I got into figs almost 1 year ago exactly.  Bought some nicely grown trees and propagated many, many others.  Some of the nicely grown ones had many potential figs popping out here and there.  Here we are in the middle of August and until today, they all looked so, so far away from beginning to ripen that I was wondering when and if it will happen.  Being in 6a I knew I was in an area that many fig varieties did well.  I walked out side this morning and I could not believe one would turn this quick, but there it was; at least I think it is ripening and not rotting.  I took a couple of pictures to get an opinion if picking time has come to it.  

Now here is the bad news, at least I feel some of you will feel this way as this variety does not appear to be held in high regard.  As for me, at least at this stage, I'm not too picky as I've been waiting a year for this moment.  It's a BROWN TURKEY from an end of year sale at Lowes last year.  

Attached is the pics I took.  The pics show a few other figs that are no whee close to any kind of color change of softness.  Besides, I remember that they first show signs of ripening when they droop severely, which is what I see in the pic.  I think I remember being told that they are ready for picking when a little goo droplet appears at the bottom. One pic shows the bottom and no droplet.  So, what you think?  Thanks

 



 

Well done, Ron! It only gets better from here. It looks ready to pick. Did you eat it yet? I'm not so sure it is in fact a BT. Can you take a pic of it with a quarter and halve the fig? Check to see if there is a void in the middle. Good for you! I hope you enjoy it.

Good job, Ronald!  And, you caught it before the birds did :-D!  Nicely done!

Congratulation that fig is ready!!

Thanks, Bill.

I plan to do that tomorrow and I have the gram scale, quarter, sharp knife and camera.  I also plan to keep a log on recording on what fig trees do what, when and how many.  I guess this might be a little over-the-top micro managing by a newbe and maybe this will fade in time when it becomes routine getting figs on a daily basis when they're in season, but for now, I find it interesting to gather such information.  

I was hoping to stop around this summer but there are a lot of irons in the fire right now.  Still working on my powered dirt sifter.  I'm probably 90% done but that last 10% (tensioner mechanisms for the drive belts) is going a little slow since the design could not truly begin until I got to the 90% stage.  Actually I'm currently sitting at the laptop working on a design layout in the CAD program.  I hope to take the part specs to my laser fabrication shop that is doing that work for me.  Attached is a pic at the 90% stage.

I'll be forwarding the fig pics and info tomorrow.  Take care, Bill.

Congrats!! Money could not buy my BT, if I could not get another one! So glad you are tickled over your first fig, so was I! Thanks for letting us know your excitement! : )

Congrats from a fellow relative newbie who's still waiting for the first ripe fig.

Smyfigs:  I was thinking the same thing.  Birds, squirrels, rabbits, racoons, ants, flies...all manner of little critters.

I look forward to it, Ron. For those that haven't followed Ron's research, he is awesome. He is like the coolest guy you'd ever want to meet. He is a lifelong learner and is always striving to learn to master something new. I really enjoy reading his posts because he's always trying something different and documenting it every step of the way. Thanks a lot, Ron!

Thats an iinteresting machine, your power dirt sifter! You must feel so proud about this project, Ron. Congrats!

Hi,
Congrats on your first fig !
Show us a pic of the leaves too . ( Mislabeling ... Because of the size and look of the fruit, My two cents on a Celeste .)

I am proud of the Dirt "Swifter Sifter" so far and if it works was well as I envision it, I'll be ecstatic.  But, and here is the big BUT, I will not know until I crank this thing up and throw the first load of dirt on it for the test to see how well it works.  I've seen similar units on youtube but none were very clear on the details of the mechanics.  The thing I gathered from those videos is the need for great shaking action of the screen.  

This is all my design with a 2" square tube frame bolted together with 5/16" hex bolts using 3/16" flat iron plate gussets.  Originally I had planned to weld the frame together but the people who are laser cutting my parts suggested it be modified to take apart for transportation and/or storage.  Fortunately the design modification did not change the specifications of any of the previously cut pieces.  Many of the parts are off the shelf like the engine, pulleys, bearings, belts and miscellaneous hardware.  A spec sheet is being drawn up for every single part in order to produce a manual at the end.

