In ground Fig - protecting, unprotecting questions

@JCT - thanks for the tip.

This board has more bells and whistles than I am used to… lots of fancy features.
I think it was just last week that I finally figured out how to Like something… Finally found that option.

I will get there… eventually… again thanks for the help.

TNHunter

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I bought some extra-strength HotHands warmers to try to salvage as many pawpaw fruitlets as i can.

I will put them in organza bags and tie them to the branches, then possibly put plastic bags around the branches.
I may throw a few under the tarps that i’ll put over my figs.

Mainly though I am preparing myself for a lot of losses and just trying to build some character :slight_smile:

I’m going to put lots of warm bags of water inside an upside down tote near my blueberries with blossoms.

Predicting 31 tonight 28 tomorrow night…

Got my ch fig covered with some old bed sheets wrapped inside the hay pile and an old blanket on top.

TNHunter

What variety of fig is that? It sounds like a winner. Figs I grow only bear for a few weeks, besides the breba crop, if you protect it in the early fall. But the brebas here don’t get sweet enough to matter. If you get figs starting in July even New Yorkers could probably ripen fig trees frozen to the ground by Sept.

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Alan… it is a Chicago Hardy…

Nashville NC5 was calling for 31 degrees last night… well here at 6 am… just before sun up… my digital therm is showing 40… my merc thermometer just below it is showing 38…

They were saying tomorrow night 27… hope they miss that one to… in my favor.

TNHunter

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I grow Chicago hardy in ground for many years. Matured branches can take temperatures below 32 in the spring. If the tree has leafed out, the leafs and newly grown branches will suffer frozen /frost damage. Hope temp. in your location will not go down as low as was forecasted. Good luck

I moved all my potted tender plants back to garage and wrapped my HC again with blanket and tarp. And leave all other dormant in ground figs exposed. Just try to protect as much as I can. It is not good for the tender buds to get damaged. Fully dormant is fine.

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I stored some stuff in the garage last night too… 16 propagated raspberry plants. They are growing nicely… will plant them soon.

By 8 am we were at 45 deg… uncovered my fig… and moved the garage stuff back out for sunshine.

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All I could do on my figs last night was some fairly flimsy tarps.
Looks like some of the leaves got nipped but not all…not too bad.
Tonight (and possibly tomorrow) will be the test. I feel surely they will not die all the way back, but perhaps that’s falsely optimistic.

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@TrilobaTracker — off work now and just checked…

NC5 is saying 28 33 for the next two nights…
NC2 is saying 26 30 yuck
Weather.com is showing 28 tonight for my ZIp.

Crystal Clear sky here… and 51 deg on my back porch at 4:17 pm.
Will it drop that much ? I sure hope not.

They were off quite a bit for my location this morning… I hope so tonight too.

I will be covering some stuff up (fig, new peach) and bringing my raspberry props back into the garage before dark.

Last night they were saying 31 and I actually had 37.

I hope they are off 5-6 degrees in my favor for tonight too.

TNHunter

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@TNHunter
I hear ya - I was warmer than expected too. Though I’m basing that on the nearest station. (I really need my own weather station.)

I just got in from doing all the protecting of my various things.

Will report on my HotHands experiment in a few days.

I added a couple large old bath towels to my fig covering for tonight… got it covered up good.
It only has a few buds out now but I would like to keep those.

I got my propagated raspberries back in the garage… and made an attempt at covering my new peach tree… did the best I could. My other trees are too big for me to cover.

It is 48 now per my back porch thermometer… but dang it sure feels colder… windy too.
Not sure if that hurts or helps.

Good Luck with your PawPaws and FIgs… Good Luck to us all.

TNHunter

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Hey @TrilobaTracker - do you know what your low was last night over there in your location ?

Mine was 34 here at my place. GLAD of that.

We are up to 45 now… going out to uncover my fig and other stuff now.

TNHunter

I just found where you commented on another thread…

31 here at 5am despite forecast of I think 27. Prayers answered! :pray:
Will check on my HotHands experiment shortly…last check a few mins ago it was STILL 31 degrees.

Hope all is well there.

TNHunter

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Thanks!
Yeah the figs, which had some baby leaves, look like they’re gone most likely.
But I seriously doubt there’s any dieback beyond that.
Pawpaws actually look unfazed so far …

I bit the bullet and unwrapped my outdoor fig. It lost almost nothing at all…

There was 1 bud already swelling.

Forecast is showing nothing below about 40 degrees for the next 2 weeks…

I’m still about a month off from our last frost date…

Scott

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My CH Fig yesterdy…

Hope to get first fruit earlier this year.

TNHunter

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I buried my fig in the fall under just enough soil to cover it. Threw some snow on it at times over the winter. Looks fine. Pushing some growth already. It hit -20Fs here this winter.

@warmwxrules… we got down to 8, 10 degrees here a couple nights in our late winter freeze…

I had my CHF covered with a deep hay mulch…and some other materials you can see at the top of this thread… and was very pleased to see that my 2 ft long fig trunks that I left, have budded out some leaves are starting to appear already.

I planted it in spring of 2019… it grew nicely and we got 25 figs off it that first year, but I did not know I needed to protect it and that winter… it died to the ground. So last spring, it had to come back from the roots and it was early May when those root shoots started showing up. It did come back from the roots and grew like crazy and we got around 75 figs off it last year…

This year with protection… and un-protecting it mid March… here at the first of April, I have leaves and buds coming out already… so I have growth a full month earlier than last year… which will hopefully mean i get more fruit this year, and perhaps earlier fruit too. We will see.

TNHunter