Hi Northernfiglady,
I'll start a little here and im sure some others will chime in near your area.
Im in illinois and my plants start to come out of dormancy around late April if memory serves me correctly, last season earliest i started to bring out onto driveway was March 15th but snow along with chilly temps came back so in garage they went. They respond to light and warmer temps as i bring them out of garage onto driveway and back in at night as nightime temps get to cold it just takes a while for mine to wake back up. I dont get leggy growth though as you mentioned and my guess would be something to do with you storing them in a well lit room and them coming out of dormancy as you mentioned in January and then moving them outside in May which is like 3 months without REAL sun and during that time they get the leggy growth. I use Miracle grow fertilzer at about 1/2 strength once a week after they are leafed out and give one dose of dolomitic lime one time early on.This is just what i do and others im sure fertilize and treat there POTTED plants differently depending on where they live.
Hopefully you may get some ideas from this and others as they post.
Best Health
Martin

northernfiglady
I live in Northern Zone 5 and keep my dormant plants in a cold storage in the basement on north-western corner with three sides of the concrete structure of the cold storage exposed to outside. Currently the temperature inside is around 6C to 6.5C (around 43F). This year I put bubble insulating sheet on the wall separating it from rest of the basement and probably it is keeping it a degree cooler. It is pitch dark in there and good humidity and never needs a drop of water during storage. I do not notice any growth until early to mid April except live green tips. This is the time for me of confusion or indecision for lack of knowledge to make a good decision whether to let the plants stay safe inside (unless the unhealthy growth starts in the dark) or bring the plants out to the garage and start the regiment of taking plants in and out of the garage for getting early start. One has to be very disciplined in bringing the shooted plants into the garage or other sheltered place for safety from potentially expected and unexpected frosts. If the frost really chills the leaves you will have a setback and a catch-up delay of weeks instead of early start.
Last year I brought the plants out to the garage on April 15. I would not try any date before April 15 in my area unless it gets warm unexpectedly and the cold storage temperature goes close to 10C ( 50F ) which I expect to happen by the end of April. Also, I remember that we had a week of nightly low of -6C (21F) around April 10 last year telling me to be cautious.
You did not mention why the the person in Laval Quebec had figs in late June because just storing them in dark garage does not necessarily mean early figs in June even if breba crop unless he wakes up his plants very early in a heated and well lighted garage almost like a green house.

Thanks guys for your response to my questions. I was checking on my trees a couple of days ago and noticed that the dark plastic from my blocked window had come undone and the trees were getting some filtered light. The trees nearest to the window have two to three leaves on their tips but they were not healthy looking leaves. I quickly recovered the window and hope to stop the waking up. Do you think this is right. My other option is to move them near the patio doors in my living room where they would get daylight and some sun occasionally.Thanks again !

With regards to the fig grower in Laval, he introduces the fig trees to light mid February and starts taking them outside in April under a canopy and does the back and forth thing until they are hardened off to the weather. Moving them in and out seems difficult especially with the heavier containers. I am thinking of moving them outside as usual in May and put them under the gazebo for a while and until the danger of frost is past which in our zone is usually past the 24th of May. Do you think this plan has a chance ? Thanks The NorthernFigLady.

How you go about it is not particularly important, as long as you follow a few simple guidelines.

* Allow your plant to remain outdoors in the fall and be naturally moved toward dormancy by decreasing day length and chill.

* Once the tree has lost its foliage and entered dormancy, a short period of chill (a week or less) is sufficient to release the tree from true dormancy, and it will pass unnoticed into a period of quiescence. Keep the tree as cold as you can (w/o subjecting it to extreme cold) for as long as you can into the spring. Light has no bearing on when the tree breaks bud in the spring - this aspect of the tree's physiology is driven by soil temperature.

* Once the tree has started pushing foliage, you'll want to get the tree into as much light as possible. For me, this entails putting trees on a large wagon and moving them in and out as temperatures allow. Usually out in the AM and back under cover at night until danger of frost is past.

* Trees requiring repotting and root-pruning should be attended to during the quiescent period in early spring, prior to bud movement. Soil choice is very important in ensuring that the tree has at least the opportunity to grow at or very near its genetically programmed level of vigor, as well as ensuring good vitality. Vitality and vigor are distinctly different.

It does little good, and depending on what you are using for fertilizer - might do considerable harm, if you fertilize when soil temperatures are below 55(13)*. The plant may not be growing, and ammonium toxicity from fertilizers deriving their N from either organic sources (various 'meals' - blood, cottonseed, alfalfa .....) or urea (most soluble fertilizers like MG, Peter's, Schultz, others) is a very common problem, even though it almost always goes undiagnosed. If you do apply early fertilizers, use a fertilizer that derives more than 50% of its N from nitrate sources or simply withhold until temperatures are more conducive to growth.

I would discourage you from trying to nurse the trees through the winter indoors. Unless you have a sophisticated light set-up, your tree will be using more energy than it is producing - draining its batteries, so to speak. If something happens that causes the tree to lose a notable fraction of its foliage, it can leave the tree severely weakened and playing catch-up for the entire summer. Even if it doesn't lose foliage, the tree will go into spring weakened. Trees kept cold and resting long into spring will, in almost every case, surpass their counterparts that limped through the winter indoors in growth and development long before summer's end.

Al

Al
Since the waking up is indicated by the buds opening to become leaves and the leaves starting consuming the plant 'energy' reserve during the period before the plant can be taken out to open sunshine, will it not be a good strategy during dormant pruning to prune off apical buds from all branches since these buds are more prone to opening up first when waking up?
I was thinking for a while to practice this (i.e. pruning off buds at the end of all branches) and give a little extra time in storage before the buds start opening, considering other ambients unchanged.