Quote:
Originally Posted by David WE Roberts[_2_]
Well, the figs look ripe, but they are soft and spongy.
When broken open there is some flesh, but no seeds - just the inward facing
flowers.
So it looks as though they have not been pollinated.
Now memory plus a quick Google says that pollination is by wasps specific to
each type of fig.
I suspect that there is probably not a colony of wasps for this fig and that
is where the problem lies.
We have never had any problem with our Brown Turkey, which leads me to
believe that it is self fertile.
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My understanding is that the figs that we generally grow to eat fresh are from a group that don't need pollination to set fruit - ie they'll produce fruit without seeds in them (ie slightly different from being self fertile). The bits inside our Brown Turkey fruits I don't think are viable seeds - but I may be wrong.
So there's two possibilities 1) that the figs are dropping for some cultural reason, eg too dry. Must admit this sounds improbable if it's happening every year.
2) the fig in question has been acquired from an overseas source and is one of the ones that needs pollination (apparently these varieties are the ones normally used for dried figs). Since the fig pollinating wasps don't live in this country, it's hard to see what could be done to achieve pollination if this is the case.
If you want a more authoritative reply, you could try telephoning or emailing Reads Nursery, who supply a huge number of varieties of fig. They used to be regular posters to urg.