Desert King
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Here we go figs harvesting season is official now. Picked these because rain is coming and will split or go blend if left. Second picture shows what a perfectly ripe fig should look like but you will not be able to get every time until you are growing in a greenhouse plus perfect watering plan.
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Do you dry some that you can’t eat fresh? And if so how do they compare to storebought dried figs?
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Store bought dried figs can not touch these quality and taste wise , they harvest way early so there is not even any comparison between them. Yes I dehydrate a large portion of my harvest to consume in winter. Here are some dehydration pictures from past
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Those look incredible!
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Do you store your dried figs in the fridge or just in a bag in the pantry? Those do look great.
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I store mine in fridge in a glass jar. These can stay good for 24 months I have checked.
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Harvesting that much every day from my in ground figs. So far harvested +250 and going strong. Picked few little under ripe because I want to dehydrate these . Mostly Salem Dark and few Hardy Chicago.
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Figs are loving this weather, it will be almost 100F for next four days.
First picture is from previous harvest like two three days ago.
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This is probably a stupid question but how do you know how long to dry? They look great and there seems to be not completely dried. I never could figure out how long to dehydrate. How do you store them and how long are they good for? I have a tendency to over dry, at least I think I do.
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12 Hours at 125F plus one to two hour additional until desire dehydration achieved.
In refrigerator in glass gar and can stay good for 18 months.
If you followed above will solve this problem.
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Thank you
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Actually, my figs are meh.
But a wonderful man whom I met today from a Craigslist offer for pick your own figs, living in Hanover, MD, near BWI airport, let me pick these. He does not know the name of that cultivars, but he believes that the dark ones which are nearly black on the outside and dark red on the inside. I have a strong berry flavor, may be Turkish. He also has pink ones with the exact shape of pears and the taste of ripe pears.
He was also kind enough to let me dig up a couple small suckers with nice route, they were coming off the base of his light color to figs. The trees where very healthy and did not appear to have any frost damage, he says that they were planted five years ago, and the first year they did have some damage, but not this past year.
They are delicious, my entire family has eaten all that we could possibly eat, so we are drying the rest.
If you are in the south of Baltimore area, I highly recommend going to craigslist and finding him.
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Figs remind me of Christmas… every evening we open and enjoy some wonderful gifts… and wrap some more that are near ready.
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If frosts hold off long enough, I may get my first ripe fig this year.
I’ve had figs before, but not from my plants.
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@Preston can you give a rundown of what figs you are growing in ground, your protection method for winter and most productive figs, ripeness dates, etc. Thanks in advance.
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@Anjeerfarmer I just started planting them in ground a couple years ago so I have very little experience but so far the best producers have been the Mt Etna/Hardy Chicago types and Improved Celeste.
I tried protecting the trees for the first time last winter by covering each with cardboard boxes and tarps. A few made it through the winter with minimal dieback and have pumped out figs this year. Stella was one of those and it has really impressed me. Other ones likely weren’t as insulated and died back bc of that. I dont believe stella is any more hardy than any other fig and I think if I can get the other ones through winter they will be as fruitful.
I have a bunch of different varieties in ground many are too small and havent had the opportunity to fruit, some in too much shade or die back each winter and not established enough to fruit fallowing the die back so ill have a better idea in a few years on what is my best varieties.
I plan to use Doms method on my favorite trees and maybe concrete curing blankets on the ones that havent proven themselves yet. A guy on YouTube has some massive trees by wrapping them in concrete curing blankets over the winter. The curing blankets or @Dom method is what I plan to do going forward.
On july 17 i had my first fig from Chicago Hardy and the rest of the varieties started coming in early August. Improved Celeste was the earliest after CH. One thing to consider is theres a lot of differences in the amount of sun and the soil on dif trees.
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