Rain/Wind did usual

[drbud]

Finally got some needed rain yesterday, but wasn’t expecting hard winds and hard rains today. The bird scare tape blew over and got tangled up on my grafted Col de Dame Mutante tree and broke off my graft that had figs I was hoping to taste this year! Also the wind blew down my Sangue Dolce. Hope I can get it staked tomorrow with minimum damage. Strawberry Verte limbs are bending to the ground. Had planned on picking Celeste figs and making preserves today, but the ripe ones were too soggy and tasteless with rains yesterday and today. On the good side, Col Littman’s Black Cross is finally putting out figs so should be able to taste it this Fall, heavy crop on LSU Scott’s Black, Black Madeira looks good and if I’m lucky, won’t all split this year, Bourjasotte Grise has a ton of big figs-last year they were so late, I didn’t get to eat but a handful. The last two are Mary Magdalene/Virgin Mary’s fig that a friend brought from MM’s house in Ephesus. Can’t wait til it ripens, she said it was a dark fig. We will see.

[TNJed]

Dang Hilliard we didn’t get any wind like that up here. Can’t believe it blew your Sangue Dolce over like that…but it looks like you still have a bumper crop ahead!

[Sparky]

If it's not the bugs or the birds or the squirrels, it's the weather! Anyone who thinks this is easy hasn't done it for long. 80% if my figs dropped this year due to a combination of thrips and fig bud mites, neither of which I've had before. Most are putting out more figlets but it's a race against time to see if they ripen!