Start digging on one side. Dig out under the plant enough that it can be laid over on the ground or even in a trench. Cover that all over with the soil you dug out. Cover that with mulch, leaves, etc, and then a tarp.
Keep the roots intact on one side as much as possible.
Thank you much for the explanation.
That clears up all of my confusion on this and will help me a lot!
Here is one of my trenches. You can see a long-handled shovel for scale of the tree and the trench. I didn’t undermine the tree on one side to tip it over, or at least not until I am ready to “put the tree away” for winter.
Tonight it is not forecast to reach below 33-35 F, depending on the source. After that, the temperature is in freefall, with Tuesday having a high of 35 and a following night low of 22. Ouch!
The leaves are just starting to yellow and to drop. Do I need to wait for the leaves to come off before I lay down these fig trees in those trenches? If I need to wait, I thought to cover the trees in plastic to get through the next 4 days. Will this do anything, or should lay down the trees and cover with dirt and other insulation tomorrow?
It would be best if the leaves are off before it’s buried. But you don’t want freeze damage right off the bat during the first cold weather. I’ve seen that here this time of year. 28 would be OK, 22 might not be.
The plastic bag won’t help. A blanket would be better.
OK, I laid down two of my fig trees into trenches that I covered, first with dirt and then with leaves and finally with a tarp.
Spring is here, and when it gets warm enough, what is the procedure to unbury them?
Thanks!
Uncover, prop back up, fill in around the roots with soil, water well.
