Do you find figs with larger eye openings to be more prone to splitting and or souring? Do you find this more prevalent after lots of rain when figs are almost ripe? Is it do to the rain water seeping into the eye or the soil being wet? Or both? Is it because the fig didn't produce a honey drop to seal the eye? 

Dan thanks, That detailed explanation is just what I was looking for. Thanks again for taking the time to better inform all us fig beginners.  I have noticed exactly what you stated after heavy rains with taste if it wasn't sour it just wasn't as sweet and watery in taste. My small eye closed eye fig shows no effect from the rains. Great explanation. 

As you look at the pix at Figs 4 Fun http://figs4fun.com you can get an idea about the eyes from looking at the pix of the eye-end, and the cut halves. They will give you some idea of how big the eye is, and how open it is, and how deep the opening goes. The obvious example is Brown Turkey which has a large, open eye, and a large hollow. Lots of opportunity for bugs and crftters to crawl in.

Thanks Jon & Dan here are pics of what I think might be a Brunswick with a big open eye more so after 4 days of rain of about 3 inches.

Thanks for confirming my thoughts on the variety and you are absolutely right on taste variance with different weather conditions. My  potted soil doesn't seem to get over watered from rain because the leaf canopy acts as an umbrella, but the rain water dripping into the eye and humidity seem to affect it more in my opinion. The days are so hot and sunny right now that the soil dries up pretty fast. It's those late afternoon showers or storms that effect it.

I've likewise been plagued recently with sour fruit on my brown Turkey, perhaps due in part to rain, but mainly to the tiny beetles that enter through the open eye. I've heard them called "sour fig beetles" as well as "dried fruit beetles." The one in the attached photo has just exited the fig; it then flew away.

In an attempt to foil them, I tried sealing the ends of green figs with a drop of white glue, hoping to mimic the strategy of the varieties that seal the eye with "honey" or resin. It's sometimes effective, but seems to lower the quality of the fig, and I doubt I'll bother trying it again unless I can find a material that works better. The attached shot is of a ripe BT fig that was sealed a couple of weeks ago when it was green; it actually tasted pretty good, but not great. Has anyone tried sealing fig eyes with another substance that works better?

The other bad pest, that seems somehow associated with the little beetles are the big green June beetles (see attached) that eat the fruit from the outside in, leaving just a few shreds of dried skin. Both types of beetles are all over my brown Turkey, but I've never seen either on the black mission, just over a hundred feet away.

I was going to try the little foam earplugs, but didn;t have them available when I was experimenting. I did use very small pieces of rolled toilet paper, that actually worked well. I tried medical tape, but it doesn't adhere well when the fig starts to expand. Haven't tried silicone sealant, yet. Just trying to find out if it is possible to get desired results, and then how to do it reasonably.

Can you try some organic insect sprays.

Someone told me about using "veil material" to keep dried-fruit beetles out of the open eyes of my Brown Turkey figs. I had some old pieces of mosquito-netting-type fabric that I thought ought to be comparable, so a few days ago I asked my daughter to sew them into open-ended cylinders for covering fig branches. She came up with 6 sleeves, each about 45" long by 40" in circumference. I experimented by slipping one of them over a branch with several unripe figs, using a wire twist-tie to secure it snugly around the bare part between the foliage and the larger branch, and then I twisted the open, outer end and secured it with a clothespin (see photo).

I checked today and had a ripe fig with no sign of souring (see photo). It's easy to take off the clothespin, pick the fruit, and re-clip the sleeve. I don't know whether the birds will peck the netting and make access holes for the beetles, but if I leave some branches uncovered maybe that will provide enough of a decoy to keep the birds from bothering the protected fruit. At any rate, this first experiment seems promising, so I'll get some more sleeves and try it on a larger scale.

In the  pictures on the link that "ingevld" posted from Thailand, there is a picture of a fig with what looks like tape across the eye. So even in the green house it seems he has problems. I wonder what kind of tape, it must work if he's using it.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=th&u=http://suanpupunpom.com/&ei=FCKESv6wNJWQNrzlyNIE&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=5&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522growing%2Bfigs%2522%2Bgreenhouse%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den-us%26sa%3DN%26start%3D140