Hello, We live in a coastal region (zone 15, marin county, just north of san francisco). We'd like to grow some fig trees and the winter (the cold) is not a problem at all. The problem is the summer - it never gets hotter than the 80s and even that is only for a few weeks each summer. Further, the temp drops very steeply at night - down to the 50s, typically, all summer. So, when I research "cold weather fig trees" all of that information pertains to fig trees that can survive the winter cold - for people back east and so on. But that's not our problem - our problem is finding a fig varietal that can fruit in a cool summer. Plenty of people where we live have nice big healthy fig trees (of typical supermarket varieties) but they don't produce any fruit. Our Kadota and black mission fig trees seem to be doing fine as plants, but the figs that grow on them just never get anywhere. So ... are there any fig varietals that can fruit and prosper without hot summers ? Thanks.
I don't grow figs myself, but I see lots of fig trees in the neighborhood. They seem to fruit well every year in the Vancouver, BC area, which has similar summer temperatures to SF, unless you are in the heavy fog zone. Brown Turkey is a common variety here, and I would expect it to work for you. Other varieties that do well here can be found by searching the Fruit and Nut Trees forum and the Outdoor Gardening in the PNW forum.
Many varieties should work well for you: you might want to search 'fig not producing' in this forum (or google), as your lack of fruit could be more related to cultural conditions rather than climate (ie. treat them too well and you'll get abundant vegetative growth but little/no fruit). Perhaps you're pruning them incorrectly? When I hear 'figs that grow on them (but) never get anywhere' it occurs that you might be pruning off the Breba crop (the first crop, earlier in the season, which we typically harvest), and experiencing the second, later 'main' crop which occurs later in the season and rarely (at least for us up here in the Northwest) ripens, instead sitting on the tree as small fruits which eventually wither. At any rate, here's a good resource from your County: http://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu/plant_Fig.pdf
We actually have an italian honey fig growing in our back yard (now about 12ft tall) and it does produce 2 crops per year but the second crop does not always have a chance to fully mature before the rain and cold moves in. Being a honey fig the normal color when they are ripe is greenish so you have to go by the feel of the fruit.
