I have two young fig trees (Blackjack, and Panache Tiger) I planted in February. Both of them have fig appearing. I understand that with most fruit trees it is best to remove the fruit when the tree is young so that it can put the energy into growing, but I don’t know if this is also the case for fig trees. The photo is of the Panache Tiger fig. I’m in Menlo Park CA, zone 9a.
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You only need to remove figs if the tree could be stunted by them. It looks to me like it is actively growing, and being planted in the ground it should keep growing all season, figs or not. If it stalls then you might want to think about removing them.
If you want maximum growth now for future productivity, then I’d remove them. If that is not your top priority, then do as @hoosierbanana says. I personally remove most of them, but will sometimes leave one or two so I can get an early taste.
One thing I worry about with the Panache is mine never set a fig for me in 3 years… that was a long time ago though, and I gave it away so don’t know if it was just my tree or if Panache is not precocious. If it is like Mission, then there might not be many next year when it really takes off. Those figs might have set as a result of being rootbound, that happens.
Panache is a California fig and performs best in that state.
If it was my tree, I’d leave the figs alone. If the tree couldn’t
support the figs, it would drop them.
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I have to prune heavily to keep my figs at a manageable size for my small space so never worried about it. Just guard them carefully from the critters!