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First ripe fig for me in NJ

Actually, this was picked on June 27, and I should have picked it a few days earlier.  This was a container grown fig.
  This was a from a "Dwarf Portugal" cutting I got from CTFIGS in January 2013 from this post:
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/unknowns-if-anyone-is-interested-6105529?trail=50

Here are a couple of pics of the fig still on the tree:

  P6271507_a.JPG  P6271517_a.JPG  P6271519_a.JPG 

I let it ripen on the tree a few days longer than I would have because the fruit seemed to be ripening very unevenly -- it looked like one side was nice and ripe while the other side did not seem ripe at all.

Here are additional closeups of the fig off the tree:
P6271521_a.JPG  P6271524_a.JPG  P6271525_a.JPG 

Finally, here are some pics of the inside of the fruit. As I suspected, it was ripening unevenly.  1/2 was very ripe.  1/4 was not ripe but not "green."  1/4 was hard and dry.

P6271526_a.JPG  P6271527_a.JPG 
Jim


The same is happening to my tree, I see some figs half ripening... weird.
How was the taste?

This particular fig has probably taken a lot of abuse.  It started as a main crop fig in Sep 2013.  It looked like it was going to grow and ripen then, but it stalled out.  The tree refused to go dormant over the winter.  In early Feb 2014 I finally had to put it in the dark and totally cut off water for a while.  (You can see the dried up leaf stems in some of the pictures.  Those leaves would not fall off.)  It broke dormancy at the end of March and started leafing out in April.  I had 2014 main crop figs forming even while this 2013 main crop fig started to swell and ripen.  With all that it has been through, maybe the fig fruit got some physical damage that partially stunted it.

Taste-wise, it wasn't bad.  It certainly wasn't bland, but the taste was not very strong.  It had a little bit of sweetness to it and a very slight berry taste.  The ripe part was very moist and jammy...signs of good things to come.
Jim

Yeah noticed that in the second picture. I Have had similar problems due to summer heat and now they are ripening as it is cooling down. Some were half ripened and I haven't bothered on tasting them, Just gave them to the chickens hehehe... Now I see one that might be good and it is the first good fig on my 1 year-old tree. Ill post something later when I taste it (hopefully I get there before the birds).
Good luck!

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