Figs

[drew51]

Mine are kept at 25F all winter, so once hardened off, a hard freeze for months will not hurt them.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by drew51

Mine are kept at 25F all winter, so once hardened off, a hard freeze for months will not hurt them.

In your case and mine hardened off means the sap has fallen and no longer in the trunk or limbs, AKA dormant.
One of the worst things to happen and I have had it happen here with other shrubs is for the plant to come out of dormancy and then have a good freeze.
This will split the wood in the tree or bush and sometimes kill it out right.

Worth

[drew51]

Yes that would suck, I'm in Michigan, it doesn't happen much here. More of a problem for me is when i have to heat the garage because it's so cold out it drops below 25F in the garage. I grow a couple Southern Highbush blueberries and they tend to want to grow early. I learned to get them outside out of the garage by March 1st, that helps. It becomes too warm in the garage. The figs are slow to leave dormancy so never had an issue.

I have some Panache figs ripening...

[SueCT]

[IMG]Figs by Susan Albetski, on Flickr[/IMG]

[SueCT]

Hope you don't mind. Those are some beautiful figs.

[GrowingCoastal]

Originally Posted by drew51

Mine are kept at 25F all winter, so once hardened off, a hard freeze for months will not hurt them.

I had no idea so many figs are so hardy. The ones people wrap for winter here must be old favourites.
Are your figs above ground in pots?
My two Desert Kings do well in the ground on a raised mound. It gets so wet here in winter though last year we had a cold one!

[greenthumbomaha]

Originally Posted by drew51

Mine are kept at 25F all winter, so once hardened off, a hard freeze for months will not hurt them.

My garage isn't heated and it can easily get to zero. Sometimes I am not there to rescue so I store them in an unheated room of an otherwise 65 degree house and water sparingly. The spare room can get down to 50, and if they go in the closet that borders an exterior wall, much cooler. I kept a plant (of 3) in the sunroom all winter and it started the season looking very nice. It didn't suffer in production either.

I guess the figs will be outdoors for a few more weeks while I prep other plants for their seasonal indoor digs. We're going from 95 to 65 this week.

Should I treat the bark as well as the tree buds or sit tight since it isn't a big issue at this time of year?

- Lisa

[greenthumbomaha]

Originally Posted by GrowingCoastal

I had no idea so many figs are so hardy. The ones people wrap for winter here must be old favourites.
Are your figs above ground in pots?
My two Desert Kings do well in the ground on a raised mound. It gets so wet here in winter though last year we had a cold one!

The only variety Lowes sells in these parts is Chicago Hardy. It's still a gamble. Somehow Lowes received one Magnolia with a very early shipment. That is the plant that got fig "measles".

- Lisa

[Father'sDaughter]

Mine will be allowed to go dormant outside and then I'll do what I did with the one plant I had last year--they will get wrapped in row cover and one of my husband's old work shirts will be tied down over the row cover. Then I'll line them up against the south wall of our unheated shed on top of a few pieces of interlocking foam floor. The Hardy Chicago I did this with last year set almost 40 figs this year.

My father almost lost his trees earlier this year because his unfinished basement's temp went up enough during a late winter warm up that they broke dormancy so he had to get them out into the light. Unfortunately it got cold again and he was not able to get them back into the basement. They made it, but he got no figs this year.

I'd rather keep them soundly asleep until May when it's safe for them to come out of hibernation and stay out. The shed seems to be a good solution.

So far I've had three ripe figs off the Hardy Chicago I bought last year and one off the air layer I took off it this summer. One of dad's (his "Black") has one fig (I pinched off at least 30 others it tried to set late in the season). The Celeste I bought in July has three that might ripen, and I've been pinching at least one figlet a day off it for the last few weeks. I hope they are just as eager to set figs next year!

And, I caved and bought a seventh tree at the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival yesterday. It's going to be very crowded in the shed once the figs and the motorcycles all get tucked in for the winter...

[drew51]

Figs are fun! They are so adaptable as is testified to in the above posts.

If you are in a cold area and you want a variety of different figs I suggest these

Valle Negra, Vista, or Petite Negra for a black fig (Bordeaux flavor group)

Mt Etna type - like Hardy Chicago Takoma Violet, Black Malta and about 100 more.

Adriatic type - Strawberry Verte

Sugar or Honey - Improved Celeste

Many others in these groups, i have not tried them, so no comment. I can comment though on about any fig if you need info, or want to know characteristics. Like in the Adriatic group we have JH Adriatic, and Battaglia Green, and others but Strawberry Verte ripens earlier than these and may even taste better. Battaglia Green is a good choice too, later but man these figs are good if left to hang as long as possible, which you should do for all figs.

[roper2008]

I bought a green fig years ago, and lost the tag. The name Strawberry Verte rings a
bell, so I believe that is what it is.
I originally planted the fig in a bad spot near my house on top of a mound of compost.
It did really well, beautiful big figs, very sweet. Then it fell over. My brother in law dug
it out and transplanted it in an area that had mostly sand and some dirt where an unground pool was filled in. The fig is still growing in that area, but the figs are not as
sweet. I would like to take cuttings. Is it better to take some now or wait until it goes
dormant?
Above is the fig I am referring too. This fig is on the smaller size, but it has good sized
figs normally.

[drew51]

Yes that could be SV. Cuttings are usually taken when dormant. Cuttings can be rooted anytime. Store in fridge. Sealing ends helps make them last longer. I use grafting wax. I'm cheap, well I don't have piles of money, so my grafting wax is toilet ring wax. Keep cutting moist, you don't have to seal ends either, just helps for long term storage which i would avoid. I take cuttings when I'm going to mail them or use them myself. I avoid storage. I root cuttings as soon as they come in. I do store some for grafting in the spring.

[roper2008]

Thanks Drew. So I'm thinking I can go outside in February, take some cuttings and
root inside. I have lots of candles. So I can seal the tip with that.

[drew51]

If you cut and root, the wax is not needed. Yes that will work, cutting and rooting in February. If you root in soil by planting I wrap the cuttings in parafilm. If you root in long strand peat moss in a box, you don't have to. You don't have to wrap them in parafilm, it just helps keep them moist while rooting. High humidity will work, is needed, misting etc.
One method is to put gallon bag over the pot to keep air around the cutting humid. Then once growing you have to acclimate it to regular air by taking the bag off for an hour, and slowly increase time over about 3 weeks.

In the summer you can do air layers on the tree. It's easy and works well.

[roper2008]

Thank you. I'm going to google parafilm now. If this doesn't work for me, I'll
check into the air layering in the summer. I think it will be nice to have this fig
in my front yard. It's a real nice fig, and the birds don't know it's ripe. I also have
a huge brown turkey fig in the back yard. The birds love it.