Figs 'ripening' prematurely?

[yardiron]

I've got a massive fig bush in the back yard, its been there for 50 years or more. It normally goes in cycles as to when it gives me figs, and its pretty much a 5 year cycle with the earliest figs coming on in late July, then a month later till finally getting so late they freeze before ripening.
Its done this forever. This year the bush doubled in size and filled in much ealier than ever before despite a cooler than average spring. Its now full of figs but their maybe 1/2 of what I'm used to seeing as a mature size. Now they've begun to turn brown/purple as if ripe too soon. I noticed many branches with brown figs that have already turned and started to wilt or fall off, but they're still green inside?
The figs are still immature yet they're turning color and acting as if they're ripe event though they're not fully grown. I picked a few and they still smell like latex inside, and are identical to the younger still green figs on other parts of the bush.
Going by past years, I wasn't expecting to see figs this year till at least late August or early September but its shot up and put on leaves faster this year than ever before.

Any ideas?
Its not a big deal as I'm not a huge fan of figs but I'm curious as to why the sudden change.
I'm in NJ and the past two weeks have been in the 90's with a fair amount of humidity but that's nothing new for this area, if anything its not as bad as its been in the past. Our summers have cooled slightly in recent years here. The last two were exceptionally late and cool.

 

[okiedokie59]

I've seen similar reports in regards to elderberry in Tennessee and am experiencing the same in Oklahoma. Our elderberrys are experiencing this premature condition as well. Ripening before fullsize, fruit and berry plants having preemies. What next ? 11, in ground figs and they're on track as of now. Key words, As of now. with the grasshopper population we have survival is going to be iffy. Being my 2nd post and not knowing what's tolerated I can't put on my cap and pick up a signal for you love our figs. Nature's candy.

 

[yardiron]

We don't have grass hoppers but I've been seeing every type of wasp in the book this year, and the hornets are building nests down low for some reason. in my 50 years here I've never seen a paper hornets nest a foot off the ground under a truck or under a trailer. We had issues for years with spotted lantern flies, carpenter bees and ants, but I've seen almost none of those this year.
Honey bees are also scarce again but were abundant last year.

The fig bush is massive this year, it dies back to just sticks every winter but it seems to be growing with a vengeance this year. Its more than tripled in size over last year. Normally its covered in ants and bees but none are anywhere near it this year despite so many figs. The figs that have turned prematurely are no different inside from those that are still green, but once they turn they wilt, then shrivel, and finally dry up on the stem. Its happening super fast, to the outermost branches first.
A family friend who grows sweet corn told me the other day that nearly ever ear of corn he pics has a parasitic twin attached. Something that only happens occasionally normally.
Its been a bit dry this summer here but we have had at least a weekly soaking thunderstorm and I water for 30 minutes daily when its not rained in 2 days or more.
I also planted okra, from the same saved seeds I've been using for two decades with great results, but this year, despite optimum heat, fertilizer, and water they're still barely a 8" tall.

The only other issues I had this year is a near total failure of over 30 better boy plants. The seeds came up late, the seedlings were smaller than expected and only five plants survived. The other types all are going strong. (The groundhogs are also attracted to the better boy plants, I've never before had a groundhog touch a tomato plant).

 

[okiedokie59]

Our corn also twinned excessively, and productivity down. Okra is generally trouble free. Plants currently 3 plus feet but less productive than memory recalls. 50 plus tomato plants produced well up to this point. Currently near all are suffering from leaf curl. I'll have to get shade cloth up to cool and keep the new X rays from frying them. Last 2 years I've seen some wacky growth in some tomato plants. Last year Arkansas traveler this year the Romas. I blame the installed stripes above. I dont see any discussion on the topic though ?

 

[yardiron]

My first tomatoes didn't go in the ground until May 15th this year, with the second batch going in about two weeks later. Only a couple of plants are showing small tomatoes. Before about 3 years ago I generally was picking the first round of tomatoes by the July 4th holiday. Right now I've got 30 Ferry-Morse Garden Leader Monster plants, 5 sad looking Better Boy plants and a short row of hot house bought San Marzano plants that are not doing well. Out of 22 plants only 7 survived. In past years I've had trouble with them but the last three years with them were fantastic producing massive amounts of tomatoes late in the season but this year I doubt they're even going to produce any. The plants went in the ground May 22 and have barely grown an inch or so since. Those got the very same treatment that they have always gotten over the past three years when they became the experiment for the powdered egg shells in place of lime. The resulting tomatoes in all three past seasons were extremely high yields of extremely sweet sauce tomatoes which I sauced and canned. In the last two years I didn't expect much but still got a great result from the entire garden despite not being here most of the year to properly weed and water it. This year I'm retired and around to take better care of it but for some reason it seems like a wasted year across the board.

Besides a lack of bees this year, I also noticed a total lack of any bugs. I've not had a single hornworm, beetle, mite, or aphid. Nearly ever year I have to dust for some sort of leaf eating pest early on soon after planting but this year there were none. Not that I'm complaining but its odd. I've also not seen any mosquitos all year, something we usually get plagued with here when it gets this hot and muggy. The only flying insects I've seen are hornets, yellow jackets, and wasps of every sort.

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[yardiron]

I wanted to come back here with a follow up on the fig tree
The plant dropped most of the figs that ripened prematurely about after about a week, now, about 5 weeks later its put on a massive number of new figs, both on the old and new growth.
They came on, grew to size and are ripening rapidly now. I picked over 40 lbs of them yesterday, about a dozen cut off gallon milk jugs full, and there's 50 times that on the tree. Its growth exploded over the past month, I've been using a 12ft step ladder and standing on the roof of my cube van to reach the top branches.

Right now its a fight to get at ripe figs before the ants do. If not picked fast, early in the AM, the ants devour them by the end of the day.

Size wise they're about average, but they've been far sweeter than in years prior, and still earlier than most years. In the past, I got figs either in early July or late Sept. and it seemed to go in cycles as to when they came ripe.
On years with an early spring, I got early figs, on years with a late spring or late season snow, I generally didn't get any because frost got them before they could ripen in late September or early October. Last year, they were super early, all done and gone by July 15 and there was no more all year.
The year before, they didn't come on till late Sept.

This year has been a bit odd too, we had a fairly late spring, then Mid June and July were miserably hot and humid, and now August has been on the cool side, with 80 degree days and 55 degree nights. A pattern I've not seen here in my years here. These are normally the sweltering hot days of summer that slowly give way to Sept. weather but we seem to be getting Sept. weather now, but with more humidity than usual.

Now I have to figure out what to do with so many figs, never before have I had so many all at once.

A good many of the figs are way out of reach, over 15 ft up in the top of the bush. Its never gotten this big before. I took this pic while standing on the roof of my high cube van that I backed up to it to pick some of the figs up high.