Most of the dry figs are white Smyrna figs. Not sure if that means anything. Probably white honey figs are easier to grow to large size.
I recall Conadris and Kadota are good to use as dried figs. We do not see much purple dry figs.
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This information is for everyone who is planning to plant in ground please consider these before spending too much energy and resources
1- Look for split resistance and cold hardy varieties ( Most important ) .
2- Plant at slope if possible otherwise make a mound so water go away from plant and it will help you during rainy season .
3- At least six hours of direct sunlight no less.
4- Plant second year fig no same year rooted cutting deep at least 12-18" preferable few nodes in ground.
5- At the end of growing season all you need to protect one feet of growth to get good harvest next year.
I have two four year old tree ( Hardy Chicago and Salem Dark ) planted this way and so far harvest 500+ figs from each with hundred or so still hanging 
. Real production start around or after fourth year so before planting too many consider this too.
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There is a huge difference between dehydrated figs and dried figs. Dried figs are left whole and sun dried, which is a much slower process than using a dehydrator. During the extra time, dried figs ferment and lose a lot of their fresh characteristics that dehydrated figs can retain.
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Since I have too many so did a test run of full Fig Dehydration and it turned out to be great . It is possible with small or medium figs not huge one. Took about 26 hours at 125F .
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Did you planted too late because my outside I-258 is already about to ripe in any day.
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I am sure you have a plan to harvest all these because in ground I have only four and my hands are full.
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Here is my White Marseilles.
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It’s at least 10 feet tall if not taller.
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No planning at all. It’s taking me a while to figure out figs in the greenhouse. When they don’t go dormant their growth is a bit harder to initiate.
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I think it really depends on what hardy zone you are at. I’m at least one zone colder than yours and I live in rural area, not the city area. So my trees are all in the open, no shelter. I’m not sure protecting the top 12" will just do it. We did get like 5F some nights…
This is the famous Tena, sold as White Marseilles. It is a sugar fig, not the honey fig. Some people say it is a good fig to keep.
Real White Marseilles is a hardy, moderate growing honey fig. Not the finger type leaf shape.
Wow Naeem! Your whole dehydrated figs look amazing. I don’t have so many figs (yet) so we eat the best of them and I dehydrate the rest of them. Consequently my dehydrated honey figs taste fine (and have an addictive texture), but I expect in future years when I have more (better) figs to dry the taste will be even better.
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Thanks for the tip off. I’m pretty new to figs altogether. I just emailed the Nursery I purchased it from in hopes of getting something out of it. Amy clue if it will ripen in Zone 7A central PA before the first frost hits? It would be a shame for it to just be an ornamental tree for me.
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Very interesting. Would manually stripping the leaves initiate the growth?
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This has been like this for quite some time. Could be year or years. Google Tena and you’ll find all the info. I just do not know much about it. They are just totally different figs.
If I have a greenhouse I would put them outside in June and keep all summer outside. After harvesting let them hit a frost or two to go fully dormant and then put them back in greenhouse. Friend of mine is doing this with great success.
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This will also work in zone 6 too someone is already doing for a long time. You can protect one plant with this method to compare with your protection plan for next year.
What I can tell is that, most of my 2nd year in-ground trees had various winter damages last year. They were all protected with various protection methods to compare. But my 4th and 5th year protected trees had almost no damage.
My friends did not even prune and protect their large tree. Their large tree had very little winter damage.
I’ll be extremely happy to only protect my trees at 12" and expect 500+ figs next year. I get 40+ trees in ground and I’m going to plant more next year.
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How many figs did you harvested from these trees ?
Also
How long been you are growing figs in ground ?
I did exactly what you described with protecting the first 12" of wood. But it did not work. My first in-ground tree was like 8 years ago. I only started to wrap them last two years. Then they took off. I get 300+ this year. I consider those of 3rd year tree due to the prior winter damage. I expect to get like 500+ fig next year if I wrap them. Or they will be killed again to the ground.
12" winter protect is just not enough in my zone. It may work in your microclimate.
All my trees are planted on a slope. No standing water. Most are winter hardy Mt. Etna and other local hardy varieties.
So you were covering only 12" and leaving rest uncovered.
I pruned to 12" and cover whole plant with woodchips but for this to work your figs has to be on slope other wise standing water will damage your plant.
Also if you plant a same year rooting cutting it will die back . Second year plant will work better.
It seems like your area of Zone 6 is more colder then others and now you figured out what is giving you most figs thats what it matter.
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