Northern growers, how did your figs and poms fare?

[Johnnysapples]

The ones that I had in the garage are fine. They are sprouting out now that we had all the rain and also little figs have formed. Yes, some of the uncovered ones that were green are turning yellowish green. A few will probably make it from two foot and down, we’ll see. Chicago Hardy might have some good tips. This rain is just what they need after uncovering them.

[mamuang]

When I uncovered my fig tree (about the same time you did, maybe), all the trunk/branches from the ground up was green up to 2+ ft. After a few cold nights (nothing lower than 29-30 F), now all those branches turned brown almost to the ground.

Like you said, if it sprout from the ground, the fruit may not ripen in time.

[Drew51]

One year mine did the same thing as you, but we didn’t have anymore cold temps. They were green when uncovered, but just went downhill. I removed them all except one.

[mamuang]

I underestimate Mother Nature. Last year, I left it cover a couple of weeks longer than this year and the damage was less.

This year, I got fooled by warmer weather in April and Mother Nature has won again.

[Drew51]

Just for the record, when temps are at around 30 F I put my potted figs outside so they don’t start growing early. This year I put them out March 15th. My figs handle 20-25 F in the garage all winter with no protection at all. This year I think I lost 2 that I obtained in September. They never hardened off properly. But my 2nd and 3rd leaf potted plants had zero damage. Mine handle much colder temps with no protection. Maybe you’re warmer so the figs are less hardened off? You know the purpose of covering figs is to avoid the freeze-thaw cycle, and large swings in temps… This is what damages plants. You cover them to keep them at a steady temp all winter. So I guess you need to keep them covered till freezing temps are over. I do not do that myself though. I put them out bare and the sun does hit them.
Yes the ground helps keep them warmer as once you go below 0, you could get damage. But like strawberries which you cover after they freeze for best results, to keep them frozen, and avoid large swings in temps from the sun warming them up.
It’s possible that keeping them covered too long was the problem? They got too warm being covered when temps were mild. Lost a lot of hardiness, as the 30 temp don’t seem to do anything to hurt my potted plants outside and uncovered.
The dynamics of figs in ground seems a lot different from potted plants. I think they would be OK to uncover weeks and weeks ago like my potted plants.I don’t think you can rule out that the damage occurred in the dead of winter, and they stayed green till they tried to grow, then turned brown as they run out of stored energy.

[scottfsmith]

I was chopping out the dead fig wood yesterday and its good I waited as my Celeste has a few live branches. 95% dead but random bits alive… also a few other small bits alive, likely on Maryland Brown Turkey. “Hardy” Chicago right next to Celeste is dead 100%.

[mamuang]

Branches of my in ground CH is mostly dead. I saw a tiny green stuff coming up through the soil. So the roots are not dead and sending up new life. Don’t know if it will ever grow or set fruit in time.

Some of my potted figs esp. those left in our attached garage look dead. I have not counted the bodies. I am disenchanted with figs. Will get rid of some (if they are not dead already). I have much better luck with in ground fruit trees that can handle my zone.

[speedster1]

My figs did horribly this winter as far as I can tell. I’m beginning to think they are not worth the effort. My in-ground CH has died back again despite wrapping it this winter. And my potted figs that I stored in the garage aren’t showing much signs of life either.

[mamuang]

Here’s the fig body counts: Improved Celeste (2), Brunswick, White Genoa, San Peitro, an Unknown (all dead) and Altreano (half dead). These were in pots in our garage. We were away when temp was down to -9, -4 and -5 F in a seven day span. We think, in pot, lack of sufficient water/moisture and freezing cold weather for an extended period of time did them in.

I kept a few in our unheated basement (temp was mostly in the 40’s). They all have survived- Violette de Bordeaux, Ronde de Bordeaux, Paradiso.

The following have survivee, too, but I can’t remember if they were kept in the garage or the basement: Chicago Hardy, Sal El and Drop Of Gold.

[Drew51]

I lost a couple I obtained late in the season, I won’t add anymore past spring/early summer in the future. I do keep them moist all winter checking once a month. I have so many it doesn’t matter. Well except one which is valuable, oh well.

[mamuang]

We were away for almost a month plus, it was very cold for a long time. If we had been home, we might have moved them into the unheated basement.

I am not even sad losing these figs. Except for my inground CH, none of my potted figs is productive. They required frequent watering, fertilizing, potting, up potting, etc. A lot of work with little yield. Why bother?!!!

[Drew51]

Sometimes stuff doesn’t work for you, so yeah, like for me it’s apples. Not that i can’t grow them, I’m just not that fond of them. I like them, but could only eat a couple a week. On figs I get a few hundred, in containers too. Many of my friends ask me for them. So they are working for me.

[Johnnysapples]

Both Hardy Chicago that are planted did well. They have very little die back. The verte’s died half way so far. My two potted figs from the garage are still green with figs growing but leaves are just starting to poke. Not sure if the roots are doing to well on these two from the lack of watering and spending one night out in the fall that was around 20 deg. I have several that died to the ground. It’s still early to tell exactly on all because they really aren’t growing much, but they are trying. I have some figs that have green cambium most of the way to the tops but no buds swelling. I think they will sprout when we get the next warm spell.

[hoosierbanana]

The worst thing about that cold in November was it killed lots of buds.

[mamuang]

I removed the winter protection of my inground CH in early April when the weather was warm. Big mistake!!! At first, there were several green wood up to 2 ft above ground. Then, It got colder around 30-32F a couple of times within 7-10 days after that. My guess was that a big change of temp did not do it any good. The wood turn brown. Temp hovered around 40 F at night for a while.

Look like all wood is dead to the ground now. This is very disappointing because this was the second year I winter protected it. This year I took the protection off almost two weeks earlier with a worse result.

New shoots are just emerging from the soil level. It will take a while to get going. I’ll see if it will amount to anything.

[clarkinks]

Tippy,
That’s disappointing! I pulled the winter protection off my brown turkey recently and had major die back but not to the ground. Since the wood is not dead It should save me lots of time which we need desperately to ripen figs here.

[mamuang]

I guess being protected makes it a lot more vulnerable to temp at the 30’s after protection is removed. Maybe, removing protection later like you did would be better. There is always next year!!

Anyway, because of my CH location very close to the house, I am confident, with some protection, it won’t be totally dead. But like you said, whether or not will it grow and set fruit in time is what matters.

[Johnnysapples]

Both of my chicago Hardy are still alive to almost the tips but are still trying to get the leaves growing. Some of my figs are growing figs with no leaves yet or have swollen buds starting. I think they will make it but they are really slow growing now.

The worst thing about that cold in November was it killed lots of buds.

I think your right. I didn’t get my figs protected in time.

[clarkinks]

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words and here is what my brown turkey I protected looks like. This is a significant improvement from what I normally have. The die back seemed to occur after I uncovered it.

[hoosierbanana]

Glad I tried more row cover last year. I saw an improvement 2 years ago on trees that were covered to extend the fig harvest, it was a similar cold snap but in October and at least 5 degrees warmer than this past year. Damage to unprotected trees was much more mild 2 years ago and I had no damage to trees covered with 2 layers of row cover, but last year the ones with only 2 layers (most of them, unfortunately) had almost all of their buds killed and partial damage to the cambium.