This whole project came about because we had a huge mound of mixed top soil, compost, chunks of wood, stones, metal debris from burned wood items.  This mound sits out back and has accumulated over the last 10 to 15 years.  It is approximately 30' long, 6' to 8' wide and 3' to 4' high.  A great place for groundhogs to burro and is right along side the garden that my brother takes care of.  I suggested we just bring in a trash container, load it all up and haul it away.  He said there is a lot of good composted soil in there and it would be a shame to lose it.  I checked around to try and rent a large sifter as doing it by hand with a wheelbarrow and shaker frame was a little insane, given the amount we had.  There is none to rent nor is there any to buy (at a reasonable price).  The lowest cost one I found was about that size for around $9,000 at was a stationary unit moved with a skid loader.  SO, this is where I'm at now.  The screen is 4' by 6' with overall frame dimensions to accommodate the front end bucket on our small tractor.

I can tell you this; the cost of bringing in that trash container and hauling it all away is going to look like a bargain once I get done with this project.  BUT, I'm retired and I'm always looking for something interesting to do.  

I sure hope my Social Security checks don't stop!

Last night I checked on my ripened fig with the anticipation of tomorrows breakfast appetizer and everything looked good.

This morning I went out to the to retrieve my very first ripened fig and NO FIG.   After my initial WHAT THE….. and before I got to the third word, I looked on the ground.   YES! There it was.  Undamaged with only 3 or 4 very tiny ants scurrying about, I quickly picked it up and brushed them off.  Everything was good again.  World order had been restored.

I took it inside and did a weight check; 12 grams.  Kind of puny but I wasn’t going to complain.  After all, just a minute or two before, the only thing I thought I was going to weigh was air.  I took a few pictures plus, what appears to be, the next ripening fig, which sat right aside of the one I picked.

As to taste; it was not sweet-sweet but there was a slight sweetness with, what I can only describe as, a slight hint of peachiness flavor.  I split it with my wife so 6 grams is not a lot to sample but she concurred in the flavor.  The point is; it was GOOD.  As I said before, this tree came from Lowes and was labeled Brown Turkey.  With the description and pictures, does this sound right or is there a possible mislabeling?

 
12 grams

 
Slight sweetness with a hint of peach flavor.

      

This appears to be the next fig to be harvested.  It just started to droop this morning.

Congrats, Ron! I'm glad you enyoyed it. However, with the evidence available-small fruit (12g), trilobed leaf, sweet peach flavor, and color and shape of the fruit, it looks like a Celeste. Not bad, though, and as long as you enjoy it, the name isn't always the most important thing. Like you said, the point is, it was GOOD. Congrats, with many more figs to go!

I was thinking Celeste also but afraid to be wrong and decided to wait for someone else to say it first.
Very nice fig and it will get better

Hi Ron, 

I am looking forward to seeing your dirt sifter in action.  Congratulations on the first fig.  I had my first Dr. Gowaty a few weeks ago thanks to a tree from BigBadBill.  What part of Lebanon do you live in?  I was born and raised in South Lebanon, we may know some mutual people. 

Ps.  I think we had the same plates with those green flowers around them growing up- must be a pennsylvania dutch exclusive!


Best, 

Thank you, all.

Lowes sold Brown Turkey, Celeste, Black Mission and Chicago Hardy.  I think they also had a White Kadota at one time    It does not appear the labels were mixed up at Lowes as there are 2 labels on every tree.  That does not mean they were correct when sold as the supplier is the controlling party with the labels.  I do have a few others labeled as Brown Turkey from Lowes, so we shall see how they turn out.

Those plates with the green flowers are Corelle dishes.  Had them for decades.  We prefer them since they are fairly break resistant and they clean so easy and when I have to clean them, I especially like that.

I was born and raised in West Lebanon, you know, I came from the other side of the tracks; literally.  Haha   My wife, on the other hand, was born and raised in South Lebanon and except for the 24 years we lived in Harrisburg, we now have lived here in South Lebanon for the last 25 years in the home she lived in when we dated.  They were the manufacturers of Bomberger's Lebanon Bologna right next door from our place.  For us, this has been a great place to be.

There WILL be a video of the Swifter Sifter in action.   I sure hope it is the very first test as opposed to several modifications later.  Right now I estimate up to one more month until test.

I'm going to build a dirt sifter, but I'm going to use a old cement mixer
and cut a hole in the side to change out sifting plates from coarse to fine.

