearly 4 inches), the Hardy Chicagos have been super sweet and very rich flavored.  And very productive this year.

So even not surpassing the Hardy Chicago in flavor, that can still be a pretty tasty fig.

Best wishes.

John
North Georgia Piedmont
Zone 7b