Hi folks,
Can someone tell me a bit more about if/when the following varieties of figs ripen in the PNW/Seattle area? Interested in both breba and main ripening time. 

These figs will be in full sun close to pavement for extra heat. No greenhouse and will stay outdoors all winter.

Longue D'aout  
Italian Honey
Peter's Honey
Ronde de Bourdeaux
Pastiliere
Grantham Royal
Violette de Bourdeaux
LSU IC
Petit Negri
English BT
Vern's BT
Olympian
Bayernfeige Violetta
Beall
Stella
Contessina

Thank you,

Ben has made quite a few videos for some of those varieties.  The dates on the videos may approximate ripening windows for the PNW.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv5dMfKiOFo1aqEK7OuoujA/videos

Jennifer, thanks! His videos are quite helpful indeed.

Ben or others in the PNW (including in Portland and Vancouver BC areas) please let me know what your ripening dates are for main crop and breba. 
Also how prolific are the varieties that you are growing on a scale of 1-10 if Desert King was 10.

Thank you,

You may be a little earlier in PNW, here in Ontario those varieties will have brebas in July and main crop in September.

Thanks Pino! It is good to know that they will ripen a main crop here.

For brebas - Granthams Royal here in Vancouver, BC is a 10 for reliability, taste, productivity. Desert king is No.2 after Granthams Royal. Another
Variant that is improving by leaps is Adriano's Faliciano. These variants are suitable for in ground growing. In terms of hardiness, DK & Faliciano
are better. Other potential breba candidates in my collection are Lamperia "Pon's" & Deleon.

For main crop in my zone, go with LSU O'rourke, LSU Improved Celeste, Florea, RdB, Barbillone, Latarrula, Salem Dark, Osborne Prolific,

Longue d'Aout ripens in cooler weather but rainy weather spoils crop easily. A setback worth acknowledging for my zone is the issue related with too
many rotting fruits in Fall. Inadvertently, it attracts lots of small flies/gnats. Hence my focus are brebas & early main croppers like LSU O'rourke & Improved
Celeste, Florea & RdB.

Thanks Paully22 for your reply! This is very useful.
I am currently rooting a couple of cuttings of Grantham's royal. I got the cuttings from Michael Dolan (Burntridge).
Beating DK in our climate is quite a feat and I am looking forward to fruit in a couple of years.

Here you go. Linked to the ones I've had. You can look at the time stamp to see when the fruit ripened on my blog post. hope this helps. =) For brebas in the PNW. Just assume they ripen throughout July into early august here. (Unless you have a greenhouse)

Longue D'aout  - melony tones
Italian Honey AKA Lattarula - very good sweet
Peter's Honey
Ronde de Bourdeaux
Pastiliere - I have but has not yet ruited
Grantham Royal - waiting on the brebas. They are looking plump
Violette de Bourdeaux
Petit Negri 
English BT - Small tree no fruit yet
Vern's BT -Not a bad tree, productive
Olympian - Great fig
Bayernfeige Violetta - Waiting on fruit
Beall - Has not yet fruited for me
Stella - I've had little luck with these brebas
Contessina - Do not have 

Fantastic blog! Very helpful for those of us in the Seattle area.

It's great to see you are trying Cherimoya, Sapota, Guava, Moringa and Jackfruit. I grew up with big productive trees of these in our yard back when I was young.

Ramv,

This is a list of recorded ripening times I sent last year to a friend so his son could time a visit when Brebas were ripening:

*2015 First Fig was a Lattarula on July 13.  Most Figs ripened between July 22-August 16.
2014 Ripening was from July 25-August 30.
2013 Ripening was from August 3-September 4.
2012 Ripening was from August 13-September 29.
*2011 Ripening was from August 26-October 2.
2010 Ripening was from August 15-September 17.
**2009 Ripening was from August 9-September 26.

2016 Ripening was from July 21-August 25.

As you can see from the above list, ripening times vary each year based on how early or late relative to "normal" that we accumulate enough heat units.  2009 we set Seattle's record high temperature of 103 degrees F on July 29.  2011 was a very cool year affecting ripening times of almost all fruits, and 2015 & 2016 were unusually warm, again affecting almost all types of fruit.  Individual Fig varieties ripen fairly consistently relative to each other with Lattarula generally being first.  Main crop Figs rarely ripen here with the exception of a few varieties, Lattarula being the most likely to ripen some of its Main crop.  You can affect ripening times if you bring potted Figs under cover for the Winter and bring them back out in early Spring.  I don't do that, if they can't handle being outside all year in our climate, there's no reason to grow them.  Most of my Figs are in large pots (20 gallon or larger).

Happy Growing,   kiwibob, Seattle

Thanks Kiwibob! This is really very useful long term information!
I've noticed a pattern as well, some years ago, I recall my DK used to ripen brebas in August, even as late as Aug 15th. This last year they started ripening by mid July and ripened completely by 1st August. I even got a handful of main crop figs that were devoid of any flavor.

This year is supposed to be warmer and drier than usual so maybe we will get some main crop figs :)


I agree with your philosophy of only growing hardy plants. In the (distant) past, I used to have a greenhouse and grew citrus all winter, even going as far as heating the soil to keep it above 55F during winter so that it would keep flowering! Kept many rain barrels around to keep the temperature stable! That was way too obsessive.
Nowadays I dont care for plants that aren't hardy here. There is so much that thrives in our climate anyway. I grow apples, plums, pears, blueberries etc.