Black foam tubing to protect fig tree over winter?

General Fruit Growing
41

Yes, I had some very late air layers that were removed late, and they grew, and became damaged. I’m not going to do late air layers anymore. Although they ae fine, not dead, so not that big a deal and I have new plants, or did all mailed out at last!

42

The only thing we do differently is with two people we cover it like you do with organics and then while it’s still flat we put reflective insulation over it and hold the plant down with bags on it and then cover all the perimeter of the insulation.

Dax

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43

I tried something new this year, bent trees over to about 3 ft, threw half full bags of leaves on top, covered with 4 or more layers of row cover and pinned that down. The leaves keep the branches from contacting the row cover and them freezing/it ripping. Hopefully the row cover traps enough heat from the ground but still lets them breathe. I like that I can easily check on them and toss in some mouse traps if I see any damage.

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44

I like your idea of planting it on a 45 deg angle. One of mine snapped when trying to bend it to the ground. It was my Panache. I have almost a foot of snow on top of my tarps now. They have a lot of ground cover so they should be warm.

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45

I have a neighbor from the old country…he stuffed a few fig twigs in his luggage way back when… In zone 6B…pgh PA… for the last 40 years he has never lost a fig tree and they get to be about 11 foot tall in maybe 3 to 4 foot in diameter
Here is how he wraps for winter protection:
First trim back branches so they’re all about uniform height… about 7’
Tie branches tightly together with rope
Wrap branches bottom to top with Roofing paper
Then wrap Roofing paper with rolled Fiberglass insulation
Add another layer of roofing paper to cover the fiberglass insulation
Put tarp over roofing paper from top to bottom
Tarp does not have to go all the way down to ground… Secure tarp with rope
Note: he does not provide any air holes at top of wrapping or anywhere else
I’m not suggesting it’s an easy way or the best way but he has never lost a fig tree (well actually fig bush)

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46

Edit:
By 3’ or 4’ dia I mean the accumulation of all the branches coming out of the Fig Tree base not the diameter of one big fig tree stump… It’s actually like a fig bush

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