I live in a cooler climate zone 6 Illinois close to the zone 7 line. I have read many topics that refer to the breba of alot of trees as poor quality fruit, and have read on some topics that some brebas are better than the main. also some kinds that i am growing i usualy dont get a chance to harvest any of the main crop as the weather shifts south before they can ripe. and i have read the desert kings breba has to be polinated but the main does not. this is alot to take in considering the several kinds of figs i have that i am growing. i have found that my brownturkey is most likly really a peters honey (i get fig drop on breba never had main ripe before frost) my hardy chicago ( i think produces only a single crop, good figs) purple Magnolia (had a few figs lasy year but i pulled them off for better roots) blue celeste (fig drop, never had a fig ripe in the 3 years i have had it) and three desert king Planted last year each 3 foot tall now)

this year i am planting
Osborne proliffic
RdB
VdB
Albique petite
green Ischia
Lattarola
Sal's C
Sal's G
MvsB
and some unknows
all of the above are rooting very well and growing very well
I also plan on buying 2 or three Nordland figs from raintree

so I am asking on any advice regarding getting the best production of quality fruits on each of these in zone 6 illinois all but one will be planted in ground and wrapped for winter protection for the first few years. I need to stop fig drop now last season we had a bad drought that i am thinking may have led to the drop, or maybey some need the wasp. i thought i got ones that didnt. so i need some info to help get this bag of snakes lined out.

Thanks for looking and any help you may be able to offer.

Dave

Dave the unknowns I sent you the connies you will be very happy with those once they start to produce fruit they both have nice breba crop as well as nice main but you should get a good breba where you are.

Hey Dave,
desert king is grown for the breba crop, the main crop needs pollination, not the breba.
all of them will be  slower/later to fruiting in ground as opposed to being in pots.
i think most would recomend removing any breba, except for the desert king, in order to get main crop to ripen.
water stress will cause fruit drop. that is about all I know.

Brebas do well in shorter season areas, such as the PNW because they ripen that crop in the hottest part of summer. The sun and heat give them good quality. Where the season is long, but the brebas ripen in a cooler part of the summer, such as San Diego, then they are often not as good.

One of the difficulties of breba figs is pruning. If you prune, you are likely not to get a crop, so you might have to use a strategy where you prune 50% of the tree each season.

White Adriatic and Narragansett have good breba crops, even in the cooler weather.

I knew desert king had one crop that they said needed the wasp. here in illinois we dont have that wasp as far as i know. we sure do got bees and hornest though. lot of good they do for figs.

mud dobbers to i think that what they call them

Dave,

Visit my website:
http://sites.google.com/site/kiwifruitsalad2

The Fig section is a good place to start for folks with growing seasons where the Main Crop won't ripen!  When I prune, I take out the tallest one of every 3 branches back to or near its source, leaving the other 2 to produce Brebas.  Here it is best to manage Figs as multi-trunked shrubs rather than trees.

Nordland?  Probably not a good choice.

Happy Growing,   kiwibob, Seattle

Here in Illinois there is no fig wasp unfortunately .
Yes mud dapper here as well very big and scary looking with its legs dangling in downward fashion as they fly i see them every year but their there nest builders basically , but them darn yellow jackets come at you and very aggressive as you know im sure.

If container culture is an option for you its a sure thing to ripen main crop figs each and every season i can attest all the while trialing them inground as well.

martin, it may sould kind of crazy but i dont have the space to grow potted figs. i know that inground is usaly the spot where people have space problems. i have a little land to plant on just no space at all to over winter figs at. so i am trying to get some of the most cold hardy figs that i can. i know some will require winter protectionm for a few years . but as i understand it for the most part they shoul be fine after that. I cant spell to save my life and am slightly intoxicated at the moment so i am sorry if this is hard to read.

Kiwibob, i will look at what you posted there when i am in a little better shape to do so. i am sure it is wonderful info.