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Weather Cooling, Harvest Reduced

The weather here in central Arizona has been cooling since October.  Recently temps were in the 60's for several days.  I have not watered since last week.  Leaf growth has slowed drastically.  Several plants have figs that have turned color but are ripening sloooooowly.  I ate one today that was purple and starting to droop.  It was not very soft or sweet.  I should have left it longer.  Next week temps are supposed to get back into the upper 70's so I am hoping the harvest will improve again.


Desert King, Joe's Jersey (unknown), and Violette de Bordeaux are still ripening fruit.  VDB has been the most productive.  Black Madeira and Hardy Chicago have unripe figs that I don't think will ripen this year.  I picked off the remaining LSU Purple crop because they just didn't taste good.  Celeste keeps dropping fruit while it is immature.  I have been surprised that Desert King has been ripening a main crop and Celeste keeps dropping its main crop.  Right now Celeste is on my "must go" list if it does not do well next year.
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Very similar to conditions in Tucson. I'm worried a surprise frost will catch my in-grounds before they're dormant, so I've cut off the water and won't worry about trying to ripen any remaining fruit, other than a couple of figs that are almost ready. Time to start getting tarps and old bedsheets ready for when those few cold nights inevitably arrive.
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Joe and Ken,

Is this early for you guys with temps getting this low there. For some reason I'm thinking you should be ok til mid December.?

                                                                      luke
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Luke,


Temps in the 60's are low for where I live.  It should be in the mid 70's right now.  Ken lives further south from me so his weather is a little different.

The weather has warmed back up again to more normal temps.  But the season is winding down.  I'll have to decide soon which figs to leave on and which to pick off.  Last year I left some figs on the VDB through the winter and they ended up ripening in the spring.  I may just do that again on some of the larger trees.
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Luke, I don't think it's early, but Tucson can easily dip down below 32 degrees in November, and  I don't want to risk damage to my young trees. It stays warm enough most days that the trees are slow to go dormant, so I just need to be ready to cover them if we get a sudden temperature drop. There are quite a few figs still on the trees, but they're probably not worth worrying about.
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I enjoy your discussion about the cold weather there !!!
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LOL! You're right cold is a relative term.
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