Hi All. I am new to these forums and the relatively cold temperatures in Ann Arbor, Michigan (just moved here from CA last year). My wife and I just purchased a house and we are planning out the garden and fruit trees we want to plant.

I was very surprised and happy that we can grow figs even in zone 5/6, by growing in pots and moving into a garage for the winter. It would be amazing if we could get a few cuttings to start a small fig collection. Looking into it, I think we will use the in-ground sideways propagation method discussed extensively in this older post easy-propagation-method (as described by plumfan). This is our first chance to grow fruit trees, but we have a lot of gardening experience, so I think the cuttings will go to a good home!

Tobybul2, I know you are looking for cuttings of new cold-weather tolerant varieties. If anyone has any extra to spare, I would really appreciate it! Also, Tobybul2 do you by chance have any cuttings to spare for a fellow michigander? Even if not, how have your Chicago Figs been doing in southern michigan? Are they in pots or in the ground? I am thinking about using pots, but sinking them into the ground each season to speed up the growth as suggested by many on these forums. It would be great to get more details on growing them here.

Thanks!

aswolf, thanks for the response. I got my Chicago figs from Lowes 4 years ago. Not knowing much about them I followed the isntructions that came with it and planted them in the ground. They did good but they die down to the ground. They sprouted back up the next spring but I realized they will never get to full size and fruits with the short warm climate. I also read up on it and found that many who are in snow country put them in a pot and move them to the garage in the winter. So after the 2nd year I did that and for the past 2 years I have been quite happy with their growth. for the last 2 years I had each of them on 1/2 of a plastic drum (that I cut in half myself). They did very well. Found a good deal on composite oak barrel pots from Costco last summer so I transfer them this past fall. Talk about roots. It was a challenge transferring them. They are sitting in my garage now.

I just cut some branches and made some cuttings in an attempt to propagate it. Never done it so I hope they take. Here are pics of the trees in my garage and the stuff I am attempting to propagate.

I have several brown turkey cuttings I would gladly split between you both. Just pay shipping, however, with this new set up I don't know how to contact you both.

Hi Dave. Thanks!! I'm in Grand Rapids MI. I would be happy to try some brown turkey. You may email me at tobybul2003@yahoo.com.

Hi Dave. Thanks so much! I live in Ann Arbor MI and would gladly pay for shipping. Brown Turkey looks like a great variety for our climate zone! You can email me at wolf.aarons@gmail.com. Thanks again!

Hi tobybul2- Those trees look great! I'm so glad they are working well in our cold zone 5/6 region. I am planning to essentially replicate your approach, bringing them into the garage each winter (made easier by the fact that we are car free, and so we have tons of garage space).My only concern is that the garage is not attached and so it might get too cold in the middle of winter. I think that adding insulation to the garage door should help with that, so that it doesn't drop below freezing.

If you haven't had a chance, you should definitely read through the entire easy propagation link (http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1881875/easy-propagation-method) I sent earlier. It sounds like many people have found it to be much easier and greater return than the other popular methods using vertical planting. I haven't tried it yet but I am really excited since everyone reports a > 100% success rate since it *always* works but often produces more than one viable tree start per cutting.

Thanks so much for starting this post and asking about cuttings!

aswolf reach out via email so we can set it up. Dave

I have sent an email to tobybul2, but I don't have your email. Feel free to contact me (email above), or I can get your info from toby. Thanks!

aswolf see it.

Dave, I just sent payment.

aswolf, do you still need Dave's email?

I'm good now. I also sent shipping cost. Thanks again Dave and toby. Looking forward to starting a cold-weather fig collection.

I'm in Saint Clair Shores and I've got 2 figs sitting in the ground, one for over a decade, and I get fruit from both of them yearly. (The larger one last year did get badly burned back and I only got about a half dozen from it).

This is besides 20+ varieties in pots that I move around. (Though I lost half a dozen mature plants due to my daughter leaving the garage door open for a number of nights when the mercury dropped badly last winter)

Catch me in the spring and I may offer/trade cuttings. Everything is locked away in my garage or basement right now.

~Chills

Thanks for the info Chills. I am currently rooting a few cuttings (first attempt). If all goes well I may end up with a few plants. I will probably plant at least 2 in the ground knowing that they will die down. I am rooting them like I show in the pics above. Let me know if you did yours differently.

Its going on 8 weeks now and half of my cuttings have rooted well enough so I transferred them in 1 gal pots. So far so good. The cuttings that did well were the ones from the forum like Dave's along with mine. I also got some from eBay. Most them were fine but some came dried out and just molded when put in a moist greenhouse environment.

From this experience I can say that its important to have cuttings that fairly fresh in order to them to take. Good thing that the eBay sellers that had bad cuttings refunded my money.

So I say not bad for a first time along with trying to do it my zone in the middle of winter. Timing is good though since we are going in to spring.