If so you are in Business because any main crop embryos visible on tree at this point will ripe on August 1st,no later than August 10.
All fig trees on the east coast Canada or Midatlantic that will have main crop visible on them starting June 1st,trough June 15,are early ripening cultivars and will be guaranteed to ripe all fruits appearing on branches till july 15.
Of course I am talking about adult fig plants 4 years or older.
Tomorrow.,I am going to check and post,If I have any cultivars that formed main crop,now,and will keep informed ,when they do.

Please do the same,if your tree got main crop on it now,let us know what cultivar it is.
Breba does not count as fruits because they are flower of the fig,only main crop are fruits.
Main crop appear on new growth,new wood that grew this year.
Thanks anticipated.

Edit Note:Here are The pixies,of cultivars that have incipient Embryos ,at this time June 1st.
My trees are planted in ground,Marseilles Black vs,was not protected from Winter cold,Improved Celeste,and Ronde de Bordeaux were protected with dry leaves.
Pixies:First Marseilles black vs,second Improved Celeste third Ronde de Bordeaux

Edit Note:June 4th: Match Head,or larger, size maincrop fruits can be seen now on:
Malta Black  ,(Not Winter protected)
Atreano (has a lot of large Breba too) ,(Not Winter protected)
Gino's ,(Not Winter protected)
Tacoma Violet(has a lot of large Breba too),(Not Winter protected)
Adriatic JH    (Winter Protected with dry leaves)
Southern Brown Turkey(James Robin)  (Winter Protected with dry leaves)

Edit note:June 10 2013:
Matchheads or larger on the Following:
Sal(Gene strain)
Afghanistan #2 (wide leaves)
Unknown White fig
Kathleen Black
Maltese Falcon
Stella
St.Anthony

Afghanistan #2 (wide leaves) is a mystery fig that I am not sure if ,it needs pollination to ripe fruits,but it has formed ,embryos,at this time,now about 6 years old ,in ground

Edit note:
June 15 2013:
New Embryos,on:
Noire de Barbentane
Preto
Nebo
Battaglia
Nero 600M
Saint Anthony
Violette de Bordeaux
Cleveland Hardy
Danny Delite
Sicilian White
Verdal Longue
Petite Negri
Unknown Black from Marcus(possible Ischia Black)
All cultivars are in ground.
This year,on June 15 fruits on my early ripening cultivars are a little smaller in size on this day,compared to last year,indicating a colder Spring season.

most of my trees i expected to see figs have fig embryo on them. and some i didn't expect have them on. only one that i expected and did see fig is Longue D'Aout. but it's a new plant given to me by very generous forum member, and with late spring, it put out growth little later. 

The farthest I am seeing is the tiny bud poking out so far, another 2 weeks there will be figlets and lots of them, are you talking about these buds or seeing the figlet, I want to make sure I report the proper thing, if you could post a picture of the stage you're talking about, it might be helpful for people when reporting for accuracy so we're all on the same page.

I got some brebas on 2 of my trees but haven't seen any beginnings of main crop yet.  Hopefully they come.  These trees are new and about 3ft tall.

Now..I'm very new at this. I just started September of last year. This will be my first crop of figs. Are these (see pics) main crops?

Celeste and Hardy Chicago for me.

goss

C2- yes they are main crop. Main crop is on new growth and breba is on last season's wood.

[QUOTE]If your tree got main crop on it now,let us know what cultivar it is.[/QUOTE]

I have main crop figlets on:

Atreano
Black Mission
Celeste
Col De Dam
VDB

Havasu Unknown

I took pictures of these main crop figs last week.

VDB As you can see. The figs are above the leaf nodes.
[URL=http://s266.photobucket.com/user/THISISMETWO/media/100_5197_zps87b5dc81.jpg.html][IMG]http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii277/THISISMETWO/100_5197_zps87b5dc81.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

CONADRIA
[URL=http://s266.photobucket.com/user/THISISMETWO/media/100_5200_zps1d7ec1ae.jpg.html][IMG]http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii277/THISISMETWO/100_5200_zps1d7ec1ae.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Paradiso is also covered in main crop figs but alas no pictures.

I'm so jealous of all those main crop figs! 

If the embryos are as big as a rice,seed,then it is visible.
Embryos are round,growing buds are pointed,that is the difference.
I think I have seen embryos on Marseilles black vs ,today,but will take pixies on June First.
And also it will be nice to know if plant is in pot or in the ground,and if it is in pot,was it in the Greenhouse last Winter.
Because if it was in Greenhouse doesn't count,as it can't be assessed if it is an early or a late ripening fig,and will confuse the finding.

