Some cultivars are adapted to some areas.In My area zone 6 Hardy Chicago and Brown Turkey Mature fruits every year,if protected from cold in the winter.I am sure in your zone (9) You can find a lot more cultivars that mature fruits.In any case your present tree does not look it is right for your Location.Keep it as an Ornamental while tryng other cultivars.:I hope this will help.

annettelou: And in the Phoenix area there must be a gazillion people growing figs. You shouldn't have any problem locating someone who will give you cuttings (or better yet, a rooted cutting near the base of the tree)--from a fig that is a prolific bearer. (No guessing whether it will ripen.) Most zone 9 growers do some pruning each year, early Spring or late Fall/Early Winter, and generally, just toss them. I spoke with a friend yesterday (Christmas) in zone 9 southern California, who tells me the leaves are just now falling from her fig trees. No doubt they will be dormant in a few weeks--a good time to take cuttings, or better yet, early Spring (March 15, or so, in your zone), just before bud-break. In zone 9 southern California, Kadota (white fig) and Mission (black fig) are favorites, and easily ripen in that climate.

You are probably not getting enough heat or a long enough season for the variety you have to ripen.

I have several varieties which didn't ripen this year because we had a very cool August, which delayed ripening to long into the Fall. But it is still warm enough that a few vsrieties are actually ripening now, though not as sweet or flavorful as they would be if it was still more like the heat of summer.

I have another theory as to why your figs are not maturing. First of all, lack of heat can't be the reason in the Phoenix area! In fact I suspect that the extreme heat could cause foliage burn issues.
As for my theory: Perhaps you have a cultivar which requires pollination. Without the fig wasps these pollination dependent varieties will drop fruits before they ripen.
Figs can be sensitive to environment in unexpected ways. For example, I had better success with Celeste in zone 6b/7a New York than in my 7b Cape May area garden where most of the figs drop before they ripen. The squirrels get almost ALL the figs that do approach ripeness, along with ALL my pears two months BEFORE they would ripen, if given the chance.

I'm writing from Italy, I'm fully in accord with Palmfan: is not possible that in Phoenix there is lack of heat!
Has the plant foliage burnt? (I think is unlikely to come). Are you sure to have variety that don't need pollination?. The figs drops, or stay unripe?
The better system also in Italy, (where I live figs are not very common) is to cultivate varieties that are sure (about) as well ripening.
Very important, do not manure figs after June, and wkeep soil without grass (so is more hot), and quite dry!!!, excess of watering is deleterious for fruiting and ripening.
Please excuse my translation
SergNic

Annettelou - The primary stimulus for almost all plant physiological functions is photo-period. Plants are genetically predisposed to function by a biological clock that is tuned to day length. Latitude determines day length and often, only a few degrees difference in latitude determines whether a tree is suitable or unsuitable for the area it might be planted in, especially when a fruit harvest is your desire.

It's possible that your tree, moved north or south, even as little as 100 miles might fruit well. Conversely, if you had a tree that was spectacular with fruit in Miami (25* longitude) and you took a cutting and started it in Flagstaff (35* L.), it would almost certainly yield a poor harvest, if any at all. Day length also tells the tree when to stop devoting energy to fruit development and to start storing it in other tissues for winter's rest.

If you have trees growing locally that fruit well for the owners, you can nearly be assured that given appropriate care, they will fruit well for you. Trees of genetic material originating in distant provenance are a crap shoot.

Al

I'm Sergnic from Italy.
Is true that some plant are very sensible to photoperiod, but I think this is not absolutely the case of the fig.
Sustantially the fig is a semitropical tree adapted in quite cold lands. In tropical and semipropical lands vegetation and fruiting are continuous, as in Sicily where, in more warm site, the fig ripes fruits also in December, (colder month is February), and the period whitout leaves is very short.
All the varieties of fig (carica) are come from Mediterranean regions or Middle East (Syria, Turkey, Black sea, and oriental).
I'm living quite at North (42° North, North Italy), but the varieties that are living here are absolutely the same of two thousand kilometers south in North Africa, and also in all regions of Mediterranean !, cuttings come from South Sicily (37° N), regularly fruits thousand Km North and vice versa.
The only limit is the heat supply by the summer and how many it is long.
For this the "Natalino" that in south Sicily fruits at Christmas here, in the North, fruits regularly but only two times (the second in September), in November the trees are loaded of lot of fruits that drop for cold in December.
The only limit is that in North Italy (northern of the Central coastal Tuscany) noone cultives Figs for dry the fruits, because also if they are apparently very sweet the (high) percent of moisture do not permit a good drying, and also because this type of fig is not very appreciate as fresh fruit, (is considered too much rough).
I don't know which is Latitude of Annettelu, but I think is not very away the limits from north-south mediterranean regions.
However common figs made from mediterranean usually ripe also in north France and in south Sweden (I've fig-friend here, , and they have only problem about heat and hardiness for cold; but these varieties are also common (as I know), in more southerner lands than Pantelleria Island (36° North).
Ciao, Sergio

I had a lattarula fig for about 6 years, in a pot in my current zone. It never gave me ripe fruit. Then one year later, I suddenly started seeing figs that were plump, and full of flavor. I couldnt believe it. I was finally going to get fruit from this tree. So, it depends on the tree, the time and location. Give it some more time, and hopefully you'll be rewarded.

lucky me:-) picture cold canada, i am 44km north from toronto and all my figs are in containers and all of them produce early and mature in september, why? probably because I pinch the tips of my fig trees to provoke them to get ready early?