Okay I have been having some odd issues with my very first 'crop' of figs.   Black Mission.

First, the young tree only had 10 figlets this year.   But I have had the hardest time telling when they are actually ripe.

I've been waiting until the fig is drooping on the stem, but inevitably every time the fig has very little sweet taste.   I've assumed I'm just picking them too soon.

However, the last one I picked I waited so long it looked almost as if it were about to spoil.   Sure enough a bit of the bottom of the fig appeared to have rotted, which I cut off.

But still, hardly sweet at all and passable, but nothing to write home about.  Pretty bland.

And I have to add that I don't have a sweet tooth myself.  In fact, I was afraid they would taste something like pancake syrup as many Americans you know lap up high fructose corn syrup in everything like hummingbirds.   But even I was disappointed.

The last 4 or 5 figs have been getting larger as they ripen, and the figs are actually swelling and splitting at the seams, but no taste change.   I'm down to two remaining figs on the tree, which are quite big and have split marks on them.  Neither one is remotely drooping on their stem yet, but today I found a little black bug crawling near the end hole on one, and a few fruit flies perched firmly on them both like gold diggers staking their claim.    I also alarmingly had a Cardinal sitting in the tree this morning, looking at them curiously.

Tick, tick tick......  :/

Figs improve with age, so next year and the following the flavor will improve!

Hi,
They should at least be sweet.
You're porbably picking brebas, and some brebas can lack good taste and taste dry.
Do you have pics (eaten ones, and remaining ones ) of the figs ? Of the tree ?
Is the tree getting sun ? getting water? well cared? Have you been getting rain for the last weeks ?

Drooping is not the best thing to wait for for some strains ... as some figs may never droop ...
Post photos, and we'll try to help you and find out when to pick them .
Cracks on the skin are usually a good sign ...

OK pictures.  Ripe?

Lots and lots of rain.  One of the tree branches has blackened and gotten white mold on it, hope it isn't some kind of fungal infection.   Maybe I should cut that branch off?

I thought brebas only came in the spring, this being mid August I would have assumed it was the main crop.

Where are you located? It looks like your plant is in the shade. The size of container and location will affect flavor. The fruit could taste totally diferent next season.
The quality and taste depend on frequency of watering, amount of sun, nutrients in the soil, temperature, root overheating etc...
If your plant gets stressed even once during the growing season, you could say sayonara to a good tasting fruit for that year.

Yes, it was moved into the shade.   The plant was apparently burning in the direct sun.

As I said on another thread I always thought figs need 8 hours of direct sun.   The place it was in got 5 at best and it looked like it was frying.   Then it had too much water.

Seems a pretty finicky plant altogether.    And with such variety in taste between crops I kind of marvel that anyone can tell the difference between the 500 or so varieties sold.

500? Try 1200 lol

Your tree looks pretty young. All the figs that came off my smaller potted figs were pretty bland. So much so, that I even threw some away. But as posted; water, sunlight and heat have a whole lot to do with it too. I was not impressed with our one larger (~7yr old) BM at first. But 7-10 days of higher temps with very little rain drastically improved the taste of the figs. I normally waited until the skin cracked (not split) to pick the Black Missions.

CliffH

Hi,
I see some ties that need to be replaced with some giving more space (some free space) to the trunk to expand.
I know I'm asking a lot : can you post pics of 2 or 3 leaves, and the pot too.
To make a long story short: BM are supposed to be black, the bigger fig being brown ... I suspect that your tree is not a Black Mission.
The first smaller fig looks like molded from high humidity.

My trees get full sun (some, the others the fault goes to the garden being "so small" ) and they have no problem with that, provided they have proper access to water. Fig trees have no problem with full sun. The problem is somewhere else.
I can't tell 500 different fig varieties, but for the ones I grow, I can, except for the ones that are still due to fruit for me.
There is one that I'm waiting on that everyone can recognize ... It is the Panaché :) .

Is planting in ground an option for you ? or not ?

I will say this on the sun topic. I just recently moved and rather than getting full hot sun all day and winds my trees now get morning and later afternoon sun and neatly no wind. No more burnt leaves, and they've grown more in the past few weeks than they did the whole rest of summer.