[QUOTE=7deuce]C2- yes they are main crop. Main crop is on new growth and breba is on last season's wood. [/QUOTE]

Thanks Jason.

So, right now I have main crops on:

Atreano (Pot, Greenhouse until March)
Battaglia Green (Pot, Greenhouse until March)
Malta Black (Pot, Greenhouse until March)
Kathleen Black (Pot, Greenhouse until March)
Sicilian Black (Pot, Greenhouse until March)
Red Lebanese (Pot, started indoor in winter, moved to greenhouse in Feb, out in March)
Yellow Lebanese (Pot, started indoor in winter, moved to greenhouse in Feb, out in March)
Sal's Corleone (Pot, Greenhouse until March)

Note: Portable greenhouse without heater.

Almost all my 25 gallon potted figs have embryos and most of my 5-15 gallons have them as well. My inground trees just shot out small leaves. I don't have high hopes for them this year. I will post details tomorrow.

All of my pics are from trees in the ground and I do not have a greenhouse. My big VDB must have more than 400 figs on it right now. I suspect it will ripen many more than that before first frost. It has roughly 25-30 branches 3'-8' tall that are just covered in figs.

Are they called fig embryos until they are ripe?  Because my trees have some pretty big figs on them now.  But we live in the Deep South and that's different.

noss

Atreano
Celeste
vdb-has ripe figs too
Panache
Strawberry verte-ripe figs too
Corky's honey delight
Desert king
Conadria
Unknown Bethlehem
Unknown Tennyson
Lsu purple

All above have figs bigger than a marble.

herman - is there a specific date you will start pinching or always after 5 leafs regardless of the date?

Not much action with mine. Just a couple here and a couple there. That's it.
I need to stop chopping away at my figs.

Looks like I'm in for a disappointing season as far as the fruit goes.

Best of luck to all.

I am pinching after five leaves this year,and there is no date when I start,but there is a date when I stop,pinching.

July 10 should be the time to stop pinching,and do a thinning,on the tree.
Thinning of branches that have no fruits on them,to aerate the canopy of the fig in my climate.
So the sun will penetrate the whole canopy.
It is needed to ripe the existent fruits,in marginally climates ,for fig tree like most Northeast ,Canada and mid atlantic states.
Also new fruits appearing after July 20 should be removed as soon as they are noticed,for the same reason:Ripening the existent more mature fruits.
Warning:People In Central California or other long hot Summer with mild Winter,are not needed to do these procedure.

Atreano RR    pot             Main crop figs as of Jun 1 some large enough to be sure 
Black Mission  pot                others marble or  larger size.
Branca          pot
Brunswick      in ground
Celeste            ig
Down's Celeste  ig
Hardy Chicago   ig
Green Italian     ig
Red Italian        ig
Lange           pot
Preto            pot
Unknown Dark Purple  ig
Unknown (first year to bear)  ig
Patrick Super Giant ig

All of my larger trees have main crop figs forming.  I planted several smaller plants this spring, and none of them are showing any figs yet.

Desert King (most of these main crop will drop off prematurely)


Black Mission



Hardy Chicago



LSU Purple



Barnissotte



Unknown from NJ



Violette de Bordeaux



Black Madeira

Your trees look amazing Joe. So nice and healthy. I suspect you are going to have a good harvest this year.

wow.. all mine are just the side of match head. i see some of you guys in better weather are already good size. hope everyone has great season this yr. 

Thanks Thisisme.  Your trees look great too.

Pete I hope we all have a good harvest this year, no matter where we live.

I only have one that I am 100% sure of.
That is Grimo's Brown Turkey, which has been identified on this forum as a Celeste variant.
I like this tree. it does not require pinching; it puts out 5 or 6 leaves and sets its fruit.
Also last spring it was accidentally left out overnight during the fig shuffle and took 25 F night
with little to no damage to the newly unfolding leaves.There was ice on the bucket of water beside the plant,
and only a few black spots on leaves were evident over the next week or so.

thank you herman for the detailed answer

hey grant - can you please post some pics of your grimo brown turkey if you get a chance later on the season
how does the fruit taste ? 

hI Eli.
some pics from previous years.
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/wondering-what-this-is-5393061
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/My-first-fig-ever..-almost-ripe-5467228?highlight=grimo

and the taste is good,
seems to get better each year, getting more depth, more complex.
will dry on the tree as well

Don't count the rest of us out yet.  Fruit that forms in June still can ripen!

