Just watched a very interesting video, on You-Tube called: "HOW TO GET YOUR FIGS ON YOUR FIG TREE TO RIPEN FASTER"... posted by John Kohler, from Growing your greens.com

The video shows a Brown Turkey fig tree loaded with main crop figs between 30-45 days from ripening.  Mr. Kohler is shown cutting off most of the leaves and terminal ends of the branches, leaving behind almost all of the maturing figs.  He states that within less than two weeks, the figs will ripen and be ready for picking.  I was very surprised to see how enormous those BT figs became.  They were the size of a pear!  And...they looked luscious.  I wonder how they tasted?

Frank

good video

When others watch this video, please speculate if this method of ripening figs will be useful for fig-growers on the East-Coast/Short-Season areas?

AND will cutting off the leaves compromise the tree?

I'm a bit sceptical to try this in NYC.  Why?  The video says to strip the leaves 45-30 before cold weather onset, but figs need to be fully grown, and just beginning to approach the mature stage, when this leaf stripping occurs.  The figs on my trees will be no where near this stage by mid July,  and how will the tree store food for the following year if I leaf-strip in July-August?  Warning bells are going off in my head.

I would really like to read the opinions from others about this strategy.

Thanks for the comments.

Frank

I'm also curious. An old Italian relative used to do this with his tomato plants, but he obviously wasn't concerned with their long-term health.

The tree that he prunes the leaves off of in that video is a large, well established tree.  That method looks like it could cause a lot of harm to a smaller plant.  By removing the leaves the tree is forced to draw on its energy reserves to finish ripening the fruit.  Smaller plants don't have those kinds of reserves.

Joe... 

You're right.  It was a full size tree he stripped.

I'm beginning to think that this will work for growers in high-sun areas like the Southern and South-Western States, where trees bake in full sun and heat most of the time.  Maybe then, trees will have enough reserve energy not to be set back.  In the North-East, our Summers could be cloudy, and rainy...not exactly bright and sun-drenched.  Less sun, less food and reserved energy in the roots.

I find the whole concept, nevertheless, very interesting.  I wish I had the (nerves) to try it.    (original word edited).

Idea....Somebody on the East-Coast .... try this on a lousy "Brown Turkey" as an experiment.  If I had one, I would do it...but I don't...so, I won't.

Frank

i did remove most leafs that were around the fruit last season. i think it was around mid august or so. i did it following navid's advice whom is a very experienced grower in the north east region. 

I found this video very interesting for many reasons.  I loved his analogy of peach trees in Hawaii!  It doesn't get cold enough here for peaches or cherries, or any stone fruit, but I might just try next year!

He had the dreaded "Brown Turkey," which he seemed to like, but most of us know better!

On this forum I learned to pinch tips at 5 leaves, and this really does encourage figs to grow.  It also encourages trees to produce more branches that you can use for cuttings.

All those tips he cut off would have made nice green cuttings, but I don't think he's into that. 

The concept of them all getting ripe at one time is a good one!  Really, we need about 25 ripe ones at one time, to dip in chocolate to make that cake from Gina to Rafed!

Suzi

Hey guys....

If this method works, and it apparently it does, according to Eli...(Navid, please tell the North-East  growers how you do it) it may be very useful to get our longer season figs to ripen quicker.

I seem to remember, maybe, Herman2 talking about this method, but it was used in Greece, where the weather was hot, sunny, and dry.  Does anyone remember this thread?  I also think there were some cautionary remarks from Herman about this.

Navid...please give us some detailed information.

Thanks,

Frank

have not seen many posts from navid lately....but he sure knows what he is talking about.

English Brown Turkey and California Brown Turkey in deed do not have enough heat to properly ripe Main crop here.
If the method you guys are talking was applied here in the North east,I am sure that:
The tree will be dead to ground next Spring and no figs next year.
The ripe fruits will be much inferior than if the fruits and leaves were left alone.
This Person ,I have no doubt have problem getting ripe fruits in a warmer longer Summer than North east,so That tell you that this kind of large fruited trees are not for us here in the first place.
There is another way to get ripe fruits faster but it also damages the tree and it's Winter reserve energy:
That is to girdle the tree,(cut the bark around some of the trunks).
It will help ripe the fruits and get them big,but the tree will suffer.
My best advice:Grow only cultivars that will ripe naturally,in our short climate(Atreano is large and will ripe),practice pinching,and remove yes indeed (remove),any branches,that do not have any fruits on them by July first!.
The above advice is ,if the tree is too dense and sun does not penetrate,to ripe fruits and dry leaves after rain.

He is equating getting 'ripe' with coloring up and getting soft. It's the leaves which produce the sugar that sweetens fruits. When you remove them, you will not get fruits that taste as good/well-flavored.  In general, fruits of any sort that ripen on branches with lots of leaves always taste better than fruits that ripen on branches with sparse or no leaves because there simply is not enough sugar for them to ripen properly.

If anyone thinks brown turkey figs taste 'blah' as they are, try ripening them on a tree striped of it's leaves for a month to a month and a half - triple 'blah'.

He probably would have had much better fruit if he had removed 2/3 of the green figs, not the leaves.

Ahhhhh......I had a feeling that this was too good to be true. 

I'm glad that there were some good explanations as to why this method will not bring the results that would be expected.  The idea of stripping leaves just seemed to go against nature.  But I have been fooled before, so I wanted to ask everybody what they thought about this.  I'm glad I asked.  Now to me, the video seems a little deceptive. 

Thanks everyone for getting my head straight.

Frank