My fig tree (brown turkey) had a surprisingly large number of fruit on it
this year, but none of them have ripened yet. (They are still relatively
small, green and hard - I assume they are meant to colour a bit when they
are ripe?)

Is there anything I can do about it now, or is it too late?
(they are against a south facing wall)

--

wrote in message
...
My fig tree (brown turkey) had a surprisingly large number of fruit on it
this year, but none of them have ripened yet. (They are still relatively
small, green and hard - I assume they are meant to colour a bit when they
are ripe?)

Is there anything I can do about it now, or is it too late?
(they are against a south facing wall)

--

There is a fig tree just around the corner to us and that is all it ever
does :-((

At a rough guess, I would say we are in the wrong place for outdoor figs.
(But then, as has been reminded many times, "I" am not a gardener)

Mike


--

....................................
Today, is the tomorrow, you were worrying about, yesterday.
....................................

On 3 Nov, 10:11, wrote:
My fig tree (brown turkey) had a surprisingly large number of fruit on it
this year, but none of them have ripened yet. *(They are still relatively
small, green and hard - I assume they are meant to colour a bit when they
are ripe?)

Is there anything I can do about it now, or is it too late?
(they are against a south facing wall)

--

My experience of brown turkey figs is that these are fruit that will
ripen next year. This was on a south-facing wall in a very exposed
spot in the Cotswolds.

Jonathan

Jonathan wrote:
Is there anything I can do about it now, or is it too late?
(they are against a south facing wall)

My experience of brown turkey figs is that these are fruit that will
ripen next year. This was on a south-facing wall in a very exposed
spot in the Cotswolds.

Oh right, so the unripe fruits will sit there over winter and then grow on
/next/ year? I would have expected them to drop off when it frosts!

wrote in message
...
Jonathan wrote:
Is there anything I can do about it now, or is it too late?
(they are against a south facing wall)

My experience of brown turkey figs is that these are fruit that will
ripen next year. This was on a south-facing wall in a very exposed
spot in the Cotswolds.

Oh right, so the unripe fruits will sit there over winter and then grow on
/next/ year? I would have expected them to drop off when it frosts!

They do, and then start all over again next year :-((

At least, the one near us does.

Mike



--

....................................
Today, is the tomorrow, you were worrying about, yesterday.
....................................

In article ,
says...
My fig tree (brown turkey) had a surprisingly large number of fruit on it
this year, but none of them have ripened yet. (They are still relatively
small, green and hard - I assume they are meant to colour a bit when they
are ripe?)

Is there anything I can do about it now, or is it too late?
(they are against a south facing wall)


It sounds like the first small fruits failed to overwinter for you last
year, the fruit still on the tree will not ripen now and can be removed,
next years fruits are still tiny button like buds in the axials, we ate
our last figs on 12th October from the Brown Turkey, first figs were in
late July.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

Charlie Pridham wrote:
It sounds like the first small fruits failed to overwinter for you last
year, the fruit still on the tree will not ripen now and can be removed,
next years fruits are still tiny button like buds in the axials, we ate
our last figs on 12th October from the Brown Turkey, first figs were in
late July.

Ah, ok. Yes, this was the first year it had any fruit, so I guess it needed
to have baby-figs last year, which didn't come.

Do I /have/ to remove the unripe fruit, or can I just leave them to do their
own stuff?

In message , Charlie
Pridham writes
In article ,
says...
My fig tree (brown turkey) had a surprisingly large number of fruit on it
this year, but none of them have ripened yet. (They are still relatively
small, green and hard - I assume they are meant to colour a bit when they
are ripe?)

Is there anything I can do about it now, or is it too late?
(they are against a south facing wall)


It sounds like the first small fruits failed to overwinter for you last
year, the fruit still on the tree will not ripen now and can be removed,
next years fruits are still tiny button like buds in the axials, we ate
our last figs on 12th October from the Brown Turkey, first figs were in
late July.
Sounds similar to us.... we started mid summer and stopped about 2
weeks ago. We enjoyed a great crop - best ever. Possibly something to do
with the hard winter. We removed all those that hadn't ripened yesterday
and put them in the compost. Hope we do a well next year!
--
Gopher .... I know my place!

