This happen last year and is puzzling me again.
I just collected a few ripe Unk. Pastilliere figs (Nov. 15th), it is a Smyrna and must be pollinated to ripen. The figlets appeared about 2 months ago, in September, way past the pollination season. Regardless of that , the seeds sink and sprout. Why???? How did the pollen get in and from where???
The photos below are from today.
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Edit: sorry, I cannot post a photo . I am getting an error " Limit exceeded" for any size :(

You have the,wasp in cali

Yes, but the pollen is supposed to be available in the spring/early summer only.
There are no ripe caprifigs in the Fall

"I just collected a few ripe Unk. Pastilliere figs (Nov. 15th), it is a Smyrna and must be pollinated to ripen."

According to Condit in "Fig Varieties: A Monograph" (available on my website as a downloadable PDF), page 456, Pastilliere is a Common type Fig, not Smyrna!  If yours is a Smyrna type, best to drop the name Pastilliere and quit adding to the Varietal confusion.

kiwibob, Seattle

The website data limit is full. You can post to a photo hosting site and post the image link.

When you say past pollination season. Does that mean all capri figs have ripened before September? Or that the wasps no longer active.

If the figs are off the capri fig trees fall on the ground. Do they dry or rot?

Maybe the wasps and pollen are still alive and active, long after the capri figs fall to the ground.

Another possibility is the wasp and pollen came from a hybrid fig, or different species.

 

Kiwibob,
This fig goes under the name Unknown Pastilliere, it is a Smyrna and is different from the Common Pastilliere fig you are referring to.
Sorry about the name confusion but it is what it is.

Sid,
I do not know if the wasp was active in September, but even if it was, the pollen was not available.
The profichi figs with pollen are only there in the Spring or early summer:
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/pljun99a.htm

It also seems that there would be a zero chance the wasps survived several months with the pollen still viable.

Igor,

Long after Profichis ripen and fall to the ground, be they of the  early or late types, and if weather keeps warm and dry, there are always some wasps remaining inside the decaying figs.

If you cut open these fruit spread under the canopies of some Caprifigs
throughout July, August and September, you will certainly find a few live wasps ad pollen. Some pollen grains may still be fertile.

DK chip buds, done mid March/2016 shooted long whips with plenty of main crop fruit.Many of these DK figs ripen through the 3rd week of October having certainly been caprified as their seeds were mostly of the 'heavy' type.

You right, there are still mysteries surrounding the life, duties and death of the fig wasp.

Francisco
Portugal

Thank you, Francisco.
Very helpful, as usual.

As a side note, this might mean that shipping the profichis does need to be overnight since the wasps can survive months inside the rotted figs.

It is interesting that most of the caprifigs I am aware of, grow on the public streets that are cleaned at least once a month, there is very little chance the figs would stay under a tree for long. Still a mystery on my side.

Hi,
Here nearby I know of a smyrna-type figtree that will ripen some fruits (like in 5 to 20 while dropping 200 during the season) come October.
It seems that the fresh air can trick some figs to ripen.
Those smyrna figs will fall from the tree during the whole season at different stages and size and not ripen during the summer.
Those figs won't fall all at the same time.

Thank you for the suggestions!
Yes, a danger of loosing a tree or two is there but I am not really worried about this.
The wild figs as a weed are practically everywhere and the city at some point will give up or run out of the resources :)

I live about 40 min from Culver City. I usually just drive through, now I have a reason to stop by. Thank you for a link.

jds,
I my case, it is not one of many that ripen, I would say 80% of the figs might get to the edible state.

Hello
I was a fig grower a few yearsago and I confirm that Pastilliere is a common fig.

Fig experts say...
Pollen is found only inside the Profichi crop of the caprifigs...
If so... What will pollinate the Mamme crop of the caprifigs?

For non-persisitent caprifigs...
All crops will drop without ripening if unpollinated...

One more thing...

In the Profichi crop the female flowers are receptive before the male flower is ready to open and distribute pollen. This is due to avoid pollination inside the flower. So what will pollinate the first Profichi fig to start the pollination chain?

So the caprifigs will ripe without pollination if colonized by Blastophaga psenes...

But how do caprifigs 'know' the presence of wasps?

They just say 'I feel I have some wasps in my syconia'?