We have in pots, Marseilles Black VS, Atreano, Hardy Hartford, Gino's Black, Improved Celeste, Fortisi, Ronde de Bordeaux, Abruzzi, Sal's EL, just to name a few.

So far, Abruzzi, is the only one that has figs starting.  It appears our strain of Abruzzi, may be the earlist of the figs we are testing.

The only other fig that has impressed me this year, is Laradek's English Brown Turkey. It was held in storage like the Abruzzi. But it has breba as large as small peaches, and it is only 12 months old.
It looks to me like maybe LaRadek's English Brown Turkey, just might end up being the Desert King for the north.

So, for us the earliest for embryo development for main crop figs is Abruzzi, and LaRadek's English Brown for breba.

Both are in pots, and out of the two dozen or so of our cold hardy figs we are testing, these are the two standouts so far, this year.

Bob - Connecticut - zone 5b/6a 

here are some of my match heads. they seem to be definite.. but nothing is definite until it's in my mouth.

i'm rather surprised by Figo Preto. didn't expect figs at this time. it's going into 2nd yr.. but still small. Kathleen's Black is setting figs this yr without pinching. VdB is old reliable. Paradiso Gene, i just hope the weather will cooperate this yr. Genovese Nero, yeah.. i'm looking forward to it. 

others that are still thinking about what to do are CdDB, CdDN, RdB, Black Madeira, White Greek, and JH Adriatic. Calvert, and Ischia White already had good size figs on them. 

now Hardy Chicago, i didn't take pix of only too what looks like definite, but it's growing fast and putting on lot of figs. i'll probably knock off most of them but 3-5. it's going in 2nd yr and i think, but still small. 

I have main crop forming on Black Triana, Unknown OC "Hearty Flavor" and Bryant Dark, Thanks to Pete S.  All of these are in pots in the garage for the winter.

None of my Desert Kings have put on any breba.  I have at least 4, 1 is about 5 years old.  I hope the rest of my figs hurry up and fruit.

So far the only sign of main crop figs are on Hardy Chicago and Petite Negra (Joe Morle). Both are potted trees. My in ground HC is just starting to grow. It better play catch up in the next few weeks.

At this time, we have 4 fruiting figs in Palo Alto, CA. All are pruned severely to keep them 'in check' so the main crop is our crop. As expected Osborne's Prolific (the least tasty of them) has the most embryos. They are also larger than those on Lampiera and Jurupa. Our Panache (needs more heat than it gets) will probably produce a few figs again this year. They are tasty, but they are small in size and number.

baumgrenze

I Reported on 6-1-13, that Abruzzi was our first potted main crop fig to show embryos. Have to make a correction. Behind the Abruzzi were I did not at first notice it, there was a Hardy Hartford. It to has embryos, about the size of a grain of rice.

So, that would put Abruzzi and Hardy Hartford as our first main crop figs to appear, for 2013. But, in the past Hardy Hartford has not ripened it's crop until September. But we are at least 200 miles north of Herman

Bob - Connecticut - zone 5b/6a 

In ground trees Black Triana and San Pietro are starting to show rice sized embryos.

Here's a few with main crop that are starting.
Hardy Chicago and a couple Unknowns.
They are all in pots.

6/2/13: main crop starting for the following (all in pots)

Hardy Chicago
Dark Portuguese
Brown Turkey- Miller Nursery
VDB- Raintree Nursery
La Goccia D'Oro

All in ground trees are very behind including normally early Italian Honey. I'm not expecting anything until late September early October. Most of April and May was very cool here in Northern New Jersey

 Peter
 Northern New Jersey 6B

thinking the same... late aug. to mid sept. for first fig. VdB might be a week or two earlier. the spring weather was not exactly optimal.

Very cool spring here in Georgia.  I think Petite Negri breba will be ripe next week or maybe the week after.  Main season buds are showing, I think PN will be about one and a half to two weeks later in mid august.

