I’ve got 20 or more scattered around. That quantity is the only reason I get figs most years. Ripping out all the dead wood every year makes me wonder why I keep them around. Maybe it’s that one good year.
As a side note they are quite hard to purposely kill. Took me 3-4 years to get rid of some I planted in a bad location.
There’s one in my neighborhood that I have no clue what variety it is, but it’s probably 15 feet tall and it grows against a wooden fence in someone’s yard with part of it hanging over. I’ve never seen it have dieback
Are you going to do potted figs? Don’t give up on figs altogether.
If you build a temporary shack around the figs and insulate the walls with some lights or heat tape inside that may work for you. I’d love to grow in-ground in a greenhouse. But am rethinking it to having a goal of growing potted figs in a greenhouse.
I made my own insulated “shacks” out of aluminum bubble wrap insulation, it worked great for maybe five years but it was a pain to deal with as the figs got bigger and bigger. I ran out of time to maintain them. A similar thing goes for pots, there’s work involved there. In general I’m not interested enough in figs to invest any more time in them, I like it when I get them but if I miss a few years no biggie. For in-ground figs I have to do almost nothing besides harvest the figs.
It’s more likely the modulated temperature swings being so close to the ocean, gives them plenty of time to harden off and a slower warm up and fewer false springs
Exactly right. Zone 7 on Long Island has about the same dieback as zones 8-9 in Texas. Why because 80F days in winter are very common in Texas. Then it drops like a rock and plants suffer damage.
Same here- all died back to the ground- at least. Two horrible winters in a row. Is this a New Normal? If so, am forced to find some simple winter protection or give up hope of annually eating late season Adriatic gems.
Indeed, plus it’s been hitting 10-15 here in 8a. But this year we had the really warm weeks in feb and then a cold snap after, really hurt figs and poms. I’ve seen more ambrosia beetle posts this year than ever before.(which is a sign of stressed trees) All of my peaches that are in sun in winter(year round full sun) lost most of their flowers. I could see people shading or building shade rows for keeping peaches out of sun until a perfect date every year.
@scottfsmith I’m new to figs so I have nothing to add. But for context, how many of you who have freeze related die back issues also have container grown figs that are protected in the winter and if so how much to they produce compared to the in ground plantings?
I’m in zone 8b literally a few miles from both 8a and 9a so the climate is not predictable. I’m trying to decide whether in ground plantings are worth it.
Outdoors in 7b west Texas figs produce for about a month after dying back. In my greenhouse typical harvest season was 5 months or longer if I did a 45 day chilling cycle for stone fruit. Without the chilling cycle even longer. I could have done June until January I that was the primary goal.
I think that’s more dependent on how big a pot you’re willing to haul around. Someone had a picture of their friend’s fig that was grown in a huge planter and moved into a barn for winter with a tractor. I bet that thing produced a huge amount!
Interesting
Well so far my fastest to lignify is angelito. That giy never has more than a few inches of green branch the bark forms right away
Honestly figs love being in containers, only drawback is moving them and occasionally root pruning them, since it makes them more susceptible to freezing.
I feel about the same. Maybe even less interested for myself (I’ll eat perfectly ripened figs only). My wife is the one who likes figs more. I have a bunch of figs at multiple properties, but don’t take any special efforts. Sometimes some make it- the rest of the time they grow back from the roots. Even so, I usually get at least a few figs. Some years I get so many that I’m giving them away.
I have been toying with the idea of not protecting them in the winter, but pulling back mulch and tossing some clear plastic on them to warm them up faster in the spring and get the growth from the roots started more quickly. Now is really the time I should be doing that, as we might be done with spring frosts now (10 day forecast doesn’t go under 41F).
The main problem is that I’ve been working to move a lot of trees to the new house, so I don’t have much energy left for experiments. So far, I’ve gotten 18 trees moved with another ~48 to go. Doing 2 or 3 a day is slow going, especially when I also have ~100 vines/bushes to move (maybe half done now). Right now, I’m hoping to get done while it is still grafting season.
One of the main reasons I never went down the figs in containers route is there is a need to regularly monitor the watering so they neither dry out nor get root rot. I once grew a lot of things in pots and there was work involved in keeping them with the right level of moisture. I still have houseplants but they are all cacti and succulents – the survival of the fittest!
Maybe when I retire and have more spare time I’ll grow some figs in pots. Well, I’d probably instead just put my old covers back in service on my outdoor figs, that would probably be the easiest thing to do.
Would black plastic warm them up better than clear? I have black trash bags pinned on my tomato beds hoping it warms them up.
Anyone: For winter protection could I just cover each fig with a barrel and forget it? Quickly solves wind problem but might cause rot if not ventilated? Looking for simple, off the shelf. I’ve been dumping a foot of mulch in Dec on first year in ground figs but not keen on wrestling very heavy mulch bags.
You need to be careful with coverings, you might create a greenhouse by mistake and get the fig sprouting in a warm spell in February. I think the packing of hay or leaves in may help to modulate the temperature swings. I’m no expert on this though. I used the aluminum bubble insulation because it reflects the heat so doesn’t create a greenhouse. It’s pretty easy to do if the fig is not that big, just make a big bag out of it with a stapler and use ground staples to attach to the ground all around the fig.
I found a picture from 15 years ago of my old covering:
After my figs outgrew this one I gave up.
Actually, a greenhouse effect was what I was thinking to try for. It wouldn’t happen in Feb, as I would only toss the plastic on it in April, at the point when I wanted the fig to kick things into gear. I’ve noticed that it can take quite a while for figs to come back from the roots and was trying to think of ways to encourage them faster, as that would mean that more of the fruit would have a chance to ripen before winter.
That is a good point- I’m not sure which would work better. I’m also not sure at what point warm encouragement turns into baking it to death.
Another problem is determining which figs to use it on. I’m never absolutely sure which ones are really dead, until I’ve waited long enough that this wouldn’t be as useful. And it would obviuosly be easiest to toss some plastic on a fig after cutting it off at/near the base. But I’d hate to be wrong and cut off one that would have woken up…
I was responding to @hambone there about his barrels idea.. I should have put in a quote, I was only addressing his second comment. Indeed the plastic might be a good way to get things going earlier.
I just added a quote so other people won’t get confused.
Thanks Scott- for several years I imitated your alum bubble idea but then got lulled into compacency by several mild winters. Michael at Edible Landscape says he dumps 2 feet of mulch on them for a couple months in winter.
