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Thoughts on the second crop

The second crop is coming along with new figs popping out weekly!  I think the tree took a break with the heat in late July till mid August because it seems to be growing more.

If a fig pops out of older wood this time of year, is it main crop or breba? 

There must be 40 figs on the tree and they should start ripening about Oct. 22 if they follow the spring timing.  Does it follow the same timing?

Is the second crop usually as good as the first?

What temps do figs need to ripen?  It wasn't an issue for the first because it gets HOT in Texas!!  This second crop is a wonderful surprise, and since it is a surprise I haven't thought about it before.

The first picture is the fig mentioned close up - the second picture is about a foot away.

The third picture is from April 30 of this year, the fourth picture is from last week!

I love this tree!

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Main crop figs, mostly due to warmer weather when they ripen are usually much better than breba figs. Brebas that ripen at peak heat in August are much better than ones that ripen in cooler weather in June.

You figs could be either. If the tree thought that it had seen "fall" and that it is now "spring", even though the leaves are still present, they could be brebas. But the could also be late onset main crop, as well, that were suppressed by cooler weather.

I would guess the latter, but have a couple trees that I suspect may have brebas rather than main crop. most likely they will not ripen acceptably in either case, though if brebas, they might over winter and ripen next year. I have heard of that  but never seen it.

on the 1st pic
where is the leaf scar?

Shootersm, both of these pictures are from the other side of the branch and I don't see a leaf scar.

Jon, I am asking about the fig that popped out in the first picture, it looks odd coming out of the wood where there was no leaf.  I'm not sure "cooler" weather would apply in this case.  We have had about 40 days of triple digits this summer!

I've heard it is not uncommon for those of us in TX and maybe those in other southern states to get a second or third crop.

Is there a temperature range for fig ripening?  over 70? 75? 80? 85? 

I am looking forward to the end of October!!


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Due to the volume of activity on this board,I am hoping this was just overlooked so  I am bumping this up for a second chance at it.

Jo-Ann,

In our climate, LSU P behaves as an everbearing producing a few figs at a time throughout the seaon. Mine did not pause due to the heat. Grew straight thru and is about 8 feet tall now despite being Winter-killed to the ground and wrapped up in netting. Some figs ripen well despite cool nights which is what we should have by late October. Warm days though, so some figs will still be tasty. 

My guess would be a stagnated main crop. I had this happen on my Persian White.  Figs had developed and came out above the first few leafs. Then after about 10 weeks I saw bumps down below the area where the first mains were developing.  I left them and then pulled off once I saw they were figs.

I believe that if heat is too intense the tree will shut down and conserve energy, thus not developing new figs. 2 years ago when we had about 45 days of 90+, the fig production was very poor.

Ruben, that's interesting.  Mine set it's fruit, grew a bit more, ripened fruit, grew very slowly from mid July till end of August, started setting fruit about 20th of August. Here on the 19th of Sept., it's growing fast and setting more fruit!  Does your continuously grow and set fruit all season?  That would be fabulous!!

I haven't pinched or pruned anything on it - just observing the growth for the first season - and enjoying the figs.  I'd like to start an  air layer this week, maybe today.

Dominick, it set figs fine in the spring.  First fig was at the end of June, was OK.  On the 4th of July I picked another and it was delicious!  Had 21 on the tree and picked the last one on the 20th or so.  The heat (in the triple digits ) might have slowed it down, I know I did!!  It's goining to be in the 90's for the next few days. Aahhhhhh  relief ;)

What about the little fig in the first picture the way it popped out with no leaf?  Any thoughts on that?

Here it is from April thru a few minutes ago:

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Exactly what happened to me. Popped out months later after leaves were set.

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