Mine goes from 37 F to 55F when outside temperature is -7F to 68F. So far so good with keeping figs dormant. I was told on the forum to lightly water dormant potted figs 1X per month. That water schedule seems to have worked out well for the figs.
Fig temp monitor. I have 2 to confirm temp plus a third one for another future fig storage spot. The second future fig spot goes from 40F - 57F.
When I get the figs put into bigger pots I will have about 12 - 13 figs to store in 2 parts of garage. Too bad I don’t have 3 car garage, or I could have maybe 25 - 30 potted figs. My plan next year is to rotate the figs from the colder spot to the warmer spot once or twice during the winter to try and even out the cold temps to keep them dormant. I’m glad I bought potted figs in Dec and Jan to learn the ropes on overwintering potted figs. I’m way, way behind, so no time to waste.
What is the range of temperature for your potted storage figs in winter? How have your potted figs been doing so far?
My figs are dormant and hopefully alive - they’re in an unheated garage with a grow Mat underneath set to 40F and are under a cheap plastic grow tent. The temperature outside dropped to around 2F at the low, and I hope the grow Mat actually kicked on to warm them up! It’s hard to tell if the thing works but I’d be pretty sad to lose the figs.
I watered once so far and will probably water once more in late February.
I’m a novice so don’t take my words as gospel though!
the range of one of my fig chambers since this start of december. only recently dropped below 20f. i have a heater in there but im just letting it go with only ground heat to see how things go. the inside temp(blue) is pretty consistent compared to the outdoor temp(yellow):
One thing I don’t see brought up much, is when to protect them. I let my trees experience hard frost into the high teens so they get fully dormant and the leaves are not a risk of rotting and spreading to wood when encased in leaves. In my Z6 this has lately been around early to mid Dec.
The trees I bring into my unheated, built into a hill well house experience a lot of fluctuation in temps but it generally remains above freezing- that is the point of the construction. I wouldn’t mind if they were experiencing temps down to maybe 12F because I don’t care about the breba crop. I am not sure about the temp where fig wood dies but I assume it depends somewhat on the level of dormancy.
My well house has no windows, so the trees tend to stay dormant as long as I want them to. My larger trees are in leaf filled rings outdoors. That system has generally worked well for me, but isn’t quite as reliable.
This winter should be a pretty good test of my shelters.
Figs in my garage last year, I kept it at 25 degrees or above (with a heater for a couple colder stretches) and all of the trees grew well, set main crops with no dieback. This year I haven’t incorporated any heat and it’s hovered around 20 ish for a couple weeks here and there so far, so we’ll see next year if that affects anything.
Around freezing, maybe up to 45 degrees when the outdoor temperature is warmer. I have a heater in my garage set to about 40 degrees but it won’t keep up when it gets really cold. I expect they could see temps down to 20 or less if it gets really cold outside. Just planning to keep an eye on it and turn the heater up if necessary.
its 2x4s, 4x8 osb, 4x8 foil backed eps and a few hinges for easy access. designed with minimal cuts so i can take it apart and reuse the material for something bigger, later. covered the sides in some roofing underlayment and a tarp:
its basically 100% humidity in there from it being sealed(taped corners and gasketed on the hinged panels) to the ground. you can see i have the sensor secured to the middle support:
