Yes sir you are right.
Very few Figs will not split when rain gets them While close to maturation.
I would sugest Sal's#1,Zingarella,Mission,Celeste,Marseilles Blk,Violette de Bordeaux,from,Raintree or E.Landsc.(they are totally different).

Thank you for your feedback! I'll look into some of those other varieties as well.

Scott

Herman,

It seem to me from your observations, that the non-spitting
figs good for the NE are the 'smaller' kind of figs. Maybe
with the exception of the Mission kind, which can at minimum
be of medium size. The smallest fig I have grown here is my
'tiny' Celeste and possible Sal's (#1 - EL).
I have seen another 'smaller' fig, ~3years ago at my
friend's in south Jersey, Tommy. Had gotten cuttings from
his 2 figs back then (#6, Tommy's Italian White), which
after a long waiting fruiting period, looks like an IH
to me. Also the other fig, cuttings never made it, which
he called a Turkish fig?!?!. Fruit was about the size of
my top 1/3 little pinky finger. It was late Nov, fig tree
was planted in a half wine barrel and brought inside
a porch for the figs to ripen, tasted OK. Maybe I should
check out if any more cuttings are still available...

Not all splitting figs are bad. My unkown #9, invariably
splits, but as far as I am concerned, it was my best
tasting fig this year and the first tree visited (lately),
still 3-4 to go... Yes, ants do go there, but it does
not rot. I think that it is of the Green Ischia kind?

Also, the Brunswick fig family can be of a really good
behavior/taste. In damp weather, they do NOT necessarily
split, but can very easily rot from the outside/in
or vice versa, which I do not like at all.
Need to be harvested early if rain is in the forecast...

George (NJ).

Yes George:The Fact of the Matter is that indeed smaller size fig do better on east coast and in the very rainy Florida too.
You are right ,some figs split but are still good tasting and do not get sour.
One Example i have seen is Sal's #2.
It was very good tasting despite being split in four pieces.
I know we all Want to have large showey fig because the American Supermarket culture.
As you know the large comercial growers use sometimes Giberelic acid to force them grow bigger.
Backyard gardener usually do not do that.
So we should never try to compete,with large fruit growing co.when is about size,because we will lose every time.
It is very Hard to find a extralarge fig cultivar that taste as good ,or resist rain as good as Sal's 2 or Zingarella.
However there is this fig,DFIC 69 Barnisotte,that has some very large(to me),70 grams fruits,that are on a par with Violette de Bordeaux,in taste,but the tree drops easily some fruits,here,without reason,according to my observation.
If they will grow Barnisotte in Central Ca,(where the wasp is present),i will be the first one to go and look for them in the Supermarket,and not be stingy about the price.
Best Regards

I have 3 fig trees with the same problem, many of the figs split and open up like a flower.We havn't had rain here since february,but I do water these trees at least every two or three months.Should I hold off on the watering?
My figs are different varieties,but they are huge.Some are larger than a tennis ball and are sweet as honey.Maybe I shouldn't complain.I am going to cut down on the water and see what happens. These trees give me figs well into October, so I have time to experiment.I will post my results.
Art

Herman, I haven't fruited all the varieties you mentioned, so I don't know if this observation is valid. But it seems that my figs with thicker skin split quicker. The thinner skin might stretch allowing the fig to swell, while the thicker skin holds until it splits. I had some Kadotas with thick hard skin split completely open.

Fignut,
To what factors do you attribute the splitting? If the figs shown in the picture are Kadotas the green skin and red flesh could be the effect of caprification,?? how do they taste? The kadotas have lighter yellowish skin color as they mature and the flesh is amber color, occasionally have found some with light strawberry flesh.Unless the kadotas I ate were not "real" kadotas! Figs sure keep me wondering. Any comments from more experienced than I ?

Hi Ficus:My opinion you are right.
Kadota is the way you say.
The fig above could be another varietry that is prone to splitting.

ficus, As figs start to ripen, they swell. Rain at that point seems to cause them to swell too fast. It seems to me, that if the meat and skin are thin, soft and elastic, they are more likely to stretch. If the meat and skin do not stretch, they split with the increased pressure. Do the figs Herman mentioned all have thin skins? Or do smaller figs just not take in as much fluid?
In the above picture the skin and meat was like a gourd - hard.
The figs pictured are from a Monrovia Kadota fig tree. It started out this year in California, but the figs were immature. I don't think they were capable of pollination at that point.

I'm not one to assume that it IS Kadota because it has a tag saying so, or it comes from a reputable nursery. It's really easy to make mistakes with fig cuttings. I check all my figs against published descriptions and pictures and this one does fit "Kadota". The leaf is typical.

Green is given as a possible color for Kadota, and given our light intensity at this time of year, I expect they will stay green.
Now comes the fun part - the pulp. This picture was taken on July 28. This is a fig from the same Kadota tree.

