The big wood takes longer to send out new shoots, but if they start growing in May you probably will have enough time to ripen figs from them. None of my big green wood is sending out new shoots either. Only the little wood close to the ground.
Report: Looks like all the in-ground figs tops did not survive -8 F Winter even with some protection
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Yes, if I was desperate, I’d dig up and pot. I’ve got these already. I may leave em in-ground for a while to see what develops.
I switched to pots this year after failing overwintering in-ground. I try to grow older trees / plants as I’m in a hurry…I’m old!
All of the in-ground figs in question sent up a shoot from the ground. So, they are alive, but nothing on top wood as of 5.12.26.
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Follow up with data from my experiment. Saw leaves budding on 2026.04.17 and now, 2026.05.13, since about one week ago we are basically opened and sizing up. This puts me at ~1 month sooner than my previous recorded dates so that should move my harvest date from October 5th to September 5th I would imagine. Zero damage other than the expected from mold before dialing in the opening/ closing temperature. No issues regarding all the hard freezes we have had in between there (basically daily…) as I would just replace the wood when a sub 40 was in the forecast.
Including a picture of the persimmon as well opening, if that had a decent graft I would expect it would have no issue as well which I think suggests the early Asians are candidates here so I plan on creating another pit for them as well as some of the Columbia series
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Well, June 1 is here. The figs I wrote about are all sprouting from the ground. They vary from a single 2-inch sprout to a single 6-inch sprout. None of the top wood is doing anything and seems dead. Since they are making an effort, benthegirl inspired me to dig them up and put the figs in pots.
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Yes you can always take cuttings to use in experiments. In ground I use leaves but large amounts. Some years it works some no. Low cordons are easiest for me. I only have one.
I was able to get one of my figs through -13 by bending to the ground and using mulch (I first put some unopened mulch bags on the stems and then covered everything with loose mulch). It is in the most protected spot I have, along side the corner of my house.
I tried piling dirt on some other figs in more exposed locations and without bending to the ground. Although those ones died to the ground, they started sprouting in mid-May. When I don’t protect at all they don’t start sprouting until June, so perhaps I will still get some ripe figs from the dirt mounded figs this year.
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