Olympian breba update

S

shevitz

Well-known member
Seeing as how we are getting into the fig porn season, I thought I’d post some update photos. This is my one and only in ground tree, an Olympian. The brebas are starting to turn yellow, which I really hope means they are ripening and not that they are about to drop😊. Some almost look rimada in the right light. Still have 90 on the tree although they are not terribly large. Main crop is starting to develop next to the brebas and many at every node. The tree is super healthy looking. I’m a novice but hooked.
 

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@shevitz
Your tree looks happy and healthy. Judging ripeness takes a bit of experience. Peak flavor is reached within a day or two of falling or shredding off the tree -- a statement that is not particularly helpful until you've seen it happen a few times.
 

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Charlie Dodgson said:
@shevitz
Your tree looks happy and healthy. Judging ripeness takes a bit of experience. Peak flavor is reached within a day or two of falling or shredding off the tree -- a statement that is not particularly helpful until you've seen it happen a few times.
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I know what this looks like for main crop which did well last year. The brebas are new to me. I don’t remember the main crop going yellow, but here we are. FWIW, this tree never had fruit drop. Everything dried on the tree!
 
FL_figmam said:
Olympian was the very first fig tree I got. It's a very productive tree and the figs are delicious. I get a crop starting in late June and a second in September. I think the first crop is better; they're bigger and juicier. And like some say, and I agree, they taste like peaches and honey.
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These haven’t swollen yet, but the brebas seem smaller than the main crop so far. Time will tell…
 
Those of you growing Olympians in ground outside...are they really cold hardy? I purchased one and planted it for a friend last month. Microclimates in my area (Arizona, below Flagstaff) range from 7a to 8b . He's in a 7a spot unfortunately. So I'm wondering about his chances of success.
 
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Mine has survived the last two winters unprotected. My climate is probably pretty similar. Below flag is Sedona. Is that where you are? Elevation is everything. What is yours? 5° either way can make or break a fig.

I find 7a is tough with dieback, 7b sails through.
 
shevitz said:
Mine has survived the last two winters unprotected. My climate is probably pretty similar. Below flag is Sedona. Is that where you are? Elevation is everything. What is yours? 5° either way can make or break a fig.

I find 7a is tough with dieback, 7b sails through.
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We're in Cottonwood, a bit south of Sedona, in the Verde Valley. Our elevation is 3,500 but close to Mingus Mt at 8,000 ft and below Sedona. Due to the many ridges and valleys, and with Mingus Mt so close, our weather fluctuates quite a bit. We're marginal for most varieties at my place...much colder when you get down by the river. My oldest tree, a 15-year-old Brown Turkey, has died back to the ground twice in the past 15 years. Fortunately, the past 8 or so years have been milder. Our harvest this year is looking to be our best.
 
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8000’ is tough. In NM, I had dieback at 6300’ and fine at 5500’. The 6300’ overwintered first time this winter. Now I’m trying to grow in my new house at 7500’ but nothing is in ground yet. But you are slightly farther south…
 
Dave The Fig Guy said:
We're in Cottonwood, a bit south of Sedona, in the Verde Valley. 3,500 ft elevation, between Mingus Mt at 8,000 ft and Sedona. Due to the many ridges and valleys, and with Mingus Mt so close, our weather fluctuates quite a bit. We're marginal for most varieties at my place...much colder when you get down by the river. My oldest tree, a 15-year-old Brown Turkey, has died back to the ground twice in the past 15 years. Fortunately, the past 8 or so years have been milder. Our harvest this year is looking to be our best.
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These places names sound so cinematic to me. "Cottonwood, down Verde Valley way, hard up on Mingus Mt." So cool. (And yes, having been through that area, I of course know that it LOOKS cinematic.)
 
I'm at the 9a/9b border so can't help with cold hardy questions but this will be my first in ground brebas this year . Those ridges flatten out as it ripens but my main crop still had a suggestion of a striped look die to the ridges last year this is what it looked like last year
 

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I am terribly afraid that my tree is going to drop its brebas🙁. They are turning yellow, and I don’t think it’s in a good way. I could be wrong, but I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Otherwise, the tree is incredibly happy and healthy putting on lots of growth and main crop figs. I think they’re getting plenty of water and they have long acting fertilizer. I don’t know what’s up other than maybe it got too hot too quickly, but once they get to a certain size, they seem to be turning brown. last year’s main crop looked nothing like this. They also don’t appear to be reaching full-size. Thoughts? Anything to try to salvage this? It’s possible that I had a few brebas last year, and they all dropped as well.
 

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I don't know that much - I'm too new but any fig I have had that turned yellow dropped. That's what happened to my first batch of cherry cordial figlets. I babied it all winter then I acclimated it watered and fed it gave it Epsom salts and stinky fish guts and sang to it and they dropped. Maybe someone else knows what to do to make them hang on
 
And all the figlets I have on my Olympian are still ping pong size hard green and still ridged. Your tree really does look pretty healthy
 
Thanks for that article. The main reason that applies is water. This tree is on irrigation and gets watered regularly. I’ve got 2 x 1 gallon per hour emitters. I was watering three times per week for 20 minutes at a time. So I guess the tree was getting 2 gallons per week. Except I’ve also been watering it manually and probably giving it another five or 10 gallons on the weekend but not measured. The photos above are representative of the size of the tree. It’s been about 90° during the day, but there is a rock mulch with landscape fabric underneath it. Is there a rule of thumb how many gallons a week a tree the size should be getting? I would feel terrible if I’ve been underwatering it. It would be so easy to fix. I just boosted the irrigation to every day for 20 minutes which boosts it to a little under 5 gallons a week. The tree looks extremely healthy otherwise and has no yellowing or leaf drop.
 
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