Hello figgy friends.  I am so enjoying reading about all the fig successes, wonderful flavors and happy harvesting.  My dear elder garden friend, Angelo from Sicily and I are wondering about two 3 year old RdB's that we have that are not ripening any figs.  There are tons of figlets and they just drop off.  This is compared to a dozen other trees that have been doing great, including Daisy's big IBT.  Any thoughts?  Happy figging all, Jodi

I'm having same problems with some varieties I'm growing. I'm giving a liquid silicon fertilizer a try but first try a good dose of epson salt around trunk and outward. This helped with a lsu purple that belongs to I friend of mine. It would drop all its figs then after epson salt she got ripe figs. Good luck.

I've had success with RdB but I've had fig drop when I neglected to water. Are you letting it dry out?

Thanks Richie and Joe.  We will try that.  We were thinking maybe it is just our climate as the trees are growing bonkers, some our best looking trees and only tons of pinkie finger sized figlets falling to the ground.  I might try relocating one to Phoenix.  Maybe more heat???

Mine does well in RI. Doesn't seem to need a ton of heat.

RDB doesn't need a lot of sun or heat to ripen.  Water was a first thought for me too.

That is really interesting.  So other figs could be successful, same watering and this one needing more?   Does the tree need to be older, ours are 3 years old and about 5 feet tall and as big around.  I will have to take a picture and make sure that we are talking about the right fig here.  ;-)  Thanks everyone.  

Yes on the watering. This year I was on vacation too long and my figs were really under watered. Some lost all figs, some lost a few and some didn't lose any.

Mine is 2 years old and produced even in it's first year.

Another possibility is it is overfed.

So many possibilities.  Thanks everyone for your support.  I will post a pic tomorrow after I get home.  Cheers, Jodi

Sometimes you have bad years, maybe better next year, if not I myself believe different strains are around, get another from a different source. I'll have cuttings or can do an air layer next year. Just cover postage.

It may be that the problem is a combination of feeding and water.  When the tree has both, it grows like crazy, putting on lots of leaves and lots of figs.  But all those leaves will transpire lots of water, creating an ongoing demand.  With too little water, the tree will drop figs, then leaves.

I think your inference is right -- some varieties transpire more than others, so those varieties need more water.

  Jodi,  

    RdB didn't do well here during our hottest part of summer.  All of the figs turned to vinegar, prior to ripening...  so moving them to a hotter area might not be the best course of action.

I think mine needs more regular watering than some other varieties or it drops figs or leaves(but mine is in a SIP)

I'm in Rhode Island and didn't think my RDB was gonna ripen any of the figlets due to some transplant shock from moving it from a pot to the ground and then having the hottest two weeks of summer..but it's definitely a vigorous variety the figlets in the picture were the same size the night before and then bang big juicy figs

This year in my yard, RDB was the first to ripen