I was driving along an LA street and spotted a nice fig tree covered by mid-sized figs. After a close inspection I found that they were all dry and unappetizing :(

I opened a fig that looked ripe and found the wasps inside!
And WOW, I've never seen them before! They just started flying away.
The wasps were quite tiny, about the size of a house ant. 

So, this is a proof of the wasp existence in Los Angeles!

Nice... there are also different insects that you can find besides a fig wasp, but I'm sure you have them in LA. 

Did you take some figs home and hang them from your trees?

Bass, you think those are NOT the famous fig wasps?.. They were definitely inside the fig with a closed eye.

Tami, I took some seeds from my ripe VdB to try to germinate and they had no problems. So I think I have a number of caprifigs in the neighborhoods providing me with enough wasps.

It is quite exciting! There are some really nice figs around that require pollination.   

Greenfig,

You are absolutely right!
In discrete silence without any 'noises' most of your figs have been pollinated year after year.... so have been pollinated a good many figs on some forum member gardens and orchards in that State
Some say that ---'I do not need the wasp!' my figs ripen without them ! Is this so ??
Here you have a simple demonstration.

What you have observed are the mature Mammoni going ripe and exiting wasps to the third crop (Mamme) on the wood of the Caprifig.
These wasps do not carry any pollen, they are laden with their own eggs to fill the gall flowers on the Mamme figs which will remain in the tree until mid March 2014

You are a lucky man
Congratulations

Francisco

This was my first and only time I actually got physical (eye-seeing) with this (in)famous fig-wasp!
This happened overseas in the Med Sea..
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/yes-virginia-there-is-a-santa-clause-5473647
Quite an experience...

Good for CA, USA being blessed too.

Amazing! We have so many bugs in the South, I'd have swatted those for gnats or fruit flies! lol :D

This seems surprisingly late in the year for mammoni to still be on the tree.  The caprifg next to my farm dropped all of it's figs two months ago.

Harvey,
The tree I found has about 10% of the ripe figs and the rest are still green, they probably need another 7-10 days or so.

My mistake, going crazy, I think.  The profichi are what fell off a couple of months ago and my mammoi are now fairly small, maybe 1" long x 3/4" in diameter.

Greenfig, That's good to hear that we have them even if it's on the other side of the country. That is one insect that we would all like to see spreading across the states. Too bad they can't take the cold back here in the east.

Is there a temperature point that they can't go below?

Tami, I think the wasps do not tolerate the freezing temps but the experts (think Francisco :) would know more about this.

Fellows,

Forgive me if I come back again on this... (in) famous fig-wasp !!
You have to look carefully to the Caprifig to get precise information of what you are looking at.
Now, and your Caprifigs behaviour is similar to mine, you may see ...

- The ground under the tree with numerous dried figs as well as some still hanging on their branches (wood from 2012!)..these were the past season Profichis,(1st crop) the good ones which full of insects and pollen from their male flowers, made the Smyrnas and Smyrnoids to ripen during past July and August. Once the job done, they dry and fall. Some wasps do enter the little Mammoni still very small.

- On the tree, now, you see on this year's branches, like most of the edible main crop figs, and on the axils of the leave stems, the Mammoni (2nd crop- no pollen!) becoming ripe, full of wasps leaving the fig, exactly what Greenfig has observed....and,

- You may also see now on that same Caprifig, the 3rd crop of caprifigs (Mamme)still small and developing on this year's wood and providing shelter to the wasps seen by Greenfig. These wasps will fill the Mamme gall flowers with their eggs and die inside the fig.
The Mamme will slowly grow , full of developing larvae/wasps, through all Winter and by mid March next year, will ripen and the cycle repeats, the adult female wasps moving then into the emerging Profichi, the new 1st crop (2014) which will ripen full of POLLEN and wasps to caprificate (June/2014) all available figs receptive for that process.

The Caprifigs will only develop and provide wasps and pollen in mild climates without excessive temperatures (high and low).Accidental freezing temperatures may kill the wasps. Heat waves during spring will easily destroy all insects.
my temp avrg range - 45º to 90ºF

Francisco

Seen now the Monthly Averages for Los Angeles, CA on the Internet.
and as far as Caprifigs as well as all other figs are concerned, the weather is IDEAL!!

Francisco

Thank you Francisco,
I understand now I think. We don't really get cold enough every year to kill the wasps but springtime temperatures not to mention summer might just cook them.

Francisco,

Thank you for your patience explaining the cycle of the wasp development! That wasp-caprifig marriage looks like was made in heaven and totally depends on it and what falls from it :)

Above, you decribed the tree I found completely. I could see the last year figs, dry and still hanging (Profichi), this year ripening (Mammoni) and young, still developing (Mamme).

This was the first large caprifig I found that was planted and growing in a yard, behind the fence (but close to it with its branches hanging over). Interesting, was it planted intentionally or by an accident? The tree is quite large and does not produce anything edible by humans. It is hard to see the entire garden but it is possible that on the other side there are some fig trees requiring pollination. By the way, it is in a neighborhood with the largest Iranian community in the West (or maybe even in the US).

Hi, you are all welcome.

Tami, Considering those conditions of sporadic weather extreme temps, the surviving Caprifigs out of the thousands planted by birds, rodents, etc., grow in ravine and river banks, deep valleys, more or less protected by the shades of terrain or other neighboring trees, thus avoiding direct exposure to fatal sun radiation.

Greenfig, Given the mildness of climate in the area, I believe that there will be many more Caprifigs. If I was there I would approach those neighborhood fellows to find out if they are growing figs and what the history of that Caprifig. There must be plenty of birds and other 'vectors' eating pollinated figs in the area and consequently planting good fertile seeds all over.
May be that yard contains overseas sourced figs requiring the wasp !? --dreaming of some fig jewels from Iran !? it looks that there are very strong chances of finding something interesting.

Francisco