@TNHunter What temp is it when you protect your figs?
My plan is to do something similar to what you are doing.
Also @ anyone: How do you store your figs for the winter. I got some cuttings a few years ago and tried to store them over the winter. They didn’t store well at all, most of them ended up rotting. I ordered a bunch this year and now I am concerned about storing them, but I am also concerned about trying to root them and trying to keep them alive inside for 5 months. I did a bunch of searches, but didn’t really see a solid answer to that last question (I searched on ourfigs too).
I’m too tired to climb the stairs again but all of these and then some from my other tub moved to my window sills lol. I can’t store cuttings either. My plan is once they get big enough, I’m going to stick them close by the house outside for a month so that they can get their chill hours. Then I’d bring them inside the greenhouse or in the garage a month or so before last frost to give them a headstart.
I’m not storing any cuttings this year nor will i attempt to
That bleach solution Ram posted works wonders for other cuttings i have in the fridge though. I have random Plum cuttings hanging around but not figs
@ramv I have treated other cuttings like that, I don’t know why, but I didn’t do that with the fig cuttings a got a few years ago.
@JesusisLordandChrist I read that thread. The advise was for rooted and potted figs, I didn’t see any responses about storing cuttings over winter.
I started out with one order of cuttings from Mad Cat Farms, then saw some on Figbid that I wanted to try, then Mad Cat had a sell that I couldn’t pass up, and finally (I hope) @ampersand had a good deal on some. Plus I cut some that I have on our property. I have over 100 cuttings now! . My original plan, when I just had the first order, was to root them in maybe December, but now I am concerned about the space that it will take to store them until May 15th-ish (last frost date).
I was thinking of buying something like this to put in my garage:
We are also supposed to be finishing our 30x100 greenhouse. If all goes as planned, I might have a little space in there to devote to this project instead.
Yes, that’s what I am asking about. I was thinking that I would root them next month and then plant them in ground early - mid May. I am just a little concerned about keeping them alive, because I tried this last year and all was going well until it wasn’t, lol. I think I either didn’t water them enough or maybe over fertilized.
Gotcha… keep the roots moist but not too wet and I dont think I would fertilize until after a couple months after you plant them. I see a lot of fig starts in 12oz cups for some reason. I think I would pop some drainage holes in the bottom of the cups, put them in trays and water the trays, let the water wick up the potting soil.
Depending on the potting soil, the watering from the bottom doesn’t get to the roots because some potting mixes when allowed to almost dry out overtime, become hydrophobic. Happened to me with miserable grow in the past and some miserable grow also never dry but instead, turn into and stay a sludge… palm citrus cactus mix had killed many in my early years
The reason I don’t use potting soil indoors is too much organic matter leads to rot and food for fungus gnats. Outdoors I don’t have any probs but indoors nope just 50/50 peat n perlite and synthetic fertilizer.
Regarding your strategy to start now and let them go dormant when they get large enough.
They look great. But for me at least here if I start figs late season they won’t go dormant until the next season. So I have to be careful if they’re outdoors from any freezes since it’s new growth. Unless you have a heat source in the greenhouse or garage you’ll be babysitting those figs until spring. And want to up pot they can take up a lot of room quickly.
Do you sprinkle a little ground cinnamon on top of the soil to inhibit fungus growth? IDW but tomato seed starts seem to be the most prone fungus. A little cinnamon sprinkled on top of the soil after sowing the seeds puts a stop to the fungus.
No I don’t but haven’t even thought about using cinnamon for fungus. Next time I’ll remember that thanks. I see people use cinnamon and honey on pomegranate cuttings and grafts. Or Willow water but that was to help with rot and stimulation. I don’t use anything and don’t think necessary for figs trialing them side by side. After about a week or so after starting figs will ditch the humidity and keep good ventilation seems to stop a lot of problems.
Cinnamon for me has created weird mushrooms. I found out about mosquito bits for fungus gnats and i haven’t looked back at anything else I’ve read on getting rid of them.
I do thing water bottle thing with mosquito bits
Figs like to be left alone. I think tomatoes are one of the only things that like to be petted or constantly touched actually. There’s a scientific term for it but I’ve forgot what it’s called. If you pet a tomato plant, it’ll grow short and stocky so you can pet it more
@FarmGirl-Z6A …we have had no frost yet this year. My CH fig is still ripening fruit and has all its leaves. No frost in my 10 day forecast… still.
Once we do get a couple light frosts the fig leaves will curl and eventually drop.
We may get a few more light frosts after that and as long as they are light frosts… say 28-34… I will leave my fig as is a little longer.
Then before we get a really hard frost… i will prune it back to the stumps I will protect for the winter. I normally leave 5 stumps and the next spring allow 2 shoots to come up off of each of those stumps.
I collect cuttings from the growth I cut off those stumps. I wash them in a light mix of dish soap and clorox… and let them dry good… then I seal the cut ends with coconut oil.
I bundle them up in 3 packs wrapped in plastic wrap and keep them in our garage fridge crisper drawer.
I usually give some away and trade with some. I have also kept some for rooting in the past… until April… and had 100% success.
Thanks for spelling out everything you do for me. What temp. is your refrigerator?
Also, have you ever tried leaving the shoots longer when protecting in ground?
My shoots are only about three feet high, so my plan is not to prune some of them at all. I have a lot of large boxes, the type that you see watermelon in at the grocery. I am going to put one or two (stacked) over the figs and fill with wood chips. I might put some chicken wire around the middle where the two boxes meet to stabilize, then I will add more mulch to the bottom. I will cover the whole getup with a tarp and secure with bungee cords.
I also have some under some low tunnels that I am planning to treat similarly, except, they are not as tall, so I will only need one box for sure.
The figs have already dropped their leaves because we’ve had a few frosts, but now the temp has gone up and is stable in above frost temps. Here’s the forecast for my area:
Edited to say: That’s my plan for the figs that I have in ground. They are going into their 3rd winter. Last year I did not protect them and most of them came back but it was slow going and I barely got any figs, presumably because they weren’t protected and had to grow up from the roots. Trying to see if there will be a big difference if I protect.
. My original plan, when I just had the first order, was to root them in maybe December, but now I am concerned about the space that it will take to store them until May 15th-ish (last frost date).
I was thinking that I would root them next month and then plant them in ground early - mid May. I am just a little concerned about keeping them alive, because I tried this last year and all was going well until it wasn’t, lol. I think I either didn’t water them enough or maybe over fertilized.
they have a good dead plant within a year policy though lol
and some miserable grow also never dry but instead, turn into and stay a sludge… 
