Two weeks ago I watched a fig (an unk green) swell and ripen to a very nice state.  I was waiting for the opportune time to pick it.  I went out one morning and it was covered in ants.  I figured those ants must know what they're doing -- this fig must be tasty and sweet.  It was OK but not great.  It didn't have the sweetness I was hoping for.  Stupid ants.
  Over this last week I've watched another fig on the same tree swell and ripen.  I just went out and found that it was covered with ants.
  Should I harvest it now?
  Should I wait a day in hope that it will get sweeter?
  If I wait a day, will there be a fig left??
  Should I brush the ants off and move the pot to a different location (and continue to wait)?
  What would you do?
Jim

I just went out and took a closer look.
a) I think the ants have a nest in the pot.  So just brushing the ants off and moving the pot won't help.
b) The fig has a nice size split in the bottom, and figs seem to be getting into the interior.  (The previous ant-covered fig was just covered on the surface -- nothing got inside.)

I'm now leaning toward harvesting it and cutting my losses...but the night is young, so I'll wait to see what advice I get.

Jim

Better you harvest it. Ants wont leave it and will go deeper.

Ants nested in one of my pots and it nearly killed the tree. It suddenly turned yellow leaves over the course of just a few days and was then I discovered them entering the pot. To get rid of them I ended up taking the whole tree out of the pot, sprayed away all the potting mix along with the ants and re-potting the tree, which survived and has greened back up. Reasoned with myself that ants are very acidic and probably upset the pH of the mix.  There didn't appear to be any root damage.

There was a good post on here earlier this year about getting rid of ants.  They used this - http://www.ebay.com/itm/271214154908?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT . I know because I have had ant issues in the past so I looked it up on ebay and added it to my want list.  Expensive but the photo the member showed was the pot and part of a deck covered with dead ants.

I would use those garbanzo(?) bags to protect any remaining figs.  Who wants to eat a fig after a bunch of ants gobbled up all the sweetness?

Well, I decided not to take the chance with the ants.  I harvested the fig, and I think I made the right choice.
  The ants were hollowing out the fig from the inside around the eye.  If I had let them go another day, they wouldn't have left me much to sample!
  Even though it didn't seem as ripe (by look and feel) as the previous one I harvested, it had a nicer taste and a more noticeable touch of sweetness.  In fact, the sweetest part was the ripest part right around the bottom of the fig.  (Those ants aren't so stupid after all!! ;-)  (To be fair, the previous one was harvested after we had gotten tons of rain over two days.  I was impressed that it hadn't split, but it was a tad watery.  If it weren't for the ants, I would have let it dry out for a day or two...)
  There are two more beginning to swell, so I'd better take care of that ant situation!  (And we're supposed to get snow at the end of the week.  ACK!)
Cheers,
Jim

Hi needaclone,
Whatever the insects on the fig trees, you need to get them out - except from the wasps but in my Zone7 I don't have it :P .
I think you said the tree is potted. Soak the whole tree simply in water in a big bucket.
The idea is o get water up to 5 cm over the dirt level. Let the pot stay that way for 30 minutes, and remove the pot from the water and let the water flow out of the pot.
Ants should die .
Don't wait too much as at Springtime the new batch will be composed of more queens and thus you'll have more ants colonies.

I have the same issue - ants have invaded one of my potted figs.  I don't want to use any chemical ant baits or killers because there are a few figs that I want to ripen. 

So soaking it and drowning the little bastards is the best option? 

Two other "organic" options I've seen for combating ants:
  1) sugar water mixed with borax
  2) molasses mixed with yeast
In both cases, the foraging/gathering ants take the sweet solution back to their friends in the nest.  Eventually the whole colony ingests the borax or yeast and dies.  It is slow acting so it allows for many ants to bring sufficient quantities back to the nest.

I've been trying to hold back on water as the figs develop to avoid splitting and watered-down figs....but we've gotten lots of rain anyway, so maybe I'll just go for it.

Jim

Borax works like a charm.  Mixed a little jelly with Borax and added to a small Glad container.  Burned holes in the sides of the container with an old soldering iron so ants can go in and out.  Made a small hole in the top for a piece of string.  Put the string through the top and made a knot so it wouldn't come out.  Hung them from a few affected trees and within hours the ants were happily going in and out of the containers.  Also placed a few on the ground around the yard, especially on the ant trails.

Danny,
  That's a great idea to mix the Borax with Jelly!  With a sugar water solution there is a much higher chance of spilling it and/or having it evaporate.  I've always poured it onto a container lid and then covered that with a weighted-down milk crate -- but I'm digging the little hanging container idea.  You could literally hang one on every tree with ripening figs.
Cheers,
Jim

What is the advantage to hanging them in the tree vs setting the container on the ground next to the tree?  Hanging will be farther for the ants to go before finding it and by then they will already have found your figs

Jim - The traps are not 100% effective but they work very well.  I am happy with the results.  I do think the ants, like the birds, know how to find the sweetest and ripest figs.

Ed - I don't know if there is an advantage to hanging them in the tree vs setting the container on the ground.  When I had my ant problem this summer I did not notice ant trails on the trunks of the potted trees.  The ants had to be coming from another location such as fig leaves touching a fence, shed, deck or other fig tree, etc.  I have a very small yard and it's almost impossible for me not to have trees touching something.  By hanging in the tree, my logic was that I'd get the ants that are crossing over from somewhere else as opposed to coming up from the bottom.  So instead of just laying all the traps in the pots or on the ground I decided to hang a few near the effected figs as well.  I did observe some hanging traps with lots of ants going in and out and I observed some with none.  It seems to have worked as there were considerably less ants on my figs and in my yard in general.  I did see a few in some of the Organza bags in September when most were ripening, but nothing like they were in the summer.

Ed,
  In my yard things on the ground invariably get knocked around.  So, hanging this trap in the tree seemed appealing for that reason.  I admit it is less of a concern if the bait is jelly, as opposed to the sugar water I've used in the past.
  Also, I'm not opposed to ants in general.  I kind of like them and think they're cool.  But I don't like lines of them coming into my house or up to my figs!  So if I can "target" the ones that are on track to getting to my figs (or in the house) but leave the others on the ground alone, that would be my preference...
Cheers,
Jim