I have two fig plants planted just inside the covering on my sunroom. Last fall while I was visiting family it dropped to 17F. This was the first freeze of the fall. The sunroom covering was up but that’s not much protection at night. I took cuttings off both plants so they were cut back low. The Black Madeira grew back this spring but the Preto is just setting there.
I’m thinking about trying to graft onto the Preto to revive the top. Was thinking I’d cut it back some and try a bark graft if the bark is slipping. If bark isn’t slipping I’ll try to graft onto a root.
But is it too early to give up on a bud pushing on what’s there?
Here’s the Black Maderia. It’s been growing for 2-3 months.
Steve,
If it was going to push a bud, it should have done it by this time.
Is the wood still green? If so, you could try the graft, but I’d also
root the other cuttings. For me, Preto has done well in pots, but
not so well in the ground.
The wood looks brown and frozen on about half of what’s left. That’s the part with nodes that might push a bud. Down lower below that knot the bark looks green but I don’t see any nodes.
I know I should probably give it a bit longer. But I’ve had very good luck grafting figs and think I can make this work. What would cause a failure would be if it bleeds too much.
I don’t know a lot about fig hardiness. But if I were waiting to see if a tree might recover from cold damage, I would move back the weed fabric and bricks in case the roots are alive and it wants to send something from lower.
I thought I’d lost a Pakistan mulberry and bay laurel that I planted last summer, but just in the past week I see that they are each sending up growth from places that would be too low to see in your picture.
Fortunately on the mulberry there was some from both above and below the graft.
I’ve been watching for a bud down low. Checking regularly below the bricks. I know figs don’t push shoots from the roots. There could be a node below ground. Maybe it would push from there.
I’ll open it up and make sure I’m not missing something.
