One nursery said in their sales literature that the Chicago Hardy fig dies to the ground in winter and comes back each year.
If so, when it comes back will it produce fruit every year? I thought figs have to grow at least a couple years before producing fruit.
Figs fruit on new wood. So, a fig can fruit after freezing back. Some don’t or at least not much or too late to ripen. After freezing back, regrowth is vigorous. That can limit fruiting. Figs fruit better when growth isn’t too vigorous.
HC is probably one of the better figs for fruiting in Z6 after freezing back.
Yup, Chicago hardy as well as most of the other Mt. Etna types, are great options for areas that it would die back to the ground every year. You can also cut it very low, and pile some mulch up over the stump to give it a head start.
On average, do you get edible fruit after the die back? Or are the figs small and never ripen?
Check out Chicago Hardy posts from @TNHunter he’s in 7b but still uses a method to deal with the winters that would work for you too I would imagine.
i have a c.h in ground. it dies to the ground each year and grows back from the roots but im in z4b so the fruit doesnt get to ripen. i did protect it over the winter a few years but the fruit still didnt have a chance to ripen despite the fig surviving above ground through the winter. it just doesnt fruit early enough. maybe another cultivar that does might have a chance. i keep mine mostly for looks now.
It really depends how long your growing season is. Ask yourself (1) when is the date after which temperatures rarely/never drop below 50F; and (2) when is the date after which temperatures rarely exceed 65 F. Those dates pretty much define your growing season. Note that those dates are only loosely correlated to your USDA zone.
Here in coastal RI (Z7A), those dates are approximately May 15 and Oct 15. As you progress south, those dates get farther apart. Growers whose winters are still cold enough to kill fig trees above the ground may have growing seasons 2-4 weeks longer at both ends.
For example, my brother-in-law in northern Georgia (foothills of the Appalachians, Z8A) has 100% dieback most years but then gets 8-10’ of growth and tons of figs. Here in coastal RI (Z7A) I’d get 100% dieback then maybe 3-4’ of growth and a handful of ripe figs.
IMO, in your location (Z6, western PA) you will be very frustrated growing figs in the ground. That’s considering only growing conditions, ignoring the risk that deer eat the foliage and raccoons eat the fruit. On the other hand, with HC or similar growing in a 15-20 g pot that you store in the garage over the winter, you’ll pick fruit from late August through early October.
I want to get a Chicago Hardy and make it a potted tree to see how it does staying warm all year. We typically see our BT figs produce 3 crops but they do not fully ripen.
I have a Chicago hardy in ground over a decade. If there’s some last year’s wood left (branches didn’t cut all the way down under the protecting blanket)where breba crop could grow and ripens in the summer. But if figs grow from new wood, main season fruits, then this batch of figs won’t have enough time to ripen
I am in zone 6A (recently graduated from 5B) and your neighbor (~15 miles East of downtown Cleveland). We have an in-ground CH and always get at least some fruit but usually not too much - most will end the season green. Although we do winterize it (we just surround it with polls, run chicken wire around, and fill up with autumn leaves; any uncovered branches that stick out will die off), in one year we tried a different method (using a store-bought winterization bag) and failed, the tree died to the ground but still produced figs on new shoots.
Check out Ross Raddi on YouTube and watch his videos about fig tree hormones, winter, and pruning. Freezing to the ground produces the same effect as pruning to the ground. Ross’s advice helped my Chicago Hardy fruit 6 weeks earlier than before.
Bari, Niagara black, Ciccio Nero, Lyndhurst white, Kesariani, and Lattarula are all known for fruiting well and early after dying back in the winter. Maybe better than Chicago hardy but I don’t know for sure
Do you know what variety he’s growing? I’m classed z7b and have a Marseilles in ground for about 5ish years. Don’t really remember.
Anyway, I do get damage but rarely total dieback. I don’t protect it either. Probably should. Last year we had a long bitter cold spell and it suffered from ambrosia beetles in the damaged branches. I ended up pruning out most of it and treating the remainder with a needle, syringe, and contact insecticide, but it pulled through and ripened fruit. I have a Chicago that got left out of the greenhouse in a 3gal pot and doesn’t look to have died back, we’ll find out when it goes to leaf out.
I’m just surprised z8 sees total dieback.
It often gets down to 10-15 F, sometimes lower, which is typical Z8A – and cold enough to kill top growth.
He grows many varieties, most of which I gave him. As I recall (it’s been a while), he has 1-2 Mt Etna’s, an Improved Celeste, a store-bought “Brown Turkey,” among others.
I am growing a Chicago Hardy in ground in SW Pa but i wont know if it will grow back and ripen figs until next season.
Try making tea with the leaves! You can pickle the unripe fruit.
Wait… I thought I had read fig sap is a skin irrantant so i assumed it wasn’t a good candidate for tea.
Was I totally and completely wrong about that @disc4tw ?
Because having had the chance to smell a fig leaf for the first time this year (I’d consider them one of my preferred scents for a plant after geraniums (pelargoniums) and tomatoes) I’d be quite intruiged to know how a tea would taste if that’s a good use for fig leaves. 
@eboone recommended I try the leaves in tea. He’s worked with figs for a long time.
There are other sappy edible things like milkweed.
IL847 has perfectly answered your question:
The first crop comes off of last years wood so pruning back to the ground or freezing to the ground will force you to try and ripen the second crop which forms on new wood.
Chalking this up to my daily new thing to learn. Thanks for the info. Will have to give them a try once my tree gets established.
