It has been 80-85F for a week, and will be for another week. Humidity is in low 20s. Cool nights, warm days, clear skies. Gorgeous.

Figs that ripened in 80-85F in late August are ripening in the same daytime temps, but are not near as good. They may still be acceptable, but still lack the "wow".

The only difference that I see is cooler nights, 55-60F instead of 70ish, and the days are shorter, so there is less daylight/sunshine.

I am thinking nighttime temps and the shorter days are an issue, even though the daytime temps are nearly identical.

I've been having the same problems in my unheated greenhouse. 90 during the day but 55 at night. I'm wondering if a grow light to extend the lighting period would allow more sugars to be produced.

Nick

Same issue here Jon. We have 72+ days and 60s at night. Next weekend, the cold front comes in and it will be 40s at night. I have figs ripening now too but the taste is very weak. Murcuian, Vista, Tilsbury Turkey, Marseilles, Early Violet, Adriatic JH, Strawberry, Black Jack, Blue Giant, Peter's Honey, NdC, etc but the taste was nothing.

Hmmm, I have been wondering the same thing. So far I have not had the flavor I remember in the figs I have grown in CO. Our cooler nights are one thing I suspect might play a roll. Though no doubt young trees do too.

Nick, if nighttime temp is the issue, you need heat. If the day length is the issue, you need grow lights. Or maybe both? Don't know the answer, just know the results.

Jon,

    I spent a good deal of time searching for tomatoes that would do well for me and took notice of the days to harvest listed in the ads. Invariably it took mine longer to ripen than the catalogs say. The only thing I could figure was that with my exposure I was getting fewer hours of good sunlight because of trees and buildings. This makes sense: the factory doesn't operate without the energy supply and in this case, it's sunlight.

It's not only the warmth, the length of day, but perhaps also angle of the sun - it just keeps getting lower as we head to Dec 21. 

Neither my figs nor tomatoes are as sweet now as they were several weeks ago. But they are still worth eating and far better than anything you can find in a store.

Jon,
Your observations are consistent with my recent conditions as well. I have a feeling that both sunlight and temperature are important, but also wonder how humidity is involved to.

Everyone's thoughts on this are appreciated.

Re: humidity, the dry air is good for keeping down mold and some forms of spoilage.