polly.walker

Today I harvested my fig crop. Some were very rip and falling off the tree, others were green but easily pickable. When opened the flesh of both was brown, and the soft fruit also had grubs inside.

Can anyone please tell me what went wrong.
should I have sprayed the tree, if so, when and what with.

Regards

snikpoh

Wow, our figs are nowhere near ready yet. Or, of course, last years are very over ripe Is now really the time to pick them?

Lionda

There are fig trees in our village and they aren't ready yet either, yours must either have ripened early or they are from last year...hence the grubs, but then they would have all been eaten by now surely

dr_designer

I am amazed you can ‘harvest’ them at any time. My figs come in late July and August. As soon as a fig is ripe, a bird eats it.

I had exactly the same problem with a beautiful real cherry tree in Oxford.

Does anyone have a solution to this?

Fred James

Fig trees produce two crops a year. The first crop which is appearing now are called "Brevas" and they are an embryo crop formed on last year's new growth. They overwinter and appear at the same time the first leaves appear and at the same place on the branch.

They often do not appear at all or appear in large quantities and fall off before getting to a decent size - it depends on the winter weather. Some will survive and produce good fruit. Last year we had hundreds of brevas, all of which fell off. This year we have far fewer but some have survived and will be ripe in a week or so.

The main crop appears later in July/August.

fionamw

Re cherries, yes - net them. Always worked with my stonking (espalier) tree in Suffolk, & watching the frustrated, cross, nay totally p***** off faces on the blackbirds added something to the enjoyment! Apart from the relatively greater size of most fig trees I can't see why it would't work for them too.
Re the grubs, it's not just when they're overripe, I get maggots in the fruit every single year, never get to eat more than a handful without finding the little blighters & consequently flinging the luscious fruit down the mountain. It's not cos I leave them too long, either..... however it only happens with that particular tree, the others, different variety with smaller and actually sweeter fruit, never have that problem. (I wouldn't spray them anyway, on principle....) oh, and my brevas are about the size of undersize cherries at the moment!

snikpoh

Re. cherries, they must be netted! Last year I waited 'till they were red and then promised myself that I would pick them that weekend.

Well, overnight, every single cherry was taken (and we're talking a massive tree) - I woz gob smacked that a tree that size could be stripped overnight:curse:

jojojojojojojojojojojojo

my fig trees have only just got their leaves on after being pruned last autumn. I didnt know they were supposed to bear fruit yet? I didnt get any til July/august last summer

Jo

bil

Wel, my brevas were looking good last week, big and getting soft. I just hope they will still be good to eat when I go back in two weeks. The ones lower down on the trees are a dead loss as the dog eats them all.

Re maggots. Try putting up fly traps. Just hang some small plastic water bottles in the tree with some ripe fruit a little water and a splash of beer. Melt a couple of small holes about a cm diameter in the sides above the liquid level, and Robert's your father's brother.

Don't forget to add the most important ingredient, which is a miniscule drop of washing up liquid.

I find that the cockchafers, the shiny ones that come in either black or green are the worst, as they will destroy both figs and nectarines. I'm planning to try a trap made from the half litre water bottles. You cut slits in the top down to the top circular ring, cut along the bottom of the slits just below the ring so that a beetle can push in, and then take a square of cardboard, and cut a circular hole in the middle the diameter of the ring, cut a slit from the hole to the edge and snap it onto the top ring. The slits now form a curtain that are easy to push inwards but won't push out.

The same mix is put into the bottle, and it is hung in the tree before the fruit ripens. We lost half our crop last year, so I'm determined to get them this year.

The washing up liquid allows the water to penetrate the spiracles of the flies, wasps and beetles, and it knocks them out very quickly.

dr_designer

Thank you to the people who answered my wry appeal.

A net would not have been practical for my cherry tree in Oxford. It was a beautiful mature tree, as tall as my house—which was a two-storey semi with a gabled roof.

My fig tree is also mature—though nothing like the same size.

Is there any alternative to netting? Actually, I don't mind the birds getting some of the figs. I couldn't possibly eat them all myself. I'd just like a few!

mikelincs

you do need to pick them as soon as they begin to get soft, if you let them ripen on the tree, then the chances are they will be eaten by birds or mice etc.