Last Platter This Season

Figgin' A

Figgin' A

Well-known member
I know, I said 'last platter' three weeks ago, but this is truly the last one. I wasn't planning or expecting it at this time of the year in my climate. Covered some of my trees that had figs on them with greenhouse plastic without expecting much, and was rewarded with a few platters of good figs. I'll take that. My season was over weeks ago, so this is just a cherry on the cake.
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Today's haul. I can't believe my eyes, to be honest. CDD Grise, two BG, DSJG, a Ponte Tresa, and a bunch of Mt Etnas.

CDD Grise from a graft - unbelievably, ridiculously good. Sweet. Phenomenally thick, dense texture. Very sweet. Good flavor. I can't believe it ripened in this weather.
71.2 grams!

This is our weather over the past two weeks.
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DSJG - very good, but tasted a bit underdeveloped. Like it needed a bit more warth and sunlight. But I still very much enjoyed it. 68.3 grams.


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Ponte Tresa - still not bad. Far from what it tasted in September, but I could eat a few of these and enjoy them.

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BG - OK. Not bad. One was sweet, but lacking that flavor I remember from August/September. The other one was moderately sweet, even less flavor. This one needs heat to shine.

Mt Etnas - hit or miss. Some were very good, some OK, some bad. Underripe. On average, they seem to refuse to ripen well in this weather. I have a feeling that early varieties in general don't ripen well in this weather, unlike some late varieties. Strange. But very exciting. I can't wait to do some experimenting next year.

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I found the average temperature needs to be at least above 60 to get satisfactory results. When I ripened the fruits end of the season with heater and indoor lights, the temperature can go down to the 50s at night but got as high as low 70s during the day. The trees with more light and slightly warmer (about 5F because they were closer to the heater) tend to fare better. I had the best CddB ripen that way near the end of the fruits in January. During the hot summer here, I couldn't reproduce the same CddB quality.
 
grasshopper said:
I found the average temperature needs to be at least above 60 to get satisfactory results. When I ripened the fruits end of the season with heater and indoor lights, the temperature can go down to the 50s at night but got as high as low 70s during the day. The trees with more light and slightly warmer (about 5F because they were closer to the heater) tend to fare better. I had the best CddB ripen that way near the end of the fruits in January. During the hot summer here, I couldn't reproduce the same CddB quality.
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I never tracked the average temps inside my makeshift greenhouse—basically a large piece of 6 mil plastic covering a bunch of trees, with no heating or anything at night. The temps during sunny days there would be 68F to 80F. Last few days, they were closer to 65F-66F. But that did help quite a few remaining figs ripen quite well. I am especially impressed by how well some late-ripening varieties ripened in these conditions. If I can replicate this season to season, it opens up some cool new possibilities for me.
 
scott_va said:
We’ll have a good frost tonight with highs only in the 60’s. I did get an 80 gram I258 today that was the sweetest, syrupy, intensely cherry flavor. I should have spooned it over vanilla ice cream.
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Same here, our temps overnight will go down to 36F. After Sunday, the forecast for the next two weeks is highs of 50°F and lows of 37-39°F. Lots of rain and clouds. No point in continuing, so I harvested all harvestable figs today, as well as most other crops, like tomatoes, peppers, some non-frost-tolerant herbs, and raspberries.

That I-258 sounds delicous. I love that variety. Truly a special one.
 
Figgin' A said:
What do you know, found some more figs that I missed earlier.

Vinny #3. Ok... nothing special. Felt very soft, but tasted under-ripe. This one wasn't under greenhouse plastic.

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Another Bourjasotte Grise... it redeemed itself. All things considered, this one was outstanding. 38g of pure goodness.
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I’m not gonna lie that I’m curious about Vince#3 Do you have Green Michurinska. How is it compared to Green Michurinska?
 
oat said:
I’m not gonna lie that I’m curious about Vince#3 Do you have Green Michurinska. How is it compared to Green Michurinska?
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No, I've never tried GM so I can't compare them. Vince #3 is an outstanding fig though. Loved every single fig that ripened in warm weather.
 
