How long can one expect figs to ripen in a 'long season' area? I think that is what our area is. It's not that hot here, temps in the 100s are uncommon, and it never gets that cold either. In 20 years there's been perhaps one light frost. In addition, our area is perched on the edge of a hill and we get lots of air movement and sun. The rattlesnakes love it.

I've read past accounts of people having figs ripen in October and sometimes November. I've read about a fig variety that can ripen in December. Some of these may not be as good tasting perhaps, but 'fresh' is hard to beat.

I have many young plants I've rooted just this past year. They are growing very well, and now after pinching so they will branch low, many of the danged things are putting out young fruits. I know I should pinch them off, but I don'wanna. I want to let at least some of them mature ...just because. I know if they even ripen, they have two strikes against them - too young trees, and very late season sun.

Last year I picked fresh green beans and tomatoes for Thanksgiving. Do I have a chance at some figs too?

Natalina is an Italian fig known for ripening in December . Black Madeira can be a late one as well.

There are also a few varieties that may even produce 3 crops in a given year.

Here in MA I actually had some figs at end of Oct. last year.

Some long seasons can be 8 months long. Figs only need about 100 chill hours for dormancy, so their seasons can be extremely long. I had a fig grow under growlights through Feb and then put it in forced dormancy for 6 weeks and it came back strong, no problems.

Our outdoor (in ground) ripening season runs from early/mid-May thru late Nov. It can go longer if I count greenhouse time.

Long season usually refers to the length of season required to ripen a particular variety. A "long season" fig usually ripens later in the season (takes a longer time too mature) which means it needs a longer warm/hot season to ripen successfully. This generally happens in location that are closer to the equator (think California or Texas) rather than northern areas (think Minnesota, Canada) The same idea applies for corn, cucumbers, etc, often referred to as "days to maturity" and arr often governed by such things things as "last frost date" and "first frost date".

A variety that ripens over a greater amount of weeks (6 weeks instead of 3) is a different issue. Genetics may dictate that the figs ripen relatively close together in time. If you watch some varieties set fruit, the first fig appears, and then anotgher in a day, or two or three, and then another. Some varieties will continue to set fruit as long as the weather is warm enough to encourage growth. The figs that form later will ripen later, and how many ripen will be determined by how long your season is, When it gets too cool they will go through the ripening "process" but will not be desirable to eat because of the lack of flavor and sugars because of the lack of sun and/or heat.

I agree with Jon.  My climate does give my trees a long warm heat season.  Before I bought my first Black Maderia I was told the fig would not ripen unless my zone had a long warm season.  I'm in zone 8a.  

Three years ago, we had 90 degree temps in March and long hot summer thru till November.  That year I picked several ripe BM figs.  However, last year I purchased another BM in July.  The tree was huge, wide, and full of figs.  I picked ripe figs all the way up to October.  In November, we went from 60 degrees to 25 degrees!  This year my BM is full of figs but they won't begin to ripen for a few more weeks.