That's it? no insulation inside?

Nope, stopped burlap wrap after the 1st year....

Is that a FIG tree?

It sure is

Well, how in the world do you even get figs that ripen in time in our summers when the old growth dies back to the ground?

I have tried three years in a row. Covered my figs with the best possible insulation and yet all the top growth still dies back just for the new growth to come up from the ground and start putting out fruit late in the summer. It's a lost cause for me here(

I have fruit just starting on the old growth and I know it will be all dead before winter even ends.

Mike

Mike, I would exactly echo your question... I gave up on figs in my climate (zone 6b) for just that reason.

I grew many perfectly ripe figs from a potted 1 or 2 year old tree. I also live in zone 6a/6b.

You both have the wrong variety HARDY CHICAGO will start setting fruit in July and ripen 4 weeks later till frost

I'm pretty sure there are varieties of figs that can survive outside unprotected in your location.

I'm in Olympia, WA, zone 8a, and there are lots of yards with big fig trees around here, and they get packed with big fig fruits in the Autumn.

Surely you being in zone 7b (and not as far North as I am, I might add) there's got to be some figs that will grow outside for you.

TheyTheyCallMeDave

Is that Hardy Chicago ?

The most cold hardy figs go down to 10F and start taking damage and die below that. The breba buds die below 15F. 6b will kill the trees an average of 2 years out of 5 years while the breba may survive 1 out of 100 years

BlueMoonLight, I'm not sure for certain if it's a hardy Chicago but it's definitely part of the mt. Etna family.

it is a fig and its not coming right out of the ground it has a stalk and stubby arms. Main crop only. that fig now 4 years old is a cutting of a friends a few miles away that is easy 40 years old and no longer gets protected. Only a polar vortex brought it to its knees and it regrew QUICK. The fig is unknown but it was snuck here from Italy back in the day, no such thing as a store for these people. It gives a decent dark fig. The smaller fig is a peters honey in a pot I got this summer, pot is planted in a bare garden patch for winter and covered, will dig up in spring, don't know if it will do well here or not. The in ground fig shoots new arms and was loaded with figs.

I drill small holes in sides of pail near top for air circulation

I am asking because it looks like mine HardyHardyfig which I thing its it's Hardy Chicago, I tried to upload some pictures but for some reason I cant do it.

Yes you right most any fruit or vegetable you grow in your garden it much better than the stuff that you buy in the store.

Waw it worked !

That is my first air layer the dark fig is I thing Hardy Chicago

The leaves on your tree are shaped differently than mine. More cuts or "lobes" plus, your figs appear to be smaller in size. Again, I can be wrong. I might never find out exactly what fig variety I have... It was suppose to be a strawberry verte... Green exterior, red interior. Turned out to be a dark fig lol.

How warm is your basement Jenny? Mine is 15-20C so the fig tree would wake up I think. I left mine outside in an unheated shed....It's protected by a fence and my house and wrapped in 4-5 blankets. Let's see what happens.

Dave - the part of the basement that I have it in ("unfinished" with exposed ceiling, no extra insulation, no windows, nor any lights that are kept on) runs about 59F - 63F (~15C - ~17C) in winter. I am in a "townhouse" with a small patio so I have no yard, no garage, and no shed. Last winter, I had it there with a black plastic bag over it and it pretty much stayed asleep once I forced it into dormancy outside, until about March when it woke up with a vengeance! At that point, I brought it near (but not directly under) my basement lights in the "finished" part of the basement. I had checked on it maybe once a week and gave it (and my plumeria) a little water as needed.

This is what they look like this morning -

(L->R) Salvia "Black and Blue" (under bag), Little Miss Figgy, Plumeria "Fruit Salad" -

As it is, you can see what I had to do with my sister's fig as a young tree planted in the ground, literally on the southwest-facing corner of her house. I put an interesting combo of layers on it. Here are some other pics of that process, showing what it looked like before the pics I posted in my previous post (I also gave it a spray coating of Wilt Stop before doing this) -

Some pipe insulation over the tips-

Some thin insulation material covered with a frost bag-

Mine are starting to go dormant too. It's due for one last watering this week.

Tree rose under frostcloth

My hats off to all of you.

I still could never get a Chicago Hardy fig tree of mine not to die back no matter what I do and by the time new growth appears here, it's almost May when the growth emerges from the ground not giving enough time to grow to get fruit, A fail for me(((

Mike

might not have been a real Chicago hardy....

Chicago can have pretty hot summers, and the higher temperatures start earlier in the year than in Massachusetts, so that may be the reason the Chicago hardy fig can put on more growth in Chicago and have figs be ready before the end of the season.

As for me in the PNW, the growing season for fig trees may be short (comparable to Massachusetts) but the winters are relatively mild and fig trees barely suffer any damage, so the figs do not have to expend as much energy trying to recover.

Exactly Socal!

Here, for the last few springs, it has been so unpredictable that it can warm into the 70's and 80's for a few days in April then we get an arctic blast which can destroy pretty much anything I grow.

Last spring, we actually had a very warm end of March which woke things up. I had to uncover things coming out of dormancy, then by the second week of April, snow and temps as low as the teens. It's ridiculous around here. Killed most of my roses and other perennials. Now I am glad I did not uncover my fig until the middle of May, but what good is that if I can't get my fig tree started earlier?

