Late main crop or preparation for breba?

[Sulev]

My Brown Turkey, planted in ground from a cutting, that was rooted this spring, has started to push out tiny figlets only now, in the middle of August. Are these figlets late main crop (that never gonna ripen) or seed for next year's breba?

[fruitnut]

My thought is late main. I've not seen breba that prominent that far in advance. You'll know soon. If they get bigger it's this yrs main.

[Sulev]

Thanks, fruitnut!

[acerpictum]

In bT, the inflorescences can overwinter and give a breba, such cases have been, under very favorable conditions. But it is most likely that in the spring they will not develop normally. The buds-breba hibernate under the covering scales, and if the buds began to grow at the end of summer, as in the photo, then they have almost no chance of surviving the winter.

[jrdewhirst]

I'm assuming that the fig tree doesn't "think" of it that way - brebas vs mains. It grows. Each node has a pair of fruit buds. If weather is good, one (or both) may develop into a main crop fig. If weather turns bad, the bud may remain nascent until weather improves.

Is it any more complicated than this?

[AscPete]

The Figlets are Main Crop... They develop in a single growing season.

If the tree goes dormant before they’ve developed past Stage I and the Figs overwinter they will be Breba next Spring...
Breba Figs are just Stage I or embryonic Figs that overwinter and develop the following growing season.

Usually Stage II Figs (quiescent / stagnant) are aborted or rot when the trees go dormant.

Edit:
The Phenology and comprehensive Ficus carica L. info are in this publication;
The Fig: Botany, Horticulture and Breeding
by Research Horticulturists from USDA (Davis, CA) and ARO Israel (Agricultural Research Organization).

[Sulev]

Another cutting from the same branch pushed out single figlet in the spring, before any leaves. I broke it off to preserve energy for growth.
Here weather is turning colder already. There is ca 30 days until the average start of night frosts. Our daily temperatures are around +15ºC (+60ºF), it has been raining for two weeks.

[jrdewhirst]

The Figlets are Main Crop... They develop in a single growing season.

If the tree goes dormant before they’ve developed past Stage I and the Figs overwinter they will be Breba next Spring... Breba Figs are just Stage I or embryonic Figs that overwinter and develop the following growing season.

Usually Stage II Figs are aborted or rot when the trees go dormant.

Pete --

Are you defining stages the same way Herman did here?

https://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-home/132430-stages-and-development-of-fig-fruit-how-long-until-fruits-ripen

If so, then I think there has to be a Stage 1a vs Stage 1b. I've never seen a State 1 fig the size of a bb (or bigger) survive the winter here to become a breba. It's only Herman's "grain of rice" sized or smaller that make it. That's very early Stage 1 or maybe pre-Stage (Stage 0?).

I say "or smaller" because I think (I'd have to check this with a magnifying glass to be sure) that brebas often develop from nascent buds that are not even rice-sized at dormancy. The buds swell to that size only in late winter / early spring.

[AscPete]

No, based on actual Ficus carica L. Phenology;

Stage I ... Spring growth to quiescence (5 - 8 weeks),
Stage II ... Quiescence or 'Stagnant stage' (2 - 8 weeks),
Stage III ... Ripening (2 - 5 weeks)