Fig

Because figs must ripen fully on the tree, they are exposed at their most tempting, and a fig stays perfectly ripe only a day or two. Netting plus daily picking is the answer; some growers slip organza bags over individual prized figs.

Fruit disappearing from the outermost, most exposed parts of the plant first, and from the top of a tree where you cannot reach anyway. Single neat pecks and gouges in ripening fruit, with several fruits sampled rather than one eaten through - the classic sign that it was birds rather than an animal. Heads of grain or seed going visibly lighter and emptier as they ripen, with hulls and chaff scattered underneath. Freshly sown seed vanishing off the surface of a bed before it germinates. Bird traffic in and out of the plant picking up as the crop colors, and birds waiting on nearby wires and branches. Wasps arriving at the pecked and split fruit shortly afterward.

There is no treatment once a crop is being taken - only protection and timing, so the answer is to get netting on and to pick what is ready. Reflective tape, flash ribbon, spinners, and decoy predators do work, but only for a few days at a time: birds habituate fast, so move and rotate them and never rely on them as the main defense for a crop you care about. Cut and gather grain or seed heads a little early, at firm dough, and finish drying them under cover instead of leaving them standing for the flocks. Plant a little extra, or a decoy crop the birds prefer, and accept sharing anything that crops heavily. On a wild or foraged patch, fruit going to birds and small mammals is the point of the plant rather than a problem to solve.

Net, and net early. Bird netting draped over a frame or hoops so it stands off the fruit, with the edges closed at ground level, is the only thing that reliably works at harvest scale - and it has to go on before the crop starts to color, because once birds have found the food they are far harder to displace. Keep fruit trees small enough that netting them is actually feasible; that decision gets made years earlier, at planting. Bags of mesh, organza, or paper slipped over individual heads, clusters, or prize fruit protect a small crop without netting the whole plant. Then shorten the exposure: pick promptly and completely rather than leaving ripe fruit hanging as a lure, clear split and dropped fruit that draws birds and wasps alike, and where a crop can finish off the plant, harvest a little early and ripen or dry it under cover. Rake in or cover broadcast seed so it is not lying in plain view.

Birds find ripening fruit and seed before you do. Robins, waxwings, starlings, catbirds, jays, sparrows, finches, blackbirds, and doves all work a garden, and the pressure arrives in a narrow window - the last days before harvest, when sugar rises, color changes, and the crop softens or the grain hardens. A flock can strip a small planting in a day or two, and birds that only peck rather than take whole fruit still leave wounds that rot or draw wasps. Squirrels, chipmunks, and other wildlife usually turn up on the same crop at the same time. This is competition rather than disease: the birds are not harming the plant, and a big tree or a heavy-cropping bush often has enough for everyone - but on a small planting it can be the difference between a harvest and none.

A humid-climate, late-season disease; dry-climate figs rarely see it.

Small yellow spots on top of leaves with rusty-brown pustules beneath, spreading in warm humid weather, leading to early leaf drop.

Usually cosmetic and rarely fatal; a copper or neutral fungicide slows it in bad years, but sanitation and airflow matter most.

Rake up and destroy fallen leaves (the spores overwinter there), space and prune for airflow, avoid overhead watering, and choose resistant varieties (Celeste, LSU types).

The most common fig leaf disease in humid climates: a fungus that produces yellow-to-rust-brown spots and pustules on the undersides of leaves, causing them to yellow and drop prematurely in late summer, weakening the tree over time.

Largely preventable by choosing a closed-eye fig and picking daily; the open-eye varieties are the vulnerable ones in wet climates.

Ripe figs that smell fermented or vinegary, leak bubbly liquid, or are soft and off inside; beetles and vinegar flies clustered at the eye.

No treatment for a soured fig - discard it; the control is variety choice, prompt harvest, and sanitation to keep beetle and fly populations down.

Grow closed-eye varieties (Celeste, Alma, Kadota) in humid or rainy climates, pick promptly as figs ripen, and remove any split, overripe, or fallen fruit that attracts the insects.

In wet weather or on open-eye varieties, yeasts and bacteria enter the fig's eye (often carried by vinegar flies and sap beetles), fermenting the interior into a sour, bubbly, off-smelling mush - and dried-fruit beetles feed on and further spoil ripe fruit.