It may be different according to the area but it seems to me that if I try to harvest early in the morning my results are better. Birds here are active ALL day, and I've not netted anything this year.

Glenn

I have noticed that Evening is best for our (rainy) climate because every morning,fig fruits take water from night due,and are more susceptible to go bad fast,and be less flavorfull.By Evening the water they took in is all gone.
Of course George point about cat birds ,vermine is corect too and add to the decision to harvest early evening.
The most important is to allwayes get all the ripe figs off before a rain is anounced locally.Last evening i harvested 4 kilos of ripe figs and i am making jam right now.
I did not put a picture on because some people think i am going TY Ty stile.
If i would left them on last night most of them would have been full of water,cracked and tasteless.
Especially Brunswick wich had about 3 pounds of figs to harvest from last night.I make 10- 12 ,8 ounces Jars from 4 kilos of fresh figs.
Happy Harvest to all.
Hope this will help.

If I were looking to avoid the Asian Tigers I would harvest noon to 1 pm but even then you get a few bites. First thing in the morning would stop the birds (but not the squirrels) from snatching ready fruit but even then they sometimes damage fruit days away from ripeness with their pecking to test the fruit. If the fruit makes it through the day, past the birds and squirrels, dusk is a good time but IÂve had many unripe fruit (not yet this year) plucked during the night dropped to the ground punctured with needle type marks.

I guess youÂre dammed if you do and dammed if you donÂt.

Herman:
Good two points; harvest before the night dew, and specially
BEFORE any rain forecast.

KK:
When are our local politicians going to address this
recent Asian Tiger (mosquito) problem as a serious
heath issue? To me, apart from them sh*tting on us
common voters (from a higher level!) and
raising taxes from every conceivable way, all
are complete morons...

>>>To me, apart from them sh*tting on us common voters

George, I got a good one. I live 1 block from the Rutherford Train Station, tons of commuters. Many blocks around me have âÂÂResident Onlyâ parking. Our block had âÂÂResident Only â parking back in 1995. About 10 years ago the âÂÂResident Only â signs on my block came down. We were told business complained about lack of parking and most people took that as fact. Last month I went to Borough Hall to review the ordinances. What I found made my day. Our block should STILL HAVE âÂÂResident Onlyâ parking. I when right through the roof. I though they were going to take me out in handcuffs.

Herman:
RE:
>>> I did not put a picture on because some people
>>> think i am going TY Ty stile.
I think that (privately) you should go and tell
whoever gave you that impression, to go suck on an
egg (or a sour lemon for that matter!).
To me, you are my #1 figman in NJ! I learned a lot from you.
Anyway, you need not do anything special, I just did it for
you (publicly). Just keep calm, and keep doing what you
always did, the good fig stuff...
George (NJ).

I like to pick my figs twice a day, once in the morning and once at dusk. This is mostly to get them at peak ripeness.
As for vermin, this has been a banner year, for them. I had to start using bird netting very early, starting in July. It helped for awhile, but I seem to have a triple threat - birds, squirrels, and something (racoons, etc) coming in during the night. The crows have learned to REMOVE the net, I watched them do it. And yesterday, while I was walking in my orchard, I watched a little English sparrow crawl under the net to get to my figs. Seeing is believing!!! Last week I had my eyes on a beautiful fig from my Quantico, it was the size of a billiard ball, and ripening day by day. One morning I went out to look at it, and there was only half a fig left, and it wasn't ripe. And yes, I did have the tree draped to the ground with bird netting.

Thanks for the compliment George.
The Fact of the Matter is that ,if i would have bought a high quality fig as my first fig in NJ,i wouldn't have been interested to know anything more about the fig "confusion".
Sometime, a frustrating problem,become a good oportunity,if one is hard head and ,do not give up.
Stay well