rhewhton:

What variety? We need to know...

Let's assume that the garage is unheated since low temp's are your concern. I also live in a similar climate zone, and I store my two, "ATREANO" figs (trees) in an unheated storage shed, and they have overwintered, each season, since 2007, without any problems, ... and, with almost no die-back to speak of. However, the trees are planted in 25 gallon containers. I think the larger mass of soil is slower, and takes longer to cool off when temp's start dropping at night. I read that unheated spaces -like a garage- generally run about 10 degrees warmer than outside temps. You could also cut out a hole in the bottom a large cardboard box and invert the box over your containers. This is supposed to trap some additional heat rising up out of the cement floor of the garage and keep the root zone a little warmer. Both of your trees planted in 5 gallon containers would probably help.

Most of the successful methods for overwintering containerized fig trees are posted right here, on this forum, and I'm sure other members will tell you all you need to know so that you can get your "botanical children" through the harsh winter. :)

Good luck.

BronxFigs

Thanks for the suggestions. The varieties are Violette de Bordeaux and Celeste which are supposed to survive relatively well in the mid-atlantic winters as far as I have heard.

I think I will go ahead and transplant the fig tree in the smaller container to a 5-10 gallon container. Note that the garage floor is not concrete but a mixture of gravel/soil so in that respect it's a bit more like a shed than garage. Because I'm an avid gardener and store a lot of stuff there the car has never been parked in the "garage" :)

Besides surrounding the trees with cardboard would it make any sense to wrap them with anything like an old blanket, burlap, etc? My worry is that mice would take up residence there and it could cause more harm than good.

I also have a Hardy Chicago that is about 6-8 inches tall in the ground outside. I propagated this one by burying the cutting directly in the soil back in June. Once it goes dormant could I just bend the stem over and bury it in a few inches of soil covered with mulch? Or should I dig it up from the ground and transplant it into a 5 gallon container and treat like the other fig trees?

Cheers,
Steve

Steve:

The only thing that I do to prepare my trees for overwintering in my unheated shed is ....nothing. They live outside, in the elements until the temps. consistently drop down into the low 30s. This usually occurs around the last weeks in December, where I live. I try to keep the trees out of the shed as long as possible, and because they are containerized, I make sure they have some water if the Fall season is unusually dry. When the time comes, the containers are rolled into the shed, and I water the trees a few weeks later, and continue throughout Jan.-March to keep the soil moist, not soaking wet, moist. By the end of March, beginning of April, terminal buds start getting very green, and I know trees are getting ready to be moved out of the shed. I move my trees out before leaves start to open in the shed, and I let Mother Nature take over, except for the watering...if the weather is dry, no late snows, no rain, etc.... I dump some water in the pots. They re-sprout every Spring, on their own schedule. No wrapping, no cardboard boxes,...nothing....I roll them in, I roll them out.

Just a thought....your trees sound as if they might be much smaller than my trees, which are 6 ft. tall, single-trunk, 3" diameter at base above soil...small trees. It's possible that smaller 'treelets' might need some extra protection because of their small size and smaller container volume. Other members on the forum might be better qualified to answer this question better than I.

Hope this helps.

Frank