Fall Fig Crop - Figaro Redux

This spring, while reading other blogs related to growing figs, I discovered that here in the Southwest we are blessed with two crops of figs; one in early summer and the second in the fall.  Figaro was planted in the fall of 2007 and produced his first crop of figs in his new home in summer of 2008. Up until this summer, I was perfectly content with my summer fig harvests.  I never expected a second crop to come in the fall.  When I lived in New Jersey, anyone with a backyard fig tree or bush harvested their crop in September and October, and that was it.  This July, for the very first time, while picking figs from my tree, I began to notice a new set of tiny bumps along the branches; the budding of a second crop of figs!  You cannot imagine how exciting and rewarding this discovery was.  The thanks really goes to Jim for installing and monitoring our backyard irrigation system.  While I do the pruning, grass trimming, fertilizing, and fig picking, consistent watering here in our desert clime is what matters most.

The situation got a bit scary at the end of July when we were supposed to be well into our Monsoon season, and instead, we had an extreme heat season that lasted into the middle of August.  Temps remained over 100 degrees for days, and Fig's leaves began to turn yellow from heat stress. Jim adjusted the watering schedule.  Then, thankfully, the rains finally came and temperatures eased down enough for Figaro to return to his healthy and robust self. 

As September approached, I kept an eye on my second crop of figs.  So did our local birds.  I have made my truce with the birds and don't mind as much if they get to the figs first, as I have my freezer packed with figs, along with a half dozen Ball jars of fig jam from my summer crop. I guess because the angle of the sun changes come fall, these figs seem to take longer to ripen and turn a deep shade of red when ready to be picked.

More about figs.   

Location: Tucson, AZ, USA

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