I bought the Kadota fig tree at Home Depot in the middle of the season last year.  It's a small tree and it had a bunch of figs on it this year.....a few that have ripened.  The skin of this fig is thick and to me, not edible.  Will the figs improve?  Will the skin remain thick in the coming years?  If, so I will want to get rid of this tree.  I would like to grow a green fig with thin edible skin, extra small seeds and taste delicious here in zone 7....any suggestions?  I guess I'm spoiled by my Negronne fig tree...they are delicious. 

I won't tell you to get rid of it because your environment may improve it over time. But for me here in MA it was AWFUL. Skin, taste and pulp.

But according to what I have seen in research there is a second Dottato/ Kadota. They both look similar but taste different.

I've read many people skin their figs, so that might be an option if the inside tastes good!

Suzi

I want to eat the figs skin and all.  I have arthritis in my hands and I can't imagine me trying to peel a fig.  I think I got very lucky in the Negronne being my first fig tree I've grown and tasted because I love them.  I've read that all figs taste different, so of course that makes me want to grow another different tasting fig.  It would be great to be able to sample many different varieties of figs at once, then picking the green fig to grow would be easier.  I don't want to kill the Kadota fig, so if anybody would like to have it you can and/or would be nice to trade for a different green fig.

Whole foods is selling them. They recommend putting them on the grill. Maybe that softens the skin?

Alan,

Everything is better fried! 

Cookie, I purchased some Kadota figs from the grocery a couple months back. They were grown in California and they were tough as leather and not much to the taste either.

In my climate Kadota will not ripe properly ,and yes it has tough skin,but that would not be a problem,for me if it will ripe properly.
It has an advantage in climates where it ripe properly:
It resist rain very well,so that is a big+.

I hear that the best tasting figs are after 4-5 years! please hang in there, or  use it for a draft, or plant another next to it for bleaching, or lastly, please send it to me...(not kidding)

the portuguese name for it is 'pingo de mel' - that means drop of honey... I cannot believe it is a bad fig with that name! would you? Unless HD messed up in their labelling - which is  possible!

I am talking with a person who has a Kadota (oops wrote dakota) tree, he described his figs as "exactly"
like the ones on the blog that DBP posted.


This is the link
http://westseattleblog.com/forum/topic/figs-1

I am hoping to meet him soon and get one of this baby starters, regardless if it is what they call it.

The green Figs on that blog,are Desert King,not Kadota!
This is how Kadota Properly ripe should look,Yellow outside yellow inside,too bad ,here it only partially get ripe and only in good warm ,long Summers.

When I grew 'Kadota' in Houston, the skin was tougher than most.  The flavor was good.  It is possible to eat the fig without having to peel the skin off first.  One way is to split the fig in half then scrape the pulp off the skin with your teeth.  The other is to put the whole fig in your mouth (ostiole first), then (almost) close your mouth against the stem and pull on the stem.  As you pull and work the fig out of your mouth, the skin around the ostiole will split and the pulp gets left behind.

Kadota does very well in my climate.  The skin is not tough but a little tight.  My 2 trees did quite well and yes it does ooze honey from the eye when ripe..nice amber center.  I believe it does need a lot of heat get the full affects of its flavor. Can't beat a perfectly ripe Kadota!

I recall that I liked my Kadota, one of my first figs, it came from EL.
Unfortunately, I lost it (my fault), but I have a new starter going...

Try "Atreano"...two good crops...and delicious.

Frank

I have a kadota that is pretty good. Hard to find a better green fig, imo. I am in zone 8-9 with temps over 105 sometimes. The heat really seems to help ripen them up.

Kadota did very well for me when we were at Lake Havasu.  Tasted great. The thick skin protected the fruit from the low humidity and the 115+ temps that are common there in the summer and which dry out and literally bakes some fruit right on the tree.

Some figs are better suited to specific climates.  If it were mine and performing poorly I'd give it another year or two, then replace it with one of another variety.   If I only had a couple trees though...I would probably replace it now with one of the varieties suggested above.  Something better suited to your climate.  They grow fast.  Why waste your time on a poorly performing tree?

My two cents....

however it is called, they look super amazing and I want them.

Seems the success in HOT weather explains its rather poor performance here.

I'm learning a lot from this forum.   I think I can make a better selection now.  I think I will buy a better suited fig in the spring.  Thank you all!

My Kadota fruited in its 3rd year; 10% have ripened so far in Zone 5a (2 out of 20 on the plant). The 2 that ripened were soft to the touch and tasty in the mouth. There was no plan to share these two because I had waited for these for a long time to ripen . Did not notice the skin hardness or thick nee and actually I don't mind tough skin because I like to chew on the fruit.
This reminds me when I was a kid (in the 70s now) my father used to tell me that in Paradise there will be all kind of fruits and when you wish of a kind of fruit, its taste (and aroma) will come in your mouth. My father noticed I was not happy with this description. I said I would rather have it in my hands and bite and chew on it then just having the aroma and taste.

I have heard about Kadota's tough skin, but that was not my experience with the one I purchaed from JR. Very rich and sweet and the skin was soft and easily edible.  

Kadota is an excellent fig. When properly ripened and grown.

Here in VA 7a, I believe is very marginal for this fig. It loves heat heat heat.

On a mature tree, I think only 10-20% are actually ripened to perfection here. They taste excellent- the rest of the crop is trash though.

from Durion:
The quality is excellent, especially in hot, dry weather.

I completely agree. Outside its preferred climate, it is a gamble.