Here is the usual, famous, advice about when a fig is ripe (I'm quoting from a posting on this forum from last year). It's a useful quote to tell your friends and makes you sound knowledgable about fig lore:

"A fig is ripe when it has a hangman's neck (droops), a mourner's eye (oozes honeydew from the eye) and a penitent's robe (skin tears)."

So, it's starting to get soft, droopy, and the outer skin is starting to get tears in it. It wont ripen after it is picked, so you want to wait until it seems ready to eat.

Last year, my Brown Turkeys didnt get the honeydew oozing from the eye (and neither did some of my other figs) so that may not be reliable.

Your first figs, which grew on last year's growth, are the "breba" crop. You should continue to get new figs on this years' growth. This is the "main crop".

There is another recent posting on the topic of how to stimulate main crop by pinching the last bud after the 5th or 6th leaf has grown. I think this really does work. I count the leaves to 5 or 6, then use a kitchen scissor or thumbnail to remove the end bud or little leaf that is starting to form. It seems to work here in Vancouver WA, so it should work for you in Seattle as well.

Eukofios, Thanks for the great info! Do you mean to pinch the end bud of each branch that has 5 or 6 leaves! Did the graysquirrels give you grief last season? thanks!

You're welcome. Yes, pinch the end of each branch once it has 5 or 6 leaves.

I dont think that the squirrels were a problem. Some of the figs landed on the ground before I picked them, but no bites were taken out of them so I just washed them off and ate them.

Daniel

Thanks, Daniel. Wow, youre squirrels must be nuts. Mine will definately munch. Keep your eyes on em. Once they get a taste, they might clean you out. Adios, Paul.