An Adriatic JH that was burnt by our late frost is starting to ripen now. Not intolerably late considering the setback. It could have used a couple more days but the black spots on the bottom tricked me.
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I am rooting some Ronde de Bordeaux cuttings right now. Obviously, I won’t be planting them in the ground this year, but I do plan on it next year.
Should I continue to grow them throughout the winter inside with grow lights, or should I force them into dormancy at some point? Also, when transplanting them to outside, will I need to acclimate them, or is that unnecessary?
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When did you start rooting them? How much did they grow?
Yes you would need to acclimate them to uv light when moving outside if they are leafed out.
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Rain came during peak ripening, then came the bees and yellow jackets.
Cleared the orchard today, something like 200#. Most will be headed to the processor for fig butter.
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I wouldn’t eat anything except figs for days. Maybe up to 4-5 days. Until I’m about to keel over cause I can’t stand the smell of one anymore. Then I’d do it again the following year.
That’s a beautiful, beautiful, picture. Well done, Brent.
Dax
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It took a long time to get here, and I am dead tired but it feels great!
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Good for you!
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That is great.
How many fig trees do you get in ground?
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Almost all of those came from about 90 trees that had winter protection.
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I got my HardyChicago ripened from my inground tree on Oct 1, later than previous years. We had cold spring. The tree died to the ground and took time to sprout new shoots.
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I planted a chicago hardy spring 2019… in a nice microclimate location… in ground… south side of my house. It grew 8 ft tall with 4 branches that first year and we harvested 25 figs … very yummy… from about aug thru first frost. The first winter i did not protect it (did not know)… and it died to ground… last spring it sprouted up from roots and grew like crazy… 12 ft tall and lots more vranches… from late july to dec 3 we got 90 or so wonderful figs off it. I have it protected this winter. Hopefully this spring it will get a quicker start… budding out from above ground branches. Zone 7a. Southern middle Tennessee. Love my. CH fig.
TNHunter
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Yes things turned out great! My ingrounds did good for their second summer from cuttings and having died back their first winter. They grew well, establishing lots of roots. So I have high hopes for 2021 season! But 2020 fall Sept-oct I got to pick CH and Sunfire, which Sunfire outperformed CH significantly, but both did great and tasted great! RdB actually grew the most though, but it did not set any figs (which I have read is common for young RdB trees need a few years to establish. So time will tell.)
Several new ones ready to put in the ground this spring.i think I will need about 4 years inground to give fair data. But this is an early report. Also our may was cooler than usual, so I expect some years to perhaps give them a longer season than 2020 so that is encouraging for future expectations. 
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Did anyone in zone 5 get any figs?
If so, how did you protect your tree?
How did you extend the growing season for it?
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So far we might be in zone 8 if you only count the past 2 winters…and my outdoor figs in containers are alive as of right now. 14F has been the low. (And that night, only, I brought them inside.)
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I agree. It’s been two years now with no die back. This last summer was actually a good season for me. Mine have never had any type of protection.
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I am from DC also. I planted what I remember being labeled Black Mission from Behnke’s in 2000 and it has done great but it did die to the ground in the Polar vortex of 2010.
How cold did the polar vortex get? What is the coldest you have seen not kill it to the ground?
I had to look it up. and I found this temperature chart. It got down to 0F in 2009 an 5F in the vortex of 2014. I do not recall much winter damage in 2014 but recovery was a little slower the next year.
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Interesting!! How cold did the 2010 vortex get for you?