I keep hearing conflicting information.
How many fig varieties can survive and reliably fruit down to 10° F, planted in ground without protection?
I don’t mean get one fig but actually a decent crop.
Thanks
It’s not so much about the variety. Rather how it’s grown. The plant needs to stop growing and harden off no later than mid July or earlier. Late season rain can spur late growth which doesn’t harden off.
We’re a bit colder than you. There are a few old trees here that aren’t watered much. They can be hardy most winters. But often the fruit isn’t much good because they don’t get enough water.
Here it’s 5+ months of harvest from greenhouse figs and maybe a month outside. There are many better outside fruit trees than figs.
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@Browndrake where and what zone are you in?
How cold it gets is important, but how long your growing season is could be the real deal breaker. Even if you get some figs they might not ripen.
This thread 
might be helpful.
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Based upon my research ‘Campanière’ is the best overall cold hardy variety, because it’s wood hardens off faster than normal, and it’s one of the most cold hardy varieties. It’s also a high production variety. Compare that to ‘Ronde de Bordeaux’ which is one of the slowest to harden off varieties there is.
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The wood hardening off is great, but if it gets cold enough it won’t really matter. It’s going to die back to the ground no matter what. Especially without protection.
RdB is a winner in that exact situation. It can die completely back to the ground, grow 6’ tall and produce in an entire summer (if it’s long enough). It is one of the most early ripening varieties and productive.
Yes, the more lignified wood the higher your production will be (brebas and higher main crop yields) but in really cold areas that is just not possible without protection.
That said Campanière is also a good choice, but it’ll probably die back too.
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Florea aka Michurinska 10 from Bulgaria is supposed to be probably the best fig that I hear about in cold climates. One grower noted when all other fig trees died and didn’t come back the Florea survived and made great figs the same year.
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I’m in 8a. We have pretty mild winters generally. Lowest this year was 10.8 for around 10 minutes. Most days are nice. Only 15 days didn’t hit the 60s this past winter.
Oh my man, you are good to go. Choose any of the early to mid/early ripening varieties and you should golden.
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Here’s a good video from Ross on his most cold hardy ones. I think he regularly gets colder weather than your coldest.
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There are different strains of Michurinska 10, I have no idea how many made it to the USA, I have read that one of the Michurinska 10 is the same as Florea, I am not sure how true that is.
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@Browndrake … protecting a fig over winter is not that bad.
I am in southern middle TN z7b… and we get near 0F occasionally… last year our low was 12F… but prior to that we had 3F and 2F.
I cut my big ole Chicago Hardy back to 12-16" stumps after it goes dormant… and I protect those stumps.
The next spring shoots develop off those stumps and it grows like crazy. 10 shoots often making 8 to 12 ft in length.
Starts producing figs late August early September and they ripen for near 3 months.
400 figs harvested in an average year.
If I dont protect those stumps… it will come back from the roots… and send up shoots… but it is about a month later than if I protect it.
We get less figs, they start ripening later.
TNHunter
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That’s where the gal is growing Florea. Maybe you should get a piece and try it out if you don’t have to protect it that would be pretty cool.
@Browndrake heres the video of the Florea growing in Tennessee. It’s a great video to see the figs and progress after a killer freeze there. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Ib9KOKNKXHs
@alanmercieca I didn’t know there was more than one M10 but it doesn’t surprise me the way everything with figs is so screwed up today throughout most of the fig world. Thanks! Do you consider most of the Florea/M10 here in the USA seem to be synonymous? That was my impression.
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He’s going to have multiple greenhouses and his climate is similar to mine. Our climates are extremely favorable for greenhouse fruit production. Outdoor figs are a total waste of time here when you can grow in a greenhouse. And the varieties that do well in a greenhouse (Ondata, Black Manzanita, BFF, Calderona, Preto, etc) are way better than RdB or Florea.
I’m running a 45 day chill cycle in my greenhouse. If one runs a greenhouse for subtropicals and other fruits that don’t need chilling, the environment is even better. It’s nearly year around fig production.
We have 75% sunshine even in winter with 10 hours of light. My greenhouse fails to hit 90F about one day a month in winter. And on average it hits 90F for 5 hours a day. 90 by day and 50 at night, if one choses to heat that high, is good fig weather, ie equals good fig quality all winter.
