Have yall experienced established fig trees that don’t dieback at say +5F or 0F or -5F unprotected?
What is the lowest yall have seen the different fig varieties take and not die back unprotected? Zone 6b-7a…
I have read elsewhere of people saying certain ones can take more before suffering dieback… Is this true in your experience?
I have heard or read the following:
Hardy Chicago -4F…?
Ronde De Bordeaux 0F.?
Florea -3F.?
MBVS -10F or so??
Laredek’s English BT -18F??
If you have experience on the general temp that any individual varieties can withstand before sufferring major dieback, whether 20F for one, or 0F for another, can we use this thread to post those experiences, variety and the low temp it handled or did not handle?
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I will let you know in spring, I have several plants that didn’t get protected before winter came. I am in zone 4.
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I’m growing all of those in ground except MBVS. Our coldest temp last winter was -9 and all died back to the ground.
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So did any/all grow back and produce a crop?
@PaulinKansas6b there is already a post on this here.
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Around ten years I got a bunch of what was back then considered the “most hardy” figs, from Herman2 over on GW. I found there is no magic fig, they all pretty much die back or not together most years. My best fig is good 'ol Celeste, its right next to Hardy Chicago and sometimes does a little better than it, never worse. Of the figs you mention I have RDB, HC, MBVS. VS is Herman2.
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Ok thank yall for the experiences! I have enjoyed them so far and plan to re-read them… Yeah we have 2 issues that i am learning about:
A: Can this fig type spring up and produce a crop even after ground dieback?
B: How much cold can this fig type take before ground dieback? B is my interest in this thread if anyone has had this experience of no dieback at 5F or below. I read of someone experiencing this with Florea down to -3.
Yeah Jesse I’d enjoy a report on your in ground tests! Scott that is interesting that Celeste ties with CH! Is this LSU IC or just regular Celeste? If yall experience any not dieing back, I’d love to hear about it and what lows it took. Ive read Smith is very touchy and dies back at just below freezing. But yeah I hope to be gaining experience as well, i am rooting several that will be going inground in the future in a few microclimate locations for testing and i hope to acquire more of the hardier or earlier types in the future. Only one CH is in ground so far. But yeah thanks for yalls replies!
In Kansas don’t expect figs to stand up well to cold. Temperatures are too variable. Figs like most plants stand up better to consistent cold than variable cold. I’m way south of you in zone 7/8 and have never had a fig not freeze back. I have seen it happen here but not often. This yr my fig was frozen back to big wood just off the ground in mid Nov. It dropped to 17F and hasn’t been colder since.
Celeste won’t take our weather. It freezes back also.
Out East they have more cloud cover in winter and more stable temperatures than out here on the plains. So zone doesn’t tell the whole story.
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Wow that makes sense fruitnut! Thanks for your report!
I was just looking at Scott’s thread. Interesting replies there, i didn’t realize it existed, i hope it was ok to start a new thread but i hope it isnt scrambling things too much…
Yeah I am more and more leaning towards digging a trench style microclimate…
So true and makes it easier. Still I’m so cold here in ground is kinda unrealistic, although I keep experimenting to try and learn as much as possible.
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It all depends on where the figs are planted. If they’re planted
next to or near a building, they’ll be sheltered from the cold.
Although I’m in the South, we do get temps in the 20’s and I
do get die back on some figs. The figs that I never get die back
on are Damatie, Red Lebanese Bekaa Valley, Sultane, and the Cdd’s.
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I’ve hard Hardy Chicago die to the ground at 17 F, others say theirs hasn’t died back at that temp. Mine was protected with a tarp before that system came through. Now I cut it back to the ground and it comes up and fruits every year.
A local community garden grows HC and Peter’s honey and protects them in the winter. Some times they don’t die to the ground and some times they do. Sometimes the PH does not fruit. I don’t know how they protect their figs but their website is
It’s supposed to go down to 6 degrees tonight. Lowest this season I think. This might be the end of my Chicago Hardy.
Don’t lose hope! It would likely come back from the ground even if above ground parts freeze. Mt Etna types normally always ripen a crop even with total top kill. Just plant stuff like MBVS, Malta Black, Gino’s Black, etc.
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All our fig trees have survived 3 degrees Fahrenheit, it should make it.
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We live over here in Lancaster County, so we aren’t far from you. I have had Chicago Hardy for years. Without protection they freeze back to the ground most years, but like others have said they always come back from the roots and bear a crop the same year. I always protect a few, and with protection I can keep them from dying back even if we have below 0 temps. Last year we had a low of -14 and one of my trees didn’t freeze all the way to the ground. Florea & RDB usually have fruit a little earlier then CH for me. Lattarula withstands lower temperatures without dieback for me but it takes longer to ripen fruits.
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There is a diner where a dozen or more of these 8 ft figs are growing. Last year low was around 5f and sometimes goes to 0f. I’ll check them in the spring and try to find out the varieties.
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Today I went out to check my one year old rooted cuttings in garden. I piled some dead leaves and dry weeds early last winter. I did not get time to dig them. Also no time to pile wood chips on them. It is a large area. I’m surprised to see that they are not totally killed to ground. We got like 5F so far this winter. I know it is still early to tell if they have any winter damage. But the branches are not black or dry. This is a heritage variety Syrian Ammary Black. It does not look any difference from Hardy Chicago. I’m sure an older plant would receive less damage.
The green is hardy wild bulb weedy plant. No rodent damage this winter. Somehow they all disappeared this winter.
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Also, in the Northeast, particularly the costal regions like Long Island, there are quite many heritage figs that grow large and not protected. Here is the Sorrento (AD) Aaron Delmanto (NJ Fig Farm) collected from a local restaurant in central New Jersey. The mother tree may have been cut down. It grew to 12’x12’ and not protected. I’m not sure if it is just hardy, or the micro-climate near the green fence. He collected quite a few more like this. My Sorrento tree is still small. Like to trial to see how good it is.
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I don’t grow figs because I’m not a fan of them, but my understanding is the “Hardy” figs are no more likely to have their wood survive a hard freeze than less hardy varieties.
What they are able to do is re-sprout from the roots, and have those sprouts actually mature their full “new wood” crop that season.
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I planted my first FIG spring 2018 a Chicago Hardy… I got it from OGW and it was basically a 3 ft long stick initially… but by the end of that first year, it had 3 shoots, and the main shoot grew to near 8 ft tall. We got 25 figs that first year… I was impressed.
But a absolute NEWBIE to Figs… never even thought about protecting it that first winter… and did not.
Per Nashville Weather History in Jan and Feb 2019 the low was18 degrees… we had a few other days down around 20… but 18 was the low.
That next spring… it was DEAD to the ground… but about the first of May, started sending up shoots from the roots and that spring, summer I had a total of 5 shoots that ended up growing even taller and stronger… and we got 75 figs that second year (despite it dyeing completely back to the ground)… Impressed again…
So… at least on first year wood… don’t count on your CHF to survive +18 degrees… mine did not.
Now I can’t tell you about 2nd or 3rd year wood… because since that first experience at it being killed completely to the ground, I have protected it.
Our Lows here for…
2020 +18
2021 +08
2022 +16 (so far).
I have not tried protecting a lot of wood on mine… I simply prune it back to some rather short stumps 18-24" tall and protect that over winter…
I expect that if I did protect more like 6 ft, thru a few winters… until that 6 ft of wood was 2-3 years old, it might just survive unprotected thru most of our winters.
I have not been brave enough to try that yet… Perhaps when I get 2 or 3 figs going… I will do that experiment.
TNHunter