Anybody can help me to find what is going on here?

I have two nice fig plants that were rooted in December and started producing in August, a Zidi and an Unk. Pastilliere . They are outside in 3 gal pots, SoCal, a wasp territory. As we know, they are the Smyrna figs and need to be pollinated to keep the figs on, right?
So, why do the Zidi and UP keep the figs on that are almost ripe now and where have the wasps get the pollen now??? The last caprifigs with pollen could be found in June or so, and the figs were large enough to accept the wasp were in September or end of August. In fact, all the figs regardless if they are common or not, have the seeds that sink.
Does the tiny wasps live that long (months) and keep the pollen on that is still viable or there is something going on here that I do not understand ?
Again, just to reiterate , the seeds from the figs I try today, in November , sink ...

Don't some of the caprifigs in NorCal sometimes have earlier crops than SoCal caprifigs? Maybe there's a caprifig with pollen even later than usual in your area that you don't know about, bringing the wasp within reach of your figs. :) Just an idea. 

Only the pollen-bearing profichi crop is useful for us.
It was over at the end of June or so.
I do not understand how that pollen can enter the figs in September- October

Probably the best question ever lol. I'm still wondering too.

Hi Greenfig,

Point1: Seeds sinking : On my Ice crystal, that is a smyrna too, I had 5 figs that ripened and they were really crunchy, so I tested some seeds... They all sank ... I'm in Zone7 ...
For me the sink test is not bullet proof .

Point2: Your Zidi and UP: How many figs did they show ? Did some drop ? Even a smyrna can keep some figs without the wasp .

A small theory : I have a neighbor that has a tree and she drops all figs until the cold comes in. Then she ripens the remaining figs.
 It is like cold weather does the trick ... for auto-pollination .
I have a small tree of that strain and she behaved exactly the same. She dropped all figs except for the last 5 when the temps got fresher under 10°C  at night ...
That tree is really heart breaking. So many figs shriveling and rotting under her canopy during the normal ripening season ...

So, did fresher temps come your way ?

We have some cooler temps starting today, about +20C

In addition to the fact that the seeds sink, they also germinate and sprout .
I believe that means they have been pollinated , correct ?

My Zidi keeps 2 out of 4 figs, the UP keeps about 6.

The Profichi crop may ripe figs over approx 3 to 4 weeks.. may be more at a decreasing rate. In 2013 in my area I noticed the first wasps on the last week of May, but neighbors said theirs came out by mid June and some others later than that. So, there were wasp activity, approx through the full months of June and July and may be part of August

From the time a wasp enters and pollinates a receptive Smyrna or a Common/San Pedro, the figs will need approx 50/60 days to ripen.

If it does not rain the Profichis you bring to your trees needing pollination, will slowly dry as their active wasps gradually leave these caprifigs... but for some reason a few late wasps are left behind inside these dry figs and well alive.
I am convinced that these insects we found late July/August or even later inside the dry Profichis still hanging on the trees are responsible for the late ripening of some Smyrna and San Pedro figs.
And the pollen they carry is still in good shape.. otherwise those late Smyrnas would never ripen.

This season (no rain at all ) had a few potted Incharios, Marabout, Kalamata (all Smyrna) ripening the last fruit up to around mid October

It's much easier to see Smyrna figs failing pollination at the start of the season than on the end of it even if a late ripening

Francisco
Portugal

Igor
In our zone 5 we can't expect fig wasps in Ottawa but in two different years in the past eight years I had a few main crop figs ripened on Desert King. Someone else had also claimed similar situation with DK. Could it be similar situation?

Francisco, thanks for your explanation.
Great question! I just brought inside for the night my Unk. Pastilliere with a ripening fig to save it from the critters. "Bursa Siyahi" (?) is still outside with around five just beginning to ripen figs on it. We still have a month and a half of warm, sunny weather. Where did the pollen come from? 
Perhaps there are some late pollen-bearing profichi still around. My ancient unknown fig tree in back is producing its third crop of figs now. If it can do it, so can caprifigs (if it's not already a caprifig). Someone mentioned on the board here that there were early, middle, and late ripening caprifigs. 

It happens to find the odd Smyrna or main crop San Pedro changing color and gaining volume as well as other apparent signs of being ripe and ... checking its insides find there are very few fertilized female flowers - if any-  , a few seeds as well as no flavor . In this cases pollination failed but instead of shriveling and drying,  a few figs show a false ripening and do not fall off its branch.

These are part of the very few exceptions to the rule like the Mammoni of a black Caprifi shown on these pictures taken on last Oct 24.
The 'book' says that the second Caprifig crop is the Mammoni where wasps full of eggs and pollen from the previous spring crop- the first-  (the Profichi), find shelter, oviposit their egg load and may fertilize a few female flowers... some authors may even indicate that these Mammoni may have a maximum of a dozen of such flowers.  Or what was found was what you see  here..

 

 
an almost full pulp with plenty of fertile seeds and a few galls. An evident exception to the rule

Mara,
If your 5 figs about to ripen are effectively  "Bursa Siyahi" , they may have been fertilized with pollen from nearby Caprifigs. This variety, if Iam not wrong, in its origin land ripens late September and under a climate very similar to yours and being a Smyrna may require late ripening Profichis .
Good luck


Francisco
Portugal