Telling fig crops apart

[ameno]

I'm fairly new to growing figs, but I am reasonably familiar with their fruiting habits and know that they produce two crops a year, a summer one and a winter one, but that the winter one will not ripen in this country and should be removed.
My potted fig tree currently has a couple dozen small figs on it, varying from the size of a large pea to the size of a silverskin onion. These are all being produced on this year's growth, and I thought that the summer crop came on last year's growth, which would surely make these the winter crop? But they seem rather big this early in the summer to be the winter crop?

So can anyone with more experience with figs tell me whether they are actually the winter or summer crop?

[TrixC]

Do you know what variety it is?

I’m not an expert in figs either, but I know some of them will produce two crops even in the UK. I have a young tree of the variety Negronne, and that behaves similarly to your tree, it fruits on the current seasons growth and the fruits ripen in the autumn.

[ameno]

It's Brown Turkey.

[Mark_Riga]

I had a brown turkey at the front of the house, south facing, and it fruited really well just once a year. It seemed to start developing the figs in the spring and they were ready for eating late August onwards, sometimes quite late on. Its roots escaped from the pot it was in and i was worried it could damage the foundations.
I've a cutting off it now in a polytunnel. It had 5 developing from overwinter some fell off prematurely (heat? poor watering?) but 2 were OK and there are several more now growing that I'm hoping will ripen this autumn. So may be depends where you keep it what it will do.

[Snoop Puss]

Mark's experience matches mine in Spain. The figs develop late spring and are ready for picking here late August and through September.

Edited to add: the harvest develops on this year's growth on my tree and others nearby, not on last year's growth.

Some varieties of tree will crop twice here, but usually six weeks after the first harvest. I found this about Brown Turkey:
"Brown Turkey figs produce both an early and a late crop. The first crop or “breba” matures in early to midsummer, and the second, or main crop, matures in late summer to early fall."
This site here (in the States but seems to be more variety than location that's the issue): https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/pos...s%20harvested.

Those trees that hold over small fruit to the following year tend to lose them to frost unless in a very sheltered spot.

[ameno]

Edited to add: the harvest develops on this year's growth on my tree and others nearby, not on last year's growth.

If that's the case, then there's some hope mine might grow and ripen this year, rather then them being the overwintering crop which won't ripen.
I counted them up earlier, and there are 30 of them in total, so it would be a shame for them not to actually ripen.

[Snoop Puss]

Yours are quite a bit smaller than mine, but this year is exceptional for us. Masses of rain and snowfall last autumn and this winter, plus a relatively mild summer by our standards (currently in the mid-30s). Good luck, I hope you get a decent crop.

[TrixC]

I've never grown Brown Turkey, but my understanding is that this is normally grown for the breba (summer) crop - that's why it's a popular variety in the UK and other climates that are marginal for figs. If your fruit is on this year's growth it's definitely the main (winter) crop. In varieties that bear two crops you can encourage the maincrop to form earlier by removing the breba fruits while they are still immature. It sounds like perhaps your tree has effectively done that for itself - for whatever reason it hasn't formed a breba crop and this has encouraged it to put its energies into the maincrop. All you can do is wait, give it plenty of food and water, and hope that the fruit ripens before the winter. Any fruits that are still unripe when the tree starts to drop its leaves should be removed.

[TrixC]

Mark's experience matches mine in Spain. The figs develop late spring and are ready for picking here late August and through September.

Edited to add: the harvest develops on this year's growth on my tree and others nearby, not on last year's growth.

Some varieties of tree will crop twice here, but usually six weeks after the first harvest. I found this about Brown Turkey:
"Brown Turkey figs produce both an early and a late crop. The first crop or “breba” matures in early to midsummer, and the second, or main crop, matures in late summer to early fall."
This site here (in the States but seems to be more variety than location that's the issue): https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/pos...s%20harvested.

Those trees that hold over small fruit to the following year tend to lose them to frost unless in a very sheltered spot.

Just to note that there’s a popular American variety of fig called Brown Turkey which is different to the one commonly grown in the UK. They refer to the UK one as “European Brown Turkey” to distinguish the two. I’m pretty sure the link you’ve given relates to the American Brown Turkey.

[Snoop Puss]

Thanks, TrixC. Yes, it's an American site, so you're quite right.

This from the RHS (so with any luck applicable to trees purchased in UK):
"Usually one crop of fruit per year, but sometimes two in a hot summer or under protection"
https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/56327/...ey-(F)/Details

T&M suggest a second crop can develop late summer and be held over by tree to ripen the following summer. But whether that's to be trusted or optimistic marketing is another matter.

[Plot70]

I am yet to find out what my two fig trees will do as they grew from dust rinced out of a bowl of fruit and nut bought from a middle eastern shop.
I tipped the dust onto the ground and up they came.
The biggest tree is two foot high and is a bit grumpy about that late frost stripping off the opening buds.
They have both gone all "bushy".

[Snoop Puss]

Fig trees tend to go bushy and benefit from vigorous pruning to ensure bigger fruit. Find a sturdy central branch/trunk or two and remove the others at an appropriate time of year. I do it very early spring when it's not quite so cold but before the tree is showing much if any activity. You'll probably have to do this every year. But the wood is very soft, so not hard work.

[ameno]

I've been intentionally cultivating mine as a bush, to be honest. It's a nice open goblet shape at the moment.
Although of course being in a large pot means it's already raised off the ground, so doesn't need a trunk for that. And indeed I'd struggle to train it as a proper "tree" even if I wanted to, as it doesn't have any vertical stems I could select as a trunk; they all grow diagonally outwards.

[devonuk]

I have White Marseille and Brown Turkey in pots in a cold greenhouse. They put out new growth in spring, then form figs on the new growth. I pinch out growing tips by the end of June. The fruits ripen in October. I used to try to overwinter any further figs which hadn't ripened, but never found they resumed growing the following year like they're meant to, so now I just get rid of them.

[Plot70]

Mine was growing vertical until the frost took out the top bud.