We have had snow storms in the middle of April and FROST up until the end of May! I can't get anything going early enough to produce anything even if it sat up against the warmest and sunniest side of my house. God forbid anything of my plants wakes up to early to get an early start just to be killed by the cold even in May. It's just not hopeful here. My tree would have to wake up in very early spring and stay warm until summer, never happens.

By the way, they are true Chicago hardy bought from Stark's and many other reputable places.

I did scratch the bark on the one I have planted that made it through last winter protected on the old tall growth after a week of -0 wind chills and temps in the teens two weeks ago and it was still alive! Maybe there is some hope. But the little fruits that were starting to form for next spring were completely ravished((

Now I am motivated to go to Lowe's and get insulation and wrap it since it has been planted in ground going on it's second year now. Maybe there is hope)

Mike

just give it a little love, I never do breba, its main crop only, it can take a few years to get a stalk established......https://growinggreener.blogspot.com/2006/08/method-for-growing-figs-in-japan-with.html, you can get creative I keep my stalk short because I like the bush form but.....if you have a little room...easy to protect too

Nice setup bklyn It is amazing how easy it is to build it. I got the same box over my Fukushu as you have over your Citrangequat. Yours is plastic and mine is scrap windows. I had considered putting a bag over my potted grafted Meiwa kumquat but it would cost too much to heat in zone 6B. My NZL against my house has not needed heating yet.

New Zealand lemonade#1 · More Info

My fukushu

Fukushu kumquat#2 · More Info

Bklyn, I noticed that even after the sun arctic temps the two weeks of thanksgiving and then the 30's and teens at night for the past two weeks, there was green on the 3 foot tall stems left over from summer on my Chicago Hardy! Si I went to Lowe's and bought some insulation the pink none and wrapped it around 4 sticks I pounded into the earth and then wrapped two old blankets over that and then tied it all off after draping a plastic bag over that to keep everything under it dry. Then I mounded up bark mulch to the point where it met the bottom of everything wrapped about 6 inches thick high.

Hopefully the old growth will make it this year. I won't know until I unveil everything come April and hopefully give the tree an early head start. Plenty of sunlight there, over 8 hours. Wish me luck, please. I really would like to say I actually have an in ground fig tree that produces delicious fruit in my yard, in my growing zone0)

Steve, you never cease to amaze me buddy!!

Mike

If the tree keeps dying on you in the Winter, you might be better off growing it in a pot. Keep it in a cool, dark basement and it'll be good until Spring.

You can also grow it in ground during the Summer and dig it up and put it in a bag or pot and bring inside for Winter.

You can start it in a Pot indoors come Late March, Early April and than plant it outside in June or July when it has some growth.

I don't know Michigan zone but the insulation and tight wrap (very old school BTW)up on a fig can be problematic because you can't check on the stalk on nice days, condensation, slugs, mice, etc.. A loose burlap/frost cloth wrap may do under something waterproof. that's why I prefer the plastic pail easy to pull off. But plenty of people do wrap up tight, you name it I've seen it combos. I don't think its absolute temperatures as much as not letting it get crapped on for 3 winter months, but what do I know. I'm tight on land or I'd do a more japanese setup, grow my tree low to ground horizontally and protect that......

" I'm tight on land or I'd do a more Japanese setup, grow my tree low to ground horizontally and protect that...... "

That is exactly what I must do for my in ground trees

Some of those japanese fig methods have a 3" thick stalk a foot off the ground and are 30 feet long horizontal

a fig wrapped in pink fiberglass will suffer no damage down to 5 degrees n no more than 10% damage after 2 days of -1F

Bklyn

Thanks That knowledge is important to me.

Steve

I think my fig can survive -15C Temps semi protected in cloths and in an unheated shed close to my house..... Regardless. I've recorded temps iin the shed to be at -15C at some points and the fig is tucked away in a corner wrapped in lots of cloths and plastic wraps....

Anyways, in early January I decided to bring my plant in to take cuttings...

The 1 cutting I planted has broken dormancy in the cup, leaves have poked out.... The roots are coming....(I checked a few days ago and there were lots of bumps on the bottom).

Anyways, ever since, I kept it inside for 2-3 days because it was -20-25C some nights.... and now I have it wrapped up in a cool dark place where it's about 5-6C...

I can't wait to wake it up in early March.

TheyCallMeDave, I hope you can root some! Let us know how they turn out will you? How will you root them?

I hope my in ground fig is ok. I am keeping my fingers crossed. At least the ones I have on my porch are dormant.

Jenny, I like your idea in the basement. I have always stuck mine down there but they would continue to grow all winter. LONG spindly twigs with almost white leaves. Then I would have to cut them back hard once I brought them outside. They neevr really produced figs for me and I wonder if it was because they never really ever got to go truly dormant. Now they are on my very cold porch kept at temps in the 40's. So far so good. .

Mike

A cold porch protected from the elements and cool but not freezing

should be perfect, once a month watering, bugs might be the only problem

Mike, I root them in a plastic cup with a ziploc bag on the top... or another plastic cup.... I poke a bunch of holes for drainage and breath-ability. I put them in my warm washroom. I rooted 1 a couple months ago but I think I killed it 1 day... Long story... Still have it to see if the roots push up a trunk.

Also rooted another 1 in Early January and it has already leafed out... can't see any roots but must be close.

My washroom is pretty warm.... about 25C.... sometimes 30C if the door is left closed.