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In the USA there is
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‘Ali Pasha (Али Паша)’ “arguably the best ‘strain (mutation)’ of ‘Michurinska 10’ (Мичуринска-10) that there is.” It’s is supposedly the most cold hardy ‘Michurinska 10’, and it supposedly has better quality figs than all the rest of the ‘Michurinska 10’, including better figs than ‘Florea’.
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‘Florea’ is a ‘strain (mutation)’ of ‘Michurinska 10’ (Мичуринска 10) that has found it’s way to the USA, and it was always distributed under the name ‘Florea’ here in the USA. The figs of ‘Florea’ look different than the figs of ‘Ali Pasha (Али Паша)’, and different than at least one of the strains going around as ‘Michurinska 10’ in the USA.
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‘Michurinska 10’ one or more different strains of ‘Michurinska 10’ (Мичуринска 10) bought in to the USA by fig collectors under the name ‘Michurinska 10’. It or they have been distributed under the name ‘Michurinska 10’ here in the USA. There was at least two different people from the area that ‘Michurinska 10’ originates from providing ‘Michurinska 10’ to fig collectors, at least one of these sources has several different strains of ‘Michurinska 10’, so there could be two or more strains of ‘Michurinska 10’, brought in under the name ‘Michurinska 10’.
The tricky thing is that most of the ‘Michurinska 10’ are probably so similar to each other that it could be nearly impossible to tell them apart. There was a guy a long time ago who studied the different ‘Michurinska 10’ strains and he verified that there was different strains of it.
There is someone in Europe that says he has 3 different strains of ‘Michurinska 10’ under the name ‘Michurinska 10’, and he also has ‘Ali Pasha (Али Паша)’, and ‘Florea’. The 3 different strains of ‘Michurinska 10’ are nearly identical.
There may be a strain of ‘Michurinska 10’, being distributed under the name ‘Michurinska 10’ here in the USA, that may really be ‘Ali Pasha’. Sadly very few people grow all the different strains of ‘Michurinska 10’, so it’s a very confusing mess.
One of the strains of ‘Michurinska 10’, being distributed under the name ‘Michurinska 10’ here in the USA, there are several trees of it being grown in the ground in NYC, although I have not yet heard any updates about it. Although that was the only strain of ‘Michurinska 10’, that I got in to NYC. Hopefully I can get them more eventually.
I am guessing that there really are 4 different strains of ‘Michurinska 10’ being distributed
- ‘Ali Pasha’ (possibly the ‘Michurinska 10’ strain growing in NYC, being distributed under the name ‘Michurinska 10’)
- ‘Florea’
- 2 of the 3 strains of ‘Michurinska 10’ being distributed under the name ‘Michurinska 10’
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You must be at a fairly high elevation. Have you looked into the varieties people grow in New Mexico? I suspect your climate is quite similar to that of New Mexico. Evidently there are a few fig trees in Albuquerque that don’t die back most winters. This guy has a list of them:
https://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-home/545010-new-mexico-heirloom-figs-14-types
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As fruitnut said, I will likely grow several in a
greenhouse. However, my brother, who’s moving down here also, only wants to put in a small greenhouse at his place, for vegetables. He wants to grow whatever figs
he can outside. I figure with the acreage we have there’s no reason for me to not put some outside also. So, I will likely put a few of the more hardy varieties or early ripening varieties outside and put some of the more desirable right he’s inside the greenhouse.
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I feel confident that ‘Ali Pasha (Али Паша)’ and ‘Florea’ are different strains of ‘Michurinska 10’. Other than that it’s a big mess, because the rest of the ‘Michurinska 10’ strains are all being distributed under the name ‘Michurinska 10’.
I also believe that most people who want cold hardy figs are not bothering with the ‘Michurinska 10’ figs much, if they do get any they get the ‘Florea’. It seems to me that a lot of people rather get figs known for their great taste, than to get something just for the cold hardiness. I know that at least some people feel that way.
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Even grown here I thought the Florea was a very nice treat. But I get very hot temps in the summer so maybe it brings out the sugars idk. Thanks for the fantastic share lots of great info in there Alan appreciate!
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Yes, I have gotten the impression that ‘Ali Pasha (Али Паша)’ and ‘Florea’ are both way better in climates with hot summers, that is probably one of the reasons that they have not gotten as popular as I think they should have. Where they would prove their cold hardiness the most, they are not as tasty.
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A large crop the previous year is often correlated with winter damage the following year. Ross appears to be missing this correlation.
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