In article ,
says...
Charlie Pridham wrote:
It sounds like the first small fruits failed to overwinter for you last
year, the fruit still on the tree will not ripen now and can be removed,
next years fruits are still tiny button like buds in the axials, we ate
our last figs on 12th October from the Brown Turkey, first figs were in
late July.

Ah, ok. Yes, this was the first year it had any fruit, so I guess it needed
to have baby-figs last year, which didn't come.

Do I /have/ to remove the unripe fruit, or can I just leave them to do their
own stuff?

I remove all those bigger than a small pea now
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

As others have said, this crop of fruits won't ripen. Take off anything larger than a very small pea. Fruits being produced now, which are pea-sized or less, should start increasing in size next spring and summer, and be ripe late summer. In Yorkshire, ours ripen for September.

They go brown or purplish brown when ripe and are about the size of a very large hen's egg or a very small pear. They're ripe to pick when they have softened, and the stem also softens so they droop instead of sticking straight out. Don't pick them before they're ripe, as they don't go on ripening once picked. If you cut a ripe fruit in half, the seed part of it should be a rich purple.

It always seems that this second useless crop is about twice as large as the crop which ripens.

On Wed, 3 Nov 2010, wrote:

It sounds like the first small fruits failed to overwinter for you last
year, the fruit still on the tree will not ripen now and can be removed,
next years fruits are still tiny button like buds in the axials, we ate
our last figs on 12th October from the Brown Turkey, first figs were in
late July.

Ah, ok. Yes, this was the first year it had any fruit, so I guess it needed
to have baby-figs last year, which didn't come.

Do I /have/ to remove the unripe fruit, or can I just leave them to do their
own stuff?

I was given a tip by my daughter a few years ago - and it worked!

My experience was exactly the same as yours and I never got any figs to
ripen. Emma told me to remove ALL the unripe figs now and then the new
figs next year will ripen. She was right, and I started getting figs to
ripen. Last year I forgot to remove them. This year - no figs again!

When I get home I must remember to remove the hundreds of small green
figs on my tree ......

David

--
David Rance
writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France

On Wed, 3 Nov 2010 16:05:00 -0000, Charlie Pridham
wrote:

In article ,
says...
Charlie Pridham wrote:
It sounds like the first small fruits failed to overwinter for you last
year, the fruit still on the tree will not ripen now and can be removed,
next years fruits are still tiny button like buds in the axials, we ate
our last figs on 12th October from the Brown Turkey, first figs were in
late July.

Ah, ok. Yes, this was the first year it had any fruit, so I guess it needed
to have baby-figs last year, which didn't come.

Do I /have/ to remove the unripe fruit, or can I just leave them to do their
own stuff?

I remove all those bigger than a small pea now

I back up Charlie's advice. Bob Flowerdew off GQT gives the same
advice. Anything bigger than a pea will not survive a cold UK winter
and will slow up the formation of new figs for next year. The better
protected the plant is the earlier it will start to fruit next year.

Pam in Bristol

Pam Moore wrote:
I back up Charlie's advice. Bob Flowerdew off GQT gives the same
advice. Anything bigger than a pea will not survive a cold UK winter
and will slow up the formation of new figs for next year. The better
protected the plant is the earlier it will start to fruit next year.

Ta. Will do.
Is it worth either fleecing or moving to the greenhouse? (Moving would be
.... a struggle, but possible - we've moved the tangerine tree to tthe
greenhouse, where the tangerines are still ripening up!)


--

Charlie Pridham wrote:

It sounds like the first small fruits failed to overwinter for you last
year, the fruit still on the tree will not ripen now and can be removed,
next years fruits are still tiny button like buds in the axials, we ate
our last figs on 12th October from the Brown Turkey, first figs were in
late July.

I've still got ripening figs on mine.

One day I'll get round to erectinf a temporary 'greenhouse' over the
tree for the winters...

--
Rusty

wrote:

Ah, ok. Yes, this was the first year it had any fruit, so I guess it needed
to have baby-figs last year, which didn't come.

Do I /have/ to remove the unripe fruit, or can I just leave them to do their
own stuff?

No, you can leave them the IME they either fall off or you get an
early start - if you can protect them from frost.

--
Rusty