This is another fig from the same tree - photographed on August 6th.

The split fig picture in my last post was taken on August 8th - redder still - to the point Herman doubts it is a Kadota - but all from the same tree!
Out weather has cooled down, the humidity has dropped, and we've had a lot of rain and cloudy weather. My gut guess is the temperature, but something is causing the pulp to change color.

OK You are right Maryann.It is Kadota.
Look at That difference.
I was wrong.It looks that everything can be variable in fig fruits.
Best Regards

Thank you much for the detailed information, its an education, keeps me humble and wondering .Now and then I have found a pink/red one from the same branch as the light amber colored ones! We live in different regions/climates so we observe different fig behavior. Lovely tree by the way, thanks and Best Regards.

There have been some good discussions and recommendations on varieties of figs that don't split. There was also another recent thread http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fig/msg0913575719611.html about this topic.

The general consensus is that rain/moisture causes splits (for those of us growing figs in non-fig wasp areas), but this may not be the complete reason. I am fascinated by Rixfords observations that trees growing near drainage ditches (having continuous moisture) split less in contrast to figs in the dry orchard when water was applied. I am wondering if keeping split prone figs evenly moist might reduce problems when rain hits. This might be easier to control in containers. Perhaps there is a way that a cover could be put over the soil. For those of us that want to grow split prone trees, this might be interesting to think about. I also included some other sources about splitting.

Smyrna Fig Culture by G.P. Rixford - USDA Bulletin #732, 1918 page 34. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=paQUAAAAYAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=syria+ficus+carica&ots=SLOoFbbyp_&sig=xarAq6HgAbYFcCNEs9EH9rtxk-Q

The Splitting of Figs - In certain seasons a few of the ripening figs split upon the tree. While this is an injury to some extent, it is not a very serious one. There seems to be a difference of opinion as to the cause. Some growers are firmly of the opinion that it is caused by too many Blastophagas, or, in other words, by over pollination; others think that it is due to too much irrigation. The writer, however, is convinced that these are not the principal causes, but that the cause is principally climatic. If damp weather, not necessarily rain, occurs during the ripening period, it seems to stimulate the circulation of the sap and gorges the fruit with juice until the pressure is such that the tender skin fails to resist and the fig splits open. If, however, this period of dampness is followed by warm, sunny weather, such figs dry without souring, the split closes up, and they are readily disposed of at 2 to 4 cents per pound, which pays for gathering and caring for them. The proportion of figs that split rarely exceeds 25 percent; nearly always the proportion is much less.

Trees have been observed standing on the banks of irrigating ditches where the supply of moisture was continuous and showing less split figs than trees in the same orchard that received only occasional irrigation. It appears that when the ground has become too dry and water is then applied, a stimulation in the circulation of the sap is caused and is almost invariably followed by more or less splitting, while if the supply of moisture has been continuous, few, if any splits occur. The splitting of oranges and prunes is attributed by many to the same cause.

The Fig: Botany, Horticulture and Breeding by Moshe A. Flaishman, Victor Rodov and Ed Stover p 136 http://agspace.nal.usda.gov:8080/dspace/bitstream/10113/15714/1/IND44035516.pdf

Splitting is the result of sudden changes in the internal fruit pressure brought on by cool temperatures and/or high humidity as the fruit matures. ... may also result from excessive pollination and the growth of too many developing seeds....

Ray Givans and Fred Born - The New Fig Booklet 2000, page 8

Heavy rains and excessive or sporadic watering may cause the fruit to split.

Figs in Coastal Southern California by Richard Watts from CRFG - The Dec 1991 issue of the Fruit Gardener http://www.kalron.com/kalstor/pub/crfg/fig-2.htm

Excessive watering during the ripening period can cause splitting.... This only applies to fig trees planted in the ground.

Ingevald

One other obvious reason for fig splitting is due to direct
water/moisture absorption via the ripening fig skin/eye,
(think of a constant 2-day+ minimum slow drizzling rain).

The Brunswick (and variants) are such typical badly
spitting/souring figs.

this is most interesting; don't know if i can still comment 3 years later! does that work?
i'm in south central new jersey and i planted a brown turkey in september of 07. our soil is extremely rich with a lot of clay, not what you think of as mediterranean. the thing shot up to 12 feet tall in 3 years, more figs every year, and with last summer's drought i had lots of good looking and tasting figs in late september. this year it has rained incessantly and i started off with about 125 young figs but most have split, rotted in minutes, and are COVERED with fungus gnats as well as being patrolled by some huge yellow and brown wasps that i've never seen before. i know it's a bad year, but i'm wondering if brown turkey is not the finest choice for my area. my top criterion is taste; mine were good but not great even in the dry year. will probably try one from the above suggestions (is sal's #1 readily available as a plant? i'd try my hand at rooting cuttings, but don't even know anyone who grows any figs at all). glad to hear any input, thanks