so.. now the figs are turning color. which is great. but it's still raining almost daily. VdB already had one fig going kaboom. Kathleen's Black doesn't blow up.. well i haven't seen one. it will just have ton of skin crack. i'm finding Paradiso Gene handles rain rather nicely this yr. maybe the older tree does help with rain. White Greek.. oh.. yeah.. White Greek. i had one before the vacation. it wasn't ripe, but it had more taste then the ripe ones from last yr.

it's just frustrating.. when will the rain stop? and now we are going into hurricane season, there will be more rain.. urgh..

Pete are there any quick and easy tricks you could try to keep the bulk of the water off? I field grow most of mine but if mine were in pots and I couldn't drag them under a roofed area that still got plenty of sun--I'd consider experimenting with some sort of tarp maybe raised 2 inches off the soil line and fastened tight (with hole in center cut out just large enough for plant trunk) covering the pots?? I'm sure the idea has been tossed around before so maybe it's already failed or succeeded for someone? For in ground I was advised against such a tactic because you can't cover the horizontal spread of the whole root system and it will eventually hit the tons of water and the tarp actually just prevents evaporation from the ground? I think for pots this would be worth a thought? Maybe other more experienced container culture folks have better insight?

pete, do all figs need hot dry weather during ripening to be at their best? that's the one advantage i do have, perhaps offsetting my winter subzero temps.
if only some are superior in those conditions perhaps i should concentrate on those.

This is where the pots from Bill's Figs are worth their weight in gold (other covered SWP's as well)...the entire top of the pot is covered with 4mil. black plastic which sheds all the excess water off the potted soil and onto the ground...I have never had any problems with figs splitting or souring due to excess water when using these pots...my inground trees, and other trees planted in conventional pots all suffer from water related problems as stated in this thread. 

susie, yes. hot and full sun and little less water will give better figs. but you have to balance the watering thing. too little and there is chance the figs will drip.. too much and they will blow up.

vince, yes. SWC is way to go... tho i haven't invested into SWC yet. i like the idea of drip system too much. never have to worry about forgetting to give water, and i forget things a lot.

persian, i did thought about the options of covering and putting them under the cover. there are few reasons why i don't cover the containers. 1. i'm too lazy to uncover them to water. 2. i'm afraid of what might grow under the cover. 3 my soil drains well, but it's the moisture in the air that really bothers me :) and all my covered area is taken up by the 1 gals.

thanks pete. perhaps there's hope for my figs.

im with ya on the laziness... another idea im also tempted to try for my in ground trees (not just fig, all of em)... is to just cover them up not too neatly during big pours or long 3 day stretches of rain. either making mini hoop houses to place on top of trees during pours or this would still qualify as lazy enough I think... just puttin tarp out on the soil durin the pours... and takin them off again right after pour. could help a bit or be a silly idea... not really sure.