Figgin' A said:
Not sure if the question was addressed to @grasshopper or me, but I'll go ahead and answer. I used to, but don't anymore. I had a pest issue once and don't want to deal with that anymore.
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Yes it was directed in your direction. :)

I did too though...Back when I first got really crazy with it.
Spider mites seemed to have taken over in just one day. lol
Took me a bit to control them but I won.
I just don't have time to do that anymore, on a large scale anyway.
 
ktrain said:
Yes it was directed in your direction. :)

I did too though...Back when I first got really crazy with it.
Spider mites seemed to have taken over in just one day. lol
Took me a bit to control them but I won.
I just don't have time to do that anymore, on a large scale anyway.
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:) Yeah, similar experience here. My trees indoors are quite densely populated, and control is not easy. I also don't want to spray anything indoors unless I absolutely have to. I had a spider mite outbreak once, and I can't say I won. I could control it. I had to get rid of one very heavily infested tree. The rest seemed fine, but once I took them outside and the figs got bigger, many of them became russeted. I assume because of mite damage. I saw quite a few spider mites under a microscope. I decided I wouldn't do that ever again.-
 
Figgin' A said:
:) Yeah, similar experience here. My trees indoors are quite densely populated, and control is not easy. I also don't want to spray anything indoors unless I absolutely have to. I had a spider mite outbreak once, and I can't say I won. I could control it. I had to get rid of one very heavily infested tree. The rest seemed fine, but once I took them outside and the figs got bigger, many of them became russeted. I assume because of mite damage. I saw quite a few spider mites under a microscope. I decided I wouldn't do that ever again.-
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I drank the kool-aid this morning and moved my Figo Preto indoors to the sunroom. I moved it into the garage last night since we got down to 36F and before I moved it back onto the deck I decided to count the figs - 109. Frankly, it shocked me, so I hosed down the entire tree with the jet setting and then sprayed sulfur before moving it inside. I hope to ripen at least half of them before placing the tree back in the garage for Winter. Also, I can’t wait to let the figs really ripen on the tree without fear of critters or rain.
 
bushdoctor82 said:
I drank the kool-aid this morning and moved my Figo Preto indoors to the sunroom. I moved it into the garage last night since we got down to 36F and before I moved it back onto the deck I decided to count the figs - 109. Frankly, it shocked me, so I hosed down the entire tree with the jet setting and then sprayed sulfur before moving it inside. I hope to ripen at least half of them before placing the tree back in the garage for Winter. Also, I can’t wait to let the figs really ripen on the tree without fear of critters or rain.
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Well, that's your favorite fig. 109 figs are a lot to waste. I totally get it. Hope they ripen well for you. I had some figs ripen indoors last spring, wasn't impressed with their taste qualities. Yours have been outside for a while, it could make a big difference compared to starting and ripening indoors. I'd love to hear your report on this.
 
bushdoctor82 said:
I drank the kool-aid this morning and moved my Figo Preto indoors to the sunroom. I moved it into the garage last night since we got down to 36F and before I moved it back onto the deck I decided to count the figs - 109. Frankly, it shocked me, so I hosed down the entire tree with the jet setting and then sprayed sulfur before moving it inside. I hope to ripen at least half of them before placing the tree back in the garage for Winter. Also, I can’t wait to let the figs really ripen on the tree without fear of critters or rain.
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Good luck! Spray first before moving in is a good idea. I normally spray in the garage. Preto or BMs tend to need more light so bring out the lights.
 
Figgin' A said:
Well, that's your favorite fig. 109 figs are a lot to waste. I totally get it. Hope they ripen well for you. I had some figs ripen indoors last spring, wasn't impressed with their taste qualities. Yours have been outside for a while, it could make a big difference compared to starting and ripening indoors. I'd love to hear your report on this.
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There are 5 that are ripe enough to pick now that I’ll let go for at least another few days. Several more that are coloring and the rest still small, rock hard and green. Those are the ones that may be less than stellar. If so, garage it goes.

@grasshopper - I’m not messing around with hanging lights now, though I agree it would be beneficial, if not required.
 
Figgin' A said:
Well, that's your favorite fig. 109 figs are a lot to waste. I totally get it. Hope they ripen well for you. I had some figs ripen indoors last spring, wasn't impressed with their taste qualities. Yours have been outside for a while, it could make a big difference compared to starting and ripening indoors. I'd love to hear your report on this.
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The figs that were close to being ripe were delicious - the figs dropped into pot or onto the floor when they were ready.

The figs that swelled and semi-colored indoors were not delicious (pictured) - one soured by the time it dropped and the other had good texture but no taste.

The tree is back on the deck until dormancy. I probably could have just left it outside and ripened better figs over the last week or so instead of trying to play the long game and bring indoors - lesson learned. I may bring it inside mid-March after pruning in an attempt to gain a few extra weeks.

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