Hi All, I'm a new member of figs4fun and after doing some homework I believe the fig tree I have is an Italian Honey Fig. 

It bears 2 crops per year and the second crop doesn't usually ripen fully because of the fall weather.  I live in Arlington, MA which is Zone 6B.

Any recommendations for another fig type that would ripen earlier in the season?  

Thank you.

Welocme, I'm sure someone in your climate type will chime in.

Welcome.....RDB excellent dark fig, good grower and starts ripening in my area the beginning of August

Hi,

There's many that can be recommended, but Ronde de Bordeaux or Hardy Chicago in my opinion would be great varieties that wouldn't be too hard to find and taste great. I have them both myself.

Yes, to Italian honey, rdb,celeste,brown turkey, Chicago hardy, Lsu .

WELCOME cpecci20

Sometimes you can trick a fig to ripen up in the fall buy removing all but a few leaves.. a few weeks before its cool ?

worth a try a few times to see if you can get the timing right ?

what say you other internet experts?


I have not tried this just read about it .

good luck  

Late last fall I tried the dab of oil on the eye and most of them ripened very quickly, it definitely works.

No one mentioned the Dessert King Fig or the Brooklyn White Fig?   Any comments on these two varieties for Zone 6B? 

Desert King is a great choice for early figs but the crop forms the year before so you have to be sure it doesn't get too cold over the winter.  Florea is another good one.

I would never remove the leaves of a tree - it needs to store energy for dormancy and ripening figs.  The night before a hard frost I'd remove them and dry them for tea since they're going to fall off anyway.

I presume your plant is potted and brought into a basement or garage during the winter months. If so try placing it in a warm location sometime in early April to get it out of dormancy sooner. A sunny porch should work fine. If you don't have a porch you can shuffle it in and out to avoid freezing weather.
Hopefully that will give you the additional time to ripen that you need. (Don't forget to keep it appropriately watered.)
Italian Honey, (Lattarulla) if that what you really have should start bearing quite early.
If you want to try another plant and not go crazy trying to find one, you can take a 15 mile drive to Joe Morle's nursery in Roslindale,  http://www.figtrees.net/ . It's not far from the Arnold arboretum. Joe has a good selection of plants and is helpful. You can pick up quart plants 2 for $30 or up to five gallon plants that are probably carrying figs. I believe his earliest ripening fig is "Goccia d'Oro", it's earlier that Italian Honey and bears two crops.