White Kadota Fig
2001: Produced very few figs, the ants got some. Of those that we picked the taste was OK.
2002: Branches added a foot of new growth. Early crop was very modest. By mid July the figs were still not ripe, even though the second crop began in early June. Second crop appears to be heavy. I swabbed the figs from the first crop with olive oil on July 20 to help them ripen more quickly. The second crop looks to be very productive, but is nowhere near ripe as of end of August. By early September I found that a few figs were finally ripe, and very sweet to be sure. By Sept 22 I am getting one or two per day, though I still think they are not as ripe as they should be. In early November the tree is still producing heavily, and the figs are still edible, though not quite as tasty as before. Last figs picked on Dec. 1, barely edible.
2003: By early April we had many young figs. I suspect we could harvest as early as late May. 6/1/03 Branches have added over 12 inches of growth. 6/22/03: We picked a couple of figs during the last week, but they were very dry inside. I'm not sure whether the dryness is from under-watering (I doubt it, as we have watered it reasonably well), or from the cool weather. It may be that the early crop from this tree will never be edible. The second crop has begun, and should be very heavy this year. I hope that the rest of the summer is warm enough to ripen them. 8/21/03: Nothing anywhere near ripe at this time. Perhaps they'll ripen around the middle of September? 9/5/03: Suddenly, several of the figs (mostly on the south side of the tree) are enlarged and nearly ripe. We should have a few ripe ones later this week. 9/16/03: Picked around 20 figs during the last week, and they're ripening quickly and they taste very good. 9/28/03: We now have more figs than we can eat. They are on the small side, but very tasty.
2004: 3/10/04: This one showed signs of life weeks ago, but now I see the small figs beginning to form. 4/11/04: Many of the small figs fell off, as if from lack of water. It's hard to believe that the soil wasn't moist enough to support the figs, but next year we'll know to start watering as soon as the rains stop. 7/11/04: We picked the last of 4-5 early crop figs about a week ago. They were very good. 9/5/04: We've been harvesting these figs for at least 3 weeks now, with the first ones being notably larger than golf balls and nearly the size of tennis balls. We've been giving them away for the last two weeks. Flavor and texture are excellent.
2005: 2/27/05: When our friend pruned this tree back about 3 weeks ago we found that one fruit was in the early stages at the end of one branch. That was too early for fruit to start, as far as I'm concerned. 3/24/05: Small figs began to grow about 2 weeks ago. 4/21/05: There will be almost no early crop this year. Perhaps we'll get 5 figs, or thereabouts. 6/26/05: I don't see any early figs. New growth is typically 18-24 inches, so there's no shortage there. 7/10/05: I found one fig that is nearly ripe. It should be ready any day now. 7/21/05: The first fig, picked over a week ago, was good. I found another "early" crop fig, but it was overripe by the time I discovered it was there. I pruned some of the low-hanging branches several days ago, but there is still too much "low stuff". Based on previous years, I think we might begin harvesting in late August. 9/6/05: The birds stole a few figs several days ago to let us know they were nearly ripe, so we netted the tree today in hopes of beginning our harvest by 9/10/05. 10/6/05: The harvest began in earnest earlier this week, though we had been picking a handful of figs every few days prior to this week. 10/22/05: We've had several huge harvests of late, with enough figs to make fig preserves and have some left over to give away. The tree needs to be watered twice per week, at least.
2007: 5/13/07: The leaves are coming on nicely now, but the early crop will be nearly non- existent. This tree and the cherry tree are fighting each other for space. 7/17/07: I unexpectedly found 2 ripe figs two days ago, and another yesterday. The taste is very good. 9/1/07: We picked between 5 and 10 early figs over the span of about a week in mid July. This morning I found that the birds had eaten 2 figs before we even knew that any from the second crop were ripe. We found a large one and tried it... quite good. We netted the tree this evening.
2008: 6/7/08: The early crop looks like it might be half decent this year. Leaf growth has been good. 6/15/08: The first signs of the second crop began about a week or ten days ago. We noticed last week that the drip line had blown a hole, so for several days this tree received significant amounts of water both morning and evening. This could have gone on for nearly a week before we realized it. 7/10/08: The birds got one fig this morning. It looks like this may be the best early seasons yet. 7/21/08: We've harvested about 20 or more figs so far, and they have generally tasted good. We still have a few early-crop figs left, all of which I expect to ripen within the next few days. 7/26/08: We've plucked nearly 30 figs so far, with two left on the tree. The main crop looks like it could begin ripening within a few weeks, but historically we need to wait until Labor Day. 9/7/08: Began harvesting the main crop of figs on 9/4/08. Taste is good.