Do figs need to be pollenized to produce fruit?
A. Maybe. There are three classes of figs. Common class figs will bear either one or two crops a year depending on the variety and weather conditions without pollenation. Most figs grown by amateurs fall in this class. San Pedro class figs will bear an early crop (brebas) on last year’s wood without pollenation, but their main crops require pollenation. King and Royal Vineyard are the most common San Pedro figs. Smyrna class figs require pollenation to produce any figs at all. In nature, figs are only pollenized by the fig wasp, Blastophaga psenes which matures in the caprifig form of Ficus carica. The pollenization of figs is usually called caprification.
