It is in the high 40s a night now, for close to a week. Mostly cloudy and rainy, with little sun. The previous week was warmer and dry - gorgeous Indian summer days. This week, when it is dramatically cooler, my Black Madeiras are ripening (though not close to what they should be).

So, I am thinking/wondering if ripening is something that shows us history. If it reflects something initiated in the past, which is only manifested at a future point in time (a week later, for instance), and not a product of the current situation.

Do the figs reach a certain point in the ripening process that is not reversible and/or which is not interrupted or slowed once it is reached.

I have wondered about this for a while, but this week seems to support this idea.

This is an interesting thought Jon. I think I get what your saying.

So, if a fig reaches a certain point in the ripening stage it's gonna finish getting ripe just about no matter what (short of an actual freeze) right? But if it's still pretty green when it gets chilly you may as well foget it. Is that what you're thinking?

I know I had one fig that looked like it was really trying to finish getting ripe, in spite of the cool wheather, but I accidentally knocked it off today when I was moving things around in preparation for our low of 25F coming on Thursday.

It'll be interesting to see what others have to say on this. 

Funny you should mention this.  I dragged most of my fig trees into storage 2-3 weeks ago when the nighttime temps hit the 20's.  A couple trees had  lost their leaves but still had green figs that i ddin't have time to pull off.  When I went into the storage room to check them a couple of days ago, I noticed that some of the figs that remained were drooping, so I tried them.  They were ripe in a feeble sort of way.


And then there is the Atreano in the greenhouse.  I has ONE fig that has been the same size, color and rock-hard density for over 3 months!

C.J.

I have to believe that my figs that are "ripening" (swelling, changing color, getting soft, etc) this week are not responding to our cold (I know that is relative), cloudy, rainy weather that we currently are experiencing, so they must be responding to better conditions in the past. The alternative theory would be that they are like corn, and 81 days (or whatever) after they are "planted" (begin forming) they automatically get ripe. And, while there is some truth to that - in that we see that (generally) the first formed figs ripen first, I don't think we can force them to ripen a month early  by extra sunshine and heat - som some maturity factor is involved. But we also know that flavor and sweetness are a product of sun and heat.

Atreano has ripened in my fig cellar, in the dark, for the past two years. The figs are hard and green when I bring them in for storage. They swell, soften and droop, but don't gain deep color. This year, Violet de Bordeaux, White Atriana, Martin's Unknown (not Emilia Romagna) and Magnolia have all ripened a few figs each in the dark cellar. The temperature is 45* F down there. Soon, it will get a little cooler. The Violet de Bordeaux and the White Triana tasted just as sweet and figgie as the ones that ripened in the warm sun.

I think you are onto something Jon. It must be that they had reached a stage of "readiness to ripen" maturity. Tricky Figgies!

Eve
Near Buffalo, NY
Zone 5-6