Made the mistake of cleaning out my trap tree,all the rotting figs were making a mess.
Mistake.Woke up the next day to find the fig beetle had turned it's attention to the Preto
which up until then it had left in peace.

Sinkers and floaters,more on that later.

 
All cleaned up and good to go,sinkers on left,floaters on right.



 Time to get started,first the ones that sank.

 
 
Floaters

 
 
Done,16lbs,3oz headed to the freezer.

 

 

What a nice haul.

My guess at the sinkers and floaters, does it have something to do with the seeds?

Damn that looks pretty!

And tasty....

Beautiful figs Paul. You're obviously getting a very nice harvest in spite of the green beetles. IIRC you had a bad problem with the green menace last year, is this year better or worse?

I've got more beetles than figs here :-)

Absolutely beautiful pics, Paul! I am incredibly happy when I ripen two per season. You are a lucky guy.

Wonderful job Paul. Can't wait to hear about the sinkers and floaters and which ones taste better.
Thank You for posting.

Wow. I can never get that many Preto.

Thanks Tony and Cliff.

Conrad,you know what a bane these beetles are.These guys are the A-10 Warthog of flying
insects in their ability to absorb damage that would kill any other insect.If you crush them
you'll want to have gloves on to prevent puncture wounds.They are (thankfully) not initially
attracted to the Preto,they'd much rather go after the thin skinned Vista which I use as a
trap tree.As far as their prevalence this year versus last,about the same.

Thanks BBB,I've got the perfect climate for this variety.

Sas,the sinkers are the figs that have undergone some degree of dehydration
which reduces the pulp,in some cases to a thin wall.A good example of this would be the
the center fig and the ones in the upper left corner of photo 4.As they shrivel they lose moisture
and become very dense.In photo 6 you can see the difference,those float.Much more pulp and
internally the fruit has yet to undergo any significant dehydration.

Very nice pictures Paul! I only got two ripe Preto so far. Most are still at the stagnant stage.

I love how Preto can not only be the best tasting variety, but also the most productive.

A pic of a main crop Preto hanging out at the stagnant stage.

Hi Sid,

Yes,it's very productive.Here the first flush can set in dense clusters and extracting the first couple that have swelled and ripened often results in a mangled fig.Can't wait to see your monsters when
they ripen.

 

 

I had the same issue of Preto touching each other as they swell. My solution was to increase the distance between nodes, from the normal 1/2 inch to 3 inches. That way even if the figs are 6 inches in diameter and 5 inches tall, they won't interfere with each other.

This guy was a cutting I planted in January 2017. Six months old and 7ft+ tall. My goal is to average 100g Preto figs. But to keep the quality the exact same.

Thanks for the cuttings, these are very healthy trees!

Only in your fern forest Sid.Have you overrun your island with them yet?<G>
It truly is a beauty for commercial fruit sales,they'll just hang and become
higher quality until you need them.

Beautiful pics Paul! Great work with the Preto!!

This is the most beautiful post ever!  Very nice.

The basket of figs looks amazing. 

Wow those look great....very nice pictures

That is a fig producing machine !!

Wow Tyro,

That is a great haul that is a very productive tree...a few questions..

First what tree do you use as a "Trap", do you spray it to finnish off the beetles?

Second, when picking berries as a kid in NC, we used the water technique as well, floaters meant airspace, and likely a bug in the berry...I noticed some of the floaters looked like they may have been attacked by bugs, do the beatles stay in the floaters?

Figgy sid...thank you the tip on shade cloth and nodes, this whole thread contains some good info.

Thanks guy's for the kind comments.

Hey Frank,don't be shy,post some photo's of yours!

Lewi,I use my Vista as a trap tree..

 
If Preto is considered productive,Vista is productive on steroids.The beetle is doing me a favor,otherwise I'd feel compelled to process them.The best I can manage is to juice them.

I don't spray.I have this large fishing net and shake the beetle's into it.Meanwhile,my attack duck (who knows what's up when I grab the net)positions her self under the tree to clean up.The net goes in a garbage can filled with water and the beetle's are fished out as duck treats.

Such is retirement.LOL

That was an impressive haul of Preto figs in just one outing.  

Over here we have Japanese beetles attacking most of my fruit trees, especially grape leaves.  When they are done, the leaves look like skeleton.  It is difficult to use net for protection for large trees.  However, they have a tendency to fall off the leaves when startled, then fly away.  So an easy way to catch them is to use a plastic cup filled with some soapy water and then go hunting them during the day. May is the time when they are most abundant/active, and I need to hunt them two to three times per day for two weeks straight.  Some days I can catch them up to 200 per day. After a couple of years like this, the beetle population is down considerably without using insecticide.  Maybe it is worth to try for the fig beetles.    

Attack duck, ha, indian runner?

We used to raise ducks for meat ( pekins, Holdereads welsh Harliquins) but a bunch of them are real messy...certainly you are staying productive in retirement. ;)

Vista is supposed to be an exellent fig, esp. In SoCal, nice to see it does not totally go to waste.

Paul. So many preto. Do tell how you keep birds from eating them all 😡

Wow! Just over the top unbelievable! Congratulations on growing some gorgeous FP's!