Fig chasers in the Golden State (and elsewhere) may, as we speak, find in the Wild, a few nice figs behaving as if they were some unidentified main crop or summer fruit, on the axils of recent growth..
Once open, on most cases, they show more or less juicy insides automatically inviting a bite....
Be cautious.. it is advisable to have a close look first on what is inside and it's recommendable to carry a small portable lens to help.

It is not correct to say that Caprifigs are all dry and corky
There are good chances that through Summer they are nice, sweet and juicy..

But if inadvertently one eats these fruit, I am sure, nothing particular will happen as they will taste sweet and flavored as any other summer fig.. a wasp here and there are a  'bonus' !

The fig in these pictures (Code02) is a Mammoni first crop of the ongoing summer, has a lot of juicy edible pulp already with many viable seeds and a few wasps about to hatch from their gall flowers.. male wasps can also be seen. The second Mammoni crop is already forming to receive the few wasps from the present figs and grow up to around October when the winter crop is ready to accept and shelter the insect larvae through winter

These Caprifigs , Code02 and Code04 are very stable trees never failing to show their full and diverse crops year after year always at the right time. Never been irrigated and/or fertilized.

 
 
 

Francisco
Portugal

Thanks for the information and pictures. I have a few,Capri fig swelling up. Red black yellow purple. Hoping to have some pollen to play with

Thanks for the information and photos, Francisco.

I didn't now they could produce 2 crops of Mammoni.

My Code 2 graft was worrying me, because some of the figs are green and a couple of others where changing color and appear to be drying up. One has even fallen and it seemed it had worms inside (probably the mediterranean fly is the culprit, i have seen a few around).

So, i decided to protect some of the remaining caprifigs with organza bags, to keep the fly away, until they are ready to release the wasps.

I think the other red caprifig  is also going to fall because it has been less than 1 month and a half since these caprifigs where pollinated.

But seeing your photos i'm in doubt. Could they possibly be maturing? It's unlikely, i know. I think i recall you saying that they took aprox. 3 months to mature.

Probably this fig was indeed attacked by insects and they made it mature too early - the wasps can't be ready in such a short time, do they? They also take 3 months from egg to adult?

The top part of the grafted branch has a few very tiny figs appearing - could they be the second Mammoni crop you are referring to? It's probably too early for these to be Mamme.

If these are second crop Mammoni, i hope some wasps can mature in this first crop and lay some eggs on the second one, so i have a chance of keeping them here through winter.

A few weeks ago - the pollinated caprifigs:

 


This week:

 

The small figs on the top part of the branch:

 

Sorry for all the questions...

Thanks for the answer, Francisco.

>>A skin color change to yellowish and/or dry/brown, may indicate that caprification has failed to accomplish and a week or two after the fruit drops.

That's what i thought. If they had failed caprification they should have fallen long ago - i went through the photos and the Profichis where brought to the graft the 26th of June, more than a month ago.

So, it doesn't seem a failed caprification. It's probably an insect problem. The fruit fly has been given me problems with my peaches and now it seems they have found the figs.

I hope they leave the other caprifigs alone. We will see how they do, during August. I will have to remove the bags if they seem to ripen to allow the wasps to escape.

Thanks again,