Here are some of my figs on 02.06.2013.All in groud trees.
Brunswick,RdB,Dalmatie
[URL=http://gustavson.snimka.bg/flowers/razni-2013.745885.30651312][IMG]http://media.snimka.bg/s1/2204/030651312-thumb.jpg?r=0[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://gustavson.snimka.bg/flowers/razni-2013.745885.30651325][IMG]http://media.snimka.bg/s1/2204/030651325-thumb.jpg?r=0[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://gustavson.snimka.bg/flowers/razni-2013.745885.30651331][IMG]http://media.snimka.bg/s1/2204/030651331-thumb.jpg?r=0[/IMG][/URL]

I have main crop figs or swelling buds on Celeste, Portuguese dark, Lebanese red, Ischia ( all colors!)  The one that amazes me is the Lebanese red, it has FMV since leafing out, but continues to push growth, now has two figs, not bad for 7 months old. Makes me wonder if it really is... what was sold to me as cuttings

Herman...that June 1st. to Aug 1st. ripening cycle is of great importance to those of us who live in an area with a short growing season...I've copied the varieties mentioned in this thread in order to have a concise list of early ripening figs...are there any more that you can think of that have not been mentioned?...it would be a great guide to future fig tree purchases for those of us who would like to taste more ripe figs before our shortened growing season comes to a close.

Edit:...so the list comes out to 41 varieties posted on this thread...21 of these I already have, so it will give me more of an idea as to what choices to make on my UC Davis selections this year. 

My unknown Carini:  3rd year in the ground - breba should ripen by end of June.  No main figs yet.

2-3 year old Gino Black - potted - several main crop figs appearing - first noticed about a week ago.

After reading this on Saturday, June 1, I went into the yard, bright sunshine- no luck.
It has been very cool this Spring in coastal central NJ so I figured we are 2 weeks behind.
Today, armed with reading glasses I went out, in the rain, and success! Very happy now.

Main crop starting on VDB, RDB, Sal's, Gino's, Malta Black. I'm sure there are other, just didn't feel like getting too wet.

Keep my fingers crossed for good (not violent) summer weather.

Herman,

Your information is appreciated as always, especially info on thinning the tree branches for light penetration.  When did you do your pinching this year?  Have you noticed whether your strategy of using bricks to trap heat has had an effect?  Another post mentioned it, but I would definitely be interested in a list of early ripening figs.  I think I'll start tracking that information this year along with some other info (taste, productivity, resistance to rain).  There's a good amount of information on ripening dates for things like apples, peaches, etc, but not as much on figs in the northeast.

I was out yesterday trimming around my trees and did some pinching on all figs that looked like they needed it.  As another post mentioned, it's been a cool spring so I think my trees are a couple weeks behind where they'd otherwise be.

Tim

Vince,and Tim:Figs in pots ,or figs in pots or ground in Hot climates like Arizona,give false readings.
Only figs in ground count for me to have an Idea what is early and what is not.
Figs like Preto,Madeira Black,Or, Col de Dame,are late ripening,late to produce embryos,if in ground,but will force them self of producing early Embryos if in pots ,greenhouse,or in climates like Arizona.
Many figs mentioned in the above post are not early,only a few of the 41 you have written down are.
You can Mark down the three I mentioned in above post,and,you can mark down Malta Black,Atreano, and Tacoma Violet,that now on June 3,indeed formed match head size fruits now,in my garden,in ground ,in a natural way,in a cold climate,that they are indeed early.
The Bricks did not help at this point but it could have been helping,in an invisible way to keep my in ground plants protected from early frost.

I would like your thoughts on why you consider in ground vs in pots a difference on fruiting timing. Put aside hot climates, greenhouses or small pots.

The fig in ground is acting normally,fruiting according to it's genes,early or late,depending of the genes it got.
Figs in pots,are under torture suffering,so the surviving mood  turns on,and that is why it produces embryos,ASAP,at the risk ,of depleting itself of all the energy it got.
Heat also have an effect in turning plant ,very fast in the seed producing mood.
Plant Lettuce,late in Arizona sun and you will see that no matter how much you water,The lettuce goes bitter,and produce flower very fast,faster than you can use them.
Plant the same Lettuce in February ,March,in shade,and they will be growing plump tasty leaves,and will flower and seed ,way later,giving you a chance to enjoy the tasty leaves.
It is the surviving mood,that the plants ,turn to when under stress.!

You are describing harsh extremes. Comparing figs trees to lettuce is apples to oranges.  Lettuce in Maine will bolt in the July and August hot summer sun. I agree that long term in ground trees do grow differently than potted trees, but I try to manage my potted ones for only a few years in the pots and do not consider them to be under harsh stress because they receive more attention than the in ground ones in terms of watering and root management.