How is the phenophase ‘Fruits’ different from ‘Ripe fruits’?
As with the ‘Flowers’ phenophase, ‘Fruits’ is new in 2011 and gives you the opportunity to report the presence of developing fruits before you see any of them mature or ripen on your plant. Report “Yes” for this phenophase as long as you see fruits on your plant at any stage of maturity, whether unripe and in the process of developing, or mature and ripe. This means that whenever you report you see ‘Ripe fruits’, you should also be reporting that you see ‘Fruits’. Often some fruits will ripen and be eaten or drop from the plant, while unripe fruits still remain, so you may see fruits for a long period of time with ripe fruits present on the plant during some observation days and no ripe fruits present on other observation days. Sometimes it is hard to tell when fruits first appear. Technically they are present as soon as the flower’s ovary is fertilized, but often the ovary does not swell into something resembling a fruit for several weeks. Do not worry about missing this early stage a
