Last year I was disappointed at the dinky size of my first "crop" from a one-year-old tree, but I held out high hopes for this year. Waiting pays off--here's the massive breba I just harvested--look closely--that raisin is actually a fig. Since brebas tend to be on the large side, should I expect the main crop to be even smaller? Perhaps I should invest in a magnifying glass and a pair of tweezers....

Maybe you have a sport with tiny figs. How big is the tree now?

It's growing as a bush, 45 inches high.

Your God-aweful temperatures?? Seriously though, is the main crop growing normally?

Ken,

Something is wrong with that VdB. My first breba was size of a golf ball. It was taken off early so didn't have the full flavor, but definitely sweet.

If you want to try my VdB, send me a PM in spring and I can send you some cuttings.

Pete

C'mon, Ruben--it's only a balmy 100+ degrees! Actually, I don't know how to tell if the main crop is developing normally or not, since they haven't reached full size (I hope). They're alittle tricky, though, because the ones in direct sun are already purpleish, which makes them seem like they're farther along than they really are. All kidding aside on the heat, I've wondered if it's just so hot and dry that some varieties just can't reach full size--but then FrozenJoe in Phoenix seems to be getting better results with his, and they are usually about 10 degrees hotter.

Ken your main crop will not or should not be that small with proper pruning , many things can effect fig crop .
Give your tree a chance its a mere baby .
The main crop does color here same in my climate as well on my Vdb and another different plant in my yard then turns back green and then proper dark color as it ripens later in season.

It is affected by High temperature.
The correct PH,and a lot of mulch under the tree,+,if it is ,a long drought it will need watering.
In my Garden,I have the opposite Problem:
Too much water in ground ,figs grow huge but sometimes full of water,and so the sugar is diluted,and the flavor is not there!

I have the same problems with my trees and heat.  I had 'Aldo' and "MVSB" produce nickle size figs.  'Verdal Longue' wasn't much larger.  This year, it doesn't look like they are going to do much better.  I was just in the field and thought I need to increase both the diameter and the depth of my mulch rings.  Next year I will be shooting for 8' diameter X 5-6" thick

~james

Still looks really good for a toddler Ken. I think a pruning would help, fewer leaves sends more water to the fruits.

Hi Ken,

And I thought you might have a new cultivar for everyone to lust after. Glad I don't have to deal with your weather!!

Thanks everybody, for the feedback and ideas. Next year I may start pruning to try and shape things a bit--up to this point I figured I'd let them grow pretty wild and build a good root system. I'm already putting an outrageous amount of water on them all, but the mulch isn't all that deep yet on the VdB because I don't want to bury all the low branches. But--the other figs really seem to benefit from the deep mulch, so I'll eventually get a thick layer under this one as well. The desert trees in the yard grow so fast it's a challenge to keep them from getting completely out of hand, but on the plus side, they're also an unending source of free mulch!