Hi Odie, No problem, but if it were mine, I'd prune it down to 2'-3 ft.and root additional cuttings. it's best to wait till it's dormant and even better to do it just before bud break in the spring. Celeste produces main crop figs on new growth, which grows extremely fast. If you leave it 6' tall, it'll be too tall to pick very quickly. It's a matter of preference, but can be trained into a bush or tree form. Good luck with your fig and thanks for posting. About winter storage, I'm not qualified to answer---I live in a warm zone, but I'm sure others will chime in. If you use the search feature here & at Figs4Fun Forum,you can get all your questions pretty much answered.

I agree with Fatnsassy
EXCEPT, I would save what I cut off and make cuttings to root just for in case!

Good luck

Cecil

Thanks for the responses guys!
Anyone have an opinion on whether I should put it in the ground or in a pot 'til spring?

To clarify, my long term goal is to have this tree in the ground and not in a pot. My concern is that with frost just a few weeks away and the tree having a diminished root system from being shipped, putting it in the ground now might be too much for it. If I put it in the basement in a pot over the winter it would go in the ground this spring

Odie

Hi Odie,

I would wait until next spring if it was me!

Regards
Cecil

Odie:
I do not know where you are in Virginia, but here on the N. edge of zone 7 the ground stays warm enough for roots to settle in far into the fall. I can plant now without difficulty. If this tree were mine, (and if it were fully dormant) here in Ok, I would plant it a couple inches deeper than it grew in the nursery, cut it back to no more than sixteen inches or so, pile dirt high around the trunk close up, wrapping the trunk above that piled up dirt with layers of crumpled newspaper.

I would then set a five gallon plastic bucket over the whole thing and pile a bit more dirt around the bottom of the bucket so that it was sealed to the ground. I would then spread a few inches of leaves around the bucket to keep the ground warm and leave them there until spring.

In the spring when trees began to leaf out I would uncover the tree, pulling away the piled-up dirt to ground level. I would expect the trunk to bud out and become a bushy tree.
Ox

It doesn't matter that they cut off the top. Had they left it, the leaves would have frozen soon anyhow. I'm with Ox, plant it now. Not sure you would need all the protection he recommends this winter. But if you expect it to be in the ground in the long run, put it out there now.

The Fruitnut