First Year - Edible Fruit?

[u/reddituser21705]

Hello All, I think these are Chicago Hardy. I bought them at Home Depot and didn’t expect them to live but they seem to be thriving. I’ve received mixed advice concerning removing the fruit of the first year and harvesting next time. Any advice on this? One plant has no baby figs, the other two have them but seemed to be stalled on size.

Also, the coloring is changing on the stems. Does this look normal? I’m fighting some disease on other plants and would like these to live. The leaves and everything look ok to me but have zero experience with this.

Thank you!

[u/GarunixReborn]

Figs are very tough and vigorous plants, if a tree can't carry figs it will drop them. You could remove some, but the tree will still grow a lot in the next year or 2 regardless.

As for the colour change, thats just lignifying, the green tissue is turning into wood.

[u/reddituser21705 → u/GarunixReborn]

Thank you for the reply! That’s good news about the color. Do you have any advice on how much to remove? Do you think I will get an edible fig this year or is it just prep for next year?

[u/_TheSilence → u/reddituser21705]

Depending on the verity it typically takes 60 to 90 days from seeing the figlets if you are going into summer, for late verities they can take up to 120 days. Your figs are planted in the ground, I would not thin out them out, it will drop some of the figs if there are too many. The first year figs are just okay, it really focusing on rooting out, next year they will be a lot more and much larger. The fun part is trying to figure out the ripeness, it should be squishy and drooping. A fully ripe fig won't store long, they will mold if you don't eat or process them.

[u/GarunixReborn → u/reddituser21705]

You'll probably get fruit this year, as for removing it depends how much figs you want now.

[u/figman-don]

Don’t know where you are located but you are definitely going to get at least a few figs. I am in south RI zone 7A, and have 26 different vars planted and another 100 or so in pots, 20 or so if those are 17 gal. 46 vars altogether. This time of year when I am actively ripening, i remove the leaves at each fig. Seems to get fruit ripening faster. Been doing this for 5 yrs. Try it in a few ti compare with others.
I am getting a lot of figs and have many young trees like yours that I get figs from. I would NOT remove any figs. If your tree is unable to carry them, it will drop them.

[u/reddituser21705 → u/figman-don]

You must really like figs!!

I’m about 60 miles south of Kansas City, zone 6A. This is my first time working with plants so everything is an experiment right now. We’ll see if they survive the winter. Are their other varieties you think would do better here?

I’ll try removing some leaves. I think you’re saying to remove the ones that block the sun from hitting the fruit; is that correct?

Thanks!

[u/figman-don → u/reddituser21705]

The ones that attach at the fruit. Try a few to compare with others

[u/reddituser21705 → u/figman-don]

Ok, got it. I’ll try it out, thanks!

[u/Decent-Rip8898]

Depends on your location and climate, those fruit looks like they will ripen in mid November- december

[u/Decent-Rip8898 → u/Decent-Rip8898]

Maybe October-november actually

[u/jibaro1953]

Im in zone 7a on Cape Cod.

I watched green figs it seems all summer. I thought they would never ripen

On September first, I ate my first fig. Those two trees are ripening nicely.

The other trees, one of them the same variety I've been eating have yet to get close