Hi all. My in-ground Celeste is having problems ripening. Most of the fruits so far have gotten only half-ripe, with part of the fruit being normal and part being hard and dried-out. Any idea what could be causing this? Do I need to fertilize? I live in northern Virginia (zone 7) and the tree is four years old and is partially shaded in the afternoons. Thanks for any help you can give.

Welcome to the forum, Brian! Sounds like you have one of those Celeste strains that drops immature fruit. How is it growing therwise? Pics would help.

What Ruben said as well as the question back to you, how has your weather been lately? Any rain? If not, that might explain it. Excess heat? Possibly cause a problem even for a fig tree in ground if not enough rain. 

Ruben: You are correct, I have had a significant number of immature fruits fall off the tree. I was hoping that the rest of the fruit would be fine, but now I'm worried. The tree itself is growing very well, but it's not well-shaped and I plan to prune it back this winter. One small part of the tree has mis-shapen leaves (FMV?).

BLB: The weather has been hot and dry, although not emergency-level dry. How much watering should I do?

Depends on the size of the tree and the soil it's growing in. Here is my 4-yr old Celeste. Drops very few immature fruit and gets water every 10 to 14 days. 20-30 minutes at a good flow (not wide open). Grows in clay soil. Pruned to 5-ft February 2011.

I had the same problem on one of my Brown Turkey. It is in a pot with lots of holes planted in a very good soil in a raised bed. My tree is about 5.5 to 6 feet and growing vigorous branches and leaves. When the tree started to drop spongy little figs I counted over 100 figs on the tree I thinned it down to 45. Since then the problem disappeared the figs still green but about one inch in diameter I don't have any ripen figs yet and  I think that is normal in zone 6 I am looking for ripen figs in mid September I hope.