What qualifies as a breba (sp?) crop? (I may have the spelling wrong.)
Also, do most figs in a given zone tend to require the same length of time to ripen? Will cool weather in the fall slow ripening, or stop it altogether? I'm guessing that immature fruit has no use, so is it a good idea to remove late-setting fruit that is likely to get hit by frost or just chilly weather before it can ripen?

Thanks for putting up with all these newbie questions!
--Rick in CT

Breba figs come from leave nodes of previous wood, while main crop figs are from the current, new wood.  

Ripening time of a given zone depends on temperature, sun light, fertilization, soil, etc.. The length of time to ripening, even on the same tree for each fig can be different.

You raise a good question on the late forming figlets as to whether one should remove them, knowing that they are not going to mature when cold weather hits.  I think it all depends on if your tree is in ground or not.  Potted fig trees can be taken inside a green house to lengthen the growing time, so some of the immature figs can have the chance to ripen.  In ground trees are not able to do that, though I have seen some push the ripening process by removing all the leaves out before their time to hasten the ripening process.  Some even apply oil on the eyes to do that.  I do not know how effective these techniques work, though.

Thanks, Schang.
Generally speaking, about how long do most fig fruits that appear (for example) in early June require to fully ripen? I'm just looking for an approximate time, and I know that the time depends on weather, temp, variety, etc.
Thanks.

I'd say 60 to 100 days. I've marked some figs of several varieties this yr at 1/4 inch size. I'll record how long it takes to ripen.

Yea, I'd think that time span probably covers most of the fig trees.  Some may take longer than that, depending on the elements around the fig tees.  The fruits taste best when they are ripening in season, though.  I'd not savior those that ripen by other means as much as those in season. 

Rather than removing the figs that likely won't have time to ripen, you can prevent them from forming by pinching the terminal bud on each branch.  This stops the tree from growing more branches, figs, and leaves, and hastens ripening the figs already formed.  I usually snip the buds off sometime in July - the later the fig, the earlier the snip.  Figs generally don't have really good quality late in the season in New England - though a few, like Gene's Paradiso, are still pretty good.

You can try rubbing just a hint of olive oil all over the outside of the fig to help ripen it faster.  I think the oil kind of clogs some of the pores and amplifies the heat and sun.  Just a guess, but seems to work on my figgers.

Hi,
Patience patience patience.
Don't remove the figlets for if you remove them the tree will send a new leaf to send a new figlet , that you'll remove, and the tree will ... and comes the winter and fries all that new green growth.
If you pinch , here in my zone7, you may get the figs of the current year, but will jeopardize the next year's harvest because the tree will get out of track sending new late growth that will freeze and die thus the setback the following year. At least that has been my experience.
So now I let them do - and if they are not adapted to my locales - they go to the compost pile and a new challenger takes the place .
"Dorée/Goutte d'or" is not well adapted to my locales. I have 3 trees . Next season the text may well read : I had 3 trees .

It seems that it takes a fig tree longer to start growing again by just removing the terminal bud, rather than pinching back multiple nodes at the end of a branch.  I haven't done a scientific comparison, but that's my impression.  But even if there is new growth it can be pinched again or "browned up" by  using a silicon nutrient solution.  

For the past few years, I've been using a silicon dioxide/potassium solution, Dyna-Gro's Pro-Tekt, to harden soft green growth so it won't winter kill.  It works very well, and very quickly.  It also has other interesting beneficial effects:
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/splitting-and-fig-rust-symptoms-of-nutrient-deficiency-8471398?pid=1295387323