Anybody? I'm into tears for that tree! :(

To explain a bit more:

Before (previous years, and first batch of this year): large, proper figs like these: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7mgRdSFz1-c/TLR5UPs0bpI/AAAAAAAABpk/Oe-glEyGOMQ/s1600/pp-good-fig1.jpg

After (about a week after the first batch of this year), the newer figs came out more yellow, smaller, and inside they're all yellow and mushy, like this: http://www.foodsubs.com/Photos/figs-kadota.jpg

Any ideas, anyone?

Maybe a seedling has grown up underneath your tree? You need to show pictures of the actual figs, leaves and tree for any of us to get an idea of what is really going on, the more the better.

I removed previous text -- thot you were worried because figs had dry interiors so suggested watering.

Consider previous post.

In all the years I had my fig in SoCal, it never produced a seedling, but ...

The same problem started happening this year and the year before too. Nobody gave me an answer 2 years ago for this problem! Yes, the fig is getting good watering. I get 5 good days of harvest, and the rest 15 days I get mushy, jelly, fig jam in smaller fig, instead of a proper, crunchy-ish large fig. No ideas at all what's going on? Could it be the heat (100 F to 105 F days)?

Pictures really are worth a thousand words Eugenia. It might be that the early figs are being pollinated and that really helps your tree, the picture you pulled from the internet is a "proper" fig so it does not really help. Or you could have a pest problem like African Fig Fly which makes figs sour before fully ripening, they fly all over the place too so it seems like you would have noticed that... Maybe you have fig bud mites, they cause browning inside the fig from feeding and can cause some premature dropping...

Here is a picture. On the right, you will see a proper fig, as my tree used to produce consistently. After 5 days of good harvest, I get very few of these good, large figs, and all the rest of them are like the fig on the left. Small and mushy and jelly. The tree has good water, and lots of fruit. It's just that after the initial few good days, the quality of the figs is going to the floor. Any ideas?

I’m not an expert on figs in hot CA weather, but on another fig forum a member has stated that high heat does not agree with some of his varieties and they turn to mush, spoiling.

I wonder if rigging up some shade cloth over the tree would help at all?

Thank you for the reply. Yeah, that's my theory too: heat. Basically, before 2015, this was not an issue for this tree. In 2016, started having problems towards the end of the harvest. 2017, half way through. 2018 now, just 5 days after the first figs ripened. This is consistent with how hot the summer months are, since they're record breaking every year (every year getting hotter).

My husband thinks that a black fig variety might be more resistant to heat than this green one.

If it is heat why was only one of the figs above affected by it?

Get some seeds from a small one and see if they are viable, with a kernel inside, or if they are hollow and not pollinated. If you get any more of the large ones this year test them too. If that is not 2 different trees like I first suggested then pollination seems like the most likely cause.

If you take a picture of the leaves it would be easy to tell if there are 2 different trees. The small fruit looks like Kadota which has distinctive leaves.

Too much water will turn figs mushy and tasteless, particularly as they near full ripening. In this heat, I provide supplemental water to everyone of my trees, except for my VdB which has a bunch of fruit hanging on it. The tree gets some drip watering 3 times a week for 10 minutes and that will keep it going through our hot summers. My apples, citrus, and plum all get hand watered. I'd put your fig on a regular weekly watering schedule. Give it enough to live on, but let it dry out between waterings. If it shows signs of stress, by all means give it more water (you don't want to kill it) as too little water will cause a fig to drop its fruit.

It's hot where you are, but not Arizona hot where some varieties really suffer.