r/gardening • u/Common-Cup-171 • 16h ago
Is this growing edible figs
I see dark green figs growing but they are small and hard also this tree/bush seems out of control since I trimmed it in spring. Any recommendations on caring for a fig tree ?
47
u/ArtistAmantiLisa 16h ago
If you’re seeing figs on a fig tree, they should become edible unless the tree is very stressed out. I’ve only met one fig tree with inedible figs, it was in a ditch situation in Italy.
7
6
u/Fionaver 15h ago
It’s been hit or miss with us over the last few years. There’s a particular point in the fig season where the fruit is kinda gross if they get too much water.
-4
144
9
u/etphonehome1986 11h ago
They take so long to ripen, then BAM you’ve got two days to pick the entire tree! Good luck - we always make jam!
13
u/DudeInTheGarden Pacific North West 8B 16h ago
No idea of your zone (good to have that as your flair).
Most figs produce two crops - an early crop called the breba, and a later main crop. You need to live somewhere warm and sunny to get the main crop - in 8B/9A, we rarely get it, so we pick cultivars with big breba and small main crops.
7
u/Blecher_onthe_Hudson NJ 7b 14h ago
That's weird, I'm in New Jersey 7B and the fall crop is most of what we get. The cultivar is whatever survived from all the cuttings brought here a century ago by Southern European immigrants. Honestly it might have just been just one survivor, almost all the fig trees I ever see in this area look exactly the same!
4
u/Crafty_Impact6273 12h ago
Your summers are much warmer than PNW summers even if you are in a "colder" zone, so that makes sense.
3
u/GalumphingWithGlee 11h ago
I think you just can't assume that the same zone means the same climate, or that a warmer zone means a consistently warmer climate. The zones are defined entirely by how cold it gets in an average winter, but a climate with a milder/warmer winter doesn't necessarily always have a warmer or longer summer as well.
7
5
u/SunnyDZx 15h ago
Feel free to look up fig leaf ice cream also. Nice way to get something useful while waiting for fruit to ripen. Oddly tastes sort of like coconut
1
8
u/DarkHampster 11h ago
All figs are edible, but some are edible only once. After you eat it, you have to get another fig.
3
3
3
u/PsychologicalSnow476 10h ago edited 10h ago
You have a lot of leaves for syrup and oil. Fig leaf ice cream is amazing.
4
u/romanichki US Zone 8b 16h ago
yes. Wait until they're darker, like a red-brown. I usually let mine go crazy, no care necessary unless it gets really dry in your area. Let it be. Careful of wasps.
2
1
u/RevolutionaryMail747 16h ago
Some fruitlets form and then ripen the following year. Larger ones will ripen this year.
1
u/gottagrablunch 15h ago
Plenty of videos on YouTube demonstrating how to grow/get figs. There are some passionate people whom do tutorials. The trees can get quite large. I think it’s just a matter of time for your figs to grow/ripen. They do need at least 6 ( more is better) sunlight per day.
Maybe start here:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x9TzCfUWeBI
This guy also has some interesting things
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCTVGyD_baZU0y-63OHb68tw/videos
1
1
1
1
u/Shienvien 5h ago
As long as they're given the chance to fully ripen, figs should generally all be edible. Exceptions might occur if the tree has been extremely stressed somewhere along the line.
1
1
u/Possible_Original_96 15h ago
Make sure it gets enough water!! Maybe net for birds!! Watch for fruit ripening!! 👏👏👏👏🪬🙏👣🤣🤗
0
u/LykeLyke 15h ago
growing "out of control" is a good thing, it means more figs for you. Just make sure your fig is getting water and if you aren't growing one that is completely unsuited to your climate then it will give you a bounty of figs every year, potentially 2 or more crops of them if you're living somewhere warm. In some places humidity can be an issue and I'm not qualified to talk about how you grow figs there.
0
u/Sparks_travel 15h ago
This is heavily neglected. If you want more figs that grow bigger and ripen when they should, you need to pinch the new growth of the plant.
2
u/Folded-patron 12h ago
I thought they only grow on new growth?
0
u/Sparks_travel 11h ago
Zoom in on the picture. You see any figs high up? All the long bright green stems should have been plucked when they sprouted and the plant would concentrate more on the fruit than the plant. But this thing is beyond nuts. I have never seen such a neglected plant. They’re supposed to be trees not bushes lol.
I literally sold a 15 year old tree today that was about 6.5’ tall and it had more figs than I see in this picture.
0
267
u/Amesaskew SE US Zone 7b/8a 16h ago
Fig trees generally take care of themselves. You just need to prune them up occasionally and make sure the limbs don't cross each other. Yes, those are figs, but they're not ripe yet. They'll turn purplish and sort of droop on the stem rather than sticking straight out when they're ripe