It should only take a couple days to build and can be dumped out the front openng
while the sifted dirt can be shoveled into wheel barrow from below it.

Sounds like you have a lot more to sift than I do. :)


Doug

Doug,  

That will work as my brother is currently is using an old cement mixer with a 5hp engine at idle.  He uses it for breaking down old plant pot root clumps and mixing horse manure with soil, among other things.  

Ron

Sounds good.
I use bunny pellets for manure.
Meat rabbits have many uses.

Doug

Looks like the second fig is getting ready.  This one is much nicer than the first.  I also included a couple of pictures of the new. over winter started fig trees I'm nursing along for more production volume.  

 

It just started to droop yesterday.  The anticipation of waiting to actually harvest a fig for the second time is delightful.  This is what I was looking forward to for the last year since I got into this.

 
I counted 70 on this wagon.  All the short ones are from over winter cuttings.  The larger were bought from Bigbadbill, Lowes, Homedepot and a person from Leesport Farmer's Market.

Here is another shot of the wagon.  This is one of those Northern Tools farm wagon kits where you design the top and supply the wood.  It is great for moving them around which I did when the temperature dipped into frost a couple of times.  I was able to move them under cover and out of harms way.
 

The fig tree that is producing is seen in the background and to the left by the house on the walk.  The house is patrolled by (hungry) outside barn cats which helps in keeping the birds at bay.

Do you fertilize your potted figs?
Many yellow leaves.

Doug

My routine with first potting is basically starting with Al Tapla's 5-1-1 mix although I generally do a 4-1-1 (approximate) mix.  I then sprinkle a tsp of azomite, ground cotton seed, worm castings each on top.  I then prepare the water in a sprinkling can with the recommended ratio of BioAg by SCD and Organic Neptune's Harvest of Fish & Seaweed fertilizer.  After watering I put about 1/2" of soil conditioner (Ground up Pine Bark) on top as a mulch.  From that point on I have just watered with a hose or left the rain do that part.  

Some leaves may appear to be yellow or at least yellowish.  There is no question some are very light green and even a yellowish green tint to them.  I thought it was more from the hot, direct sun.  With the wagon, I do pull them into the shade on extreme high temperature days.  

If there are any suggestions or advice on potential problems, I'd very much like to hear what may need to be done.  Thank you. 

Possibly keep roots cooler.
Black pots absorb heat. Cooks roots.
Those that bury their pots in the soil will not get so affected by heat.
It looks like the smaller pots have most of the yellowing.
Small pots heat up quicker.
Maybe a white coat of paint on the buckets to reflect the sun light?

Doug

Hi,
They "might" be lacking water like in "I'm sure they do".
Do those pots have draining holes ? Do those pots have reservoirs ? plates under them to keep the water running off ?
My best potted trees are either sitting on dirt and roots escaped or are sitting on a plate full of water, and they absorb it at will.
Those that lack such a setup ... lost their leaves during my holidays and are now leafing out again ... I lost the whole crop on one of them, and lost some green stems due to heat and lack of watering. That tree was just so beautiful before ... well, live and learn ...

The heat and lack of plates causing a less than adequate amount of water going to the figs makes perfect sense to me.  All the pots have good drainage as I had put an inch or more or course pine nuggets on the bottom of all pots so the medium would not pack around the drainage holes.  It also makes sense that the small pots would dry out faster.  I will be making some temporary changes immediately.  I will take the smaller pots and place them on elevated benches with saucers so I can isolate them and concentrate on making sure they are adequately watered daily.

I have a second farm wagon kit that I still have to assemble.  By having another it will allow me to spread out the pots AND put plates under all of them.  The tightly packed together pots is the only reason I do not have saucers under them now.  By having the second wagon, I will also be able to pot up the smaller ones into the more preferred larger pots.  None have reservoirs as of yet.  That is something I'm kicking around on how I want to go about it.  With so many fig trees needing attention at one time is like the spinning plate on a dowel rod act I remember seeing on the Ed Sullivan show.  It's easy getting several going but at a certain point the entertainer had to turn back to the first plate and spin it up again and at some point it becomes overwhelming in order to give each one the attention that is needed.  Now I know there are many of you that have far more plates spinning then me, but until it becomes second nature, I may lag a bit behind now and then, but I try to get there.

I appreciate the help and I will act on it today.  Thank you.

Ron