Figs not ripening.

[David Farber]

We've had a fig tree that was here when we moved into our house four years ago. The long and short of it is that every year the tree gets full of figs but they never get very soft. We've cut a few open and they are as tough as leather. Our soil here has a lot of sand in it but the apple trees on either side of the fig tree do quite well. They are watered on a drip system every other day for 30 minutes. The area is quite shady and with the frequent fog, even in the summer time, I'm wondering if that could be affecting things.

Here are some photos:

Can any of you share some wisdom on how to help these figs ripen?

Thanks for your reply.

[David Farber]

Thanks for that info. I did not know that there had to be a wasp involved in the process.

Also, I think the shady area and thick canopy are not helping much.

[David Farber]

I'm not sure what variety of tree it is. The good news is that threes of the figs ripened over the past several days. They were all on the same branch. We think that it was because we trimmed the leaves from that branch months ago as suggested by this video.

Thanks for your reply.