Newbie Fig Grower here…
Zone 7a, Tennessee
I decided to plant one spring 2019, researched it some, decided on a Chicago Hardy Fig and got it planted (in ground), in a nice microclimate area (south side of my house, just out from a brick wall that reflects heat, and on a south facing hill). I planted it in a raised bed, covered that raised bed with dark river rock…
It was a whip about 3’ long when planted and grew nicely that first year… 8 ft tall, 4 branches and between about Sept 1 until first hard frost in November, we got around 25 figs off it. Never had a fig before and have nothing to compare it to, but IMO it was a very good fig. A special treat for sure.
I did not know I needed to protect it over the winter… and well the next spring (last spring) all that growth was dead to the ground level. (I know better now)…
Despite that… around May 1, I noticed some sprouts coming up from the roots and it sent up several new growth starts 8-10 which I only let 4 of those grow and grow it did. By the end of the summer 12’ tall, with 4 main trunks and several branches. It started producing figs earlier too and before our first hard frost we got around 90 figs off the CH Fig. I was impressed.
And this fall before we got any deep freezes I decided to protect it over this winter. I researched that some (youtube mostly) and saw lots of variations on how people recommend to protect a in ground fig over the winter.
I had some materials on hand that I thought might work and I came up with this…
First I cut those 4 main trunks, down to about 2’ high. and I took a soft rope and sort of pulled them together so I could get that tomato cage to fit over it nicely.
I wrapped that cage with some insulating material and stuffed the inside full of fresh hay, and the outside all around the mound where the roots are, I covered that deep with hay too.
I put a garbage bag on top of the tomato cage to keep most of the rain/snow off it, but left some room for it to breathe some and hopefully not get all wet and just stay wet in side there.
I am sure there are some Fig experts here that can tell me what all I did wrong there, or how I could improve on that. Please do.
Also wanted to ask this… In the spring… how do you decide on exactly when to un-protect your Fig ?
Last spring, we had some warm weather in Early April… and then a nasty frost April 15.
I am sure I would have unprotected it… and then needed to put all that back in place for one more night.
May not be a simple solution to that.
Any tips will be much appreciated !
Thanks
TNHunter