Looking for Zone 7b Fig Advice

[CyntheB]

Hello! Fig Growers ~ Just joined the forum this year, a month before I moved to Prescott AZ mid-April...after living in CA for 50 years. Gardened in CA for 45 of those years. My particular gardening interests are fruit trees and flowers, especially roses.

Prescott AZ has such a different climate from the San Francisco north bay area (zone 8b) where I lived: colder winters, much lower humidity, summer monsoons (yay!), and rocky, gravelly, somewhat alkaline soil (yuck), plus the mixed blessings of wildlife...gophers & deer & lots of birds.

I'm looking for ideas on growing figs in a cold-challenged climate. Mulling over ideas for where to plant a fig tree. Have a south-facing open area outside our lower floor, which is made of heat retaining / light & heat reflecting concrete bricks. Tall trees grow on the east side between our house and the neighbors, so a tree planted there would be sheltered from the early winter sun, when temperatures commonly drop to the teens and occasionally drop to 0F.

Here are my ideas:
~ Excavate down 18-24 inches (we'll be lucky to get deeper than that due to caliche: <!-- m -->https://gardeningandthespanishway-rohre ... liche.html<!-- m -->)
~ Enclose the planting area with a 2ft stone wall (how wide should the planting area be? would 5-6ft diameter be enough?)
~ Line the bottom with sturdy metal mesh the gophers can't eat through (how wide would the mesh need to be for fig tree roots to penetrate, while keeping gophers out?)
~ Fill the planting area with good soil
~ Incorporate sturdy metal rebar poles to be used to attach winterizing burlap wraps to fill with straw (as Alan has suggested) and shading from intense summer sun in our low humidity region
~ Plan drip irrigation to keep the root zone properly watered (are there guidelines for this?)

I'm suspecting that a fig tree would grow more as a perennial shrub...coming back from it's roots here (rather than growing in tree form)...due to our cold winters. Are any other fig growers dealing with zone 7B winters?

Thanks in advance

[GregMartin]

My weather is significantly different then yours...I'm in zone 5 Maine. So here our in-ground figs have to be protected, generally by bending to the ground and covering in the late fall.

For varieties I'd recommend Florea and Ronde de Bordeaux for you. They both do well here with covering, but I gave a Florea to a friend in zone 7 and it's doing well for him even though he doesn't cover it. Ronde de Bordeaux is fairly hardy too. Both plants also ripen their main crop nice and early so you can get the whole crop before the freezes come.

In zone 7 there are probably quite a few varieties that will do well for you. One thing to make sure of is that you don't create a "water pan" when you dig down and fill with new soil. Figs hate saturated soil. Not sure if too much water is a concern in AZ

[CyntheB]

Thanks for the suggestions! GregMartin I'll look up those varieties to learn more about them. Early ripening would definitely be a boon.

How big do they grow for you? Are you growing them as shrubs, rather than in tree form? Seems that would make them easier to bend and cover.

Yes, it's possible to accidentally create a 'water basin' if one hits impenetrable caliche. Will definitely test the water drainage in the planting area before filling with good soil and planting.

[alanmercieca]

Hello! Fig Growers ~ Just joined the forum this year, a month before I moved to Prescott AZ mid-April...after living in CA for 50 years. Gardened in CA for 45 of those years. My particular gardening interests are fruit trees and flowers, especially roses.

Prescott AZ has such a different climate from the San Francisco north bay area (zone 8b) where I lived: colder winters, much lower humidity, summer monsoons (yay!), and rocky, gravelly, somewhat alkaline soil (yuck), plus the mixed blessings of wildlife...gophers &amp; deer &amp; lots of birds.

I'm looking for ideas on growing figs in a cold-challenged climate. Mulling over ideas for where to plant a fig tree. Have a south-facing open area outside our lower floor, which is made of heat retaining / light &amp; heat reflecting concrete bricks. Tall trees grow on the east side between our house and the neighbors, so a tree planted there would be sheltered from the early winter sun, when temperatures commonly drop to the teens and occasionally drop to 0F.

Here are my ideas:
~ Excavate down 18-24 inches (we'll be lucky to get deeper than that due to caliche: <!-- m -->https://gardeningandthespanishway-rohre ... liche.html<!-- m -->)
~ Enclose the planting area with a 2ft stone wall (how wide should the planting area be? would 5-6ft diameter be enough?)
~ Line the bottom with sturdy metal mesh the gophers can't eat through (how wide would the mesh need to be for fig tree roots to penetrate, while keeping gophers out?)
~ Fill the planting area with good soil
~ Incorporate sturdy metal rebar poles to be used to attach winterizing burlap wraps to fill with straw (as Alan has suggested) and shading from intense summer sun in our low humidity region
~ Plan drip irrigation to keep the root zone properly watered (are there guidelines for this?)

I'm suspecting that a fig tree would grow more as a perennial shrub...coming back from it's roots here (rather than growing in tree form)...due to our cold winters. Are any other fig growers dealing with zone 7B winters?

Thanks in advance

If it goes down to 0 degrees Fahrenheit then that is technically zone 7A, We have went down to 3 degrees here before. Most fig trees can handle down to 0 degrees ok if they are protected at first. If they are protected properly long enough then most fig trees they'd not need protection any more in our climates. There is something most people in zone 7a - 7b usually do not realize because they figure that if a fig tree can survive without protection then why protect them, well there is a very good reason why. If a fig trees trunk and it's branches all get as thick as a fist they usually get very little damage in our climates. Fig trees in this area usually die to the ground or close to it. so they never have a chance to get that thick unless there is an usually mild winter here. Even farmers in our climate often do not protect the fig trees, due to the last few winters they did not have much of a crop. I also see people try to protect fig trees in pots. That does not seem to work too well.

With our in ground fig trees all I am doing this year is burying them more than half way in hay. I did not have time to make a burlap thing like I wanted to. The fig trees here look like hornet nests, LOL.

One of our fig trees under the hay I first put about 3 inches of composted cow manure then an about 3 inch layer of gravel. That will prevent the ground from freezing since that tree gets hit by morning sun. I am trying a mix of experiments and I will keep you updated on how they go. I am not only trying to discover great ways to protect the fig trees, also to discover ways that are as low maintenance as possible.

I do not think you should dig any more than 5 inches deep, fill the hole you dug out with composted cow manure, and maybe also some leaf compost. then using restraining wall blocks make a 5 1/2 to 6 feet circle or a slight oval around where the tree would go, two layers of those blocks. put the tree in and fill one layer of the blocks with more soil like I mentioned above. That way the tree is well above the area that can &quot;water pan&quot;, and that way the soil is beyond a doubt good. The trunk of the tree should be at least 8 feet way from any building. It's not uncommon for an unprotected in ground fig tree in our climate to die to the ground or close to it and be 6 feet tall by the end of the season, yet like I said protecting it properly for a few years will make it so there is no longer a chance of serious die back in our climates even without protection.

I will respond more later.

[alanmercieca]

Oh and by the way hot sun in Arizona is good for fig trees once they have adapted to the ground. Within a month after planting they should be able to take a lot of sun, they will not need protection from the sun. Fig trees can grow in deserts with little to no watering once they are old enough, although to be healthy and to produce well they do need to be watered once like every four days in dry hot weather once developed. and everyday when they are still young. When a fig tree has too little water the leaves start to curl up. It's best to water after the sun starts to cool down for the day, it would give the tree nice cooling relief at the coolest time of the day. If it's really hot outside then the water would make no difference during the day. The water would actually get hot!

[GregMartin]

How big do they grow for you? Are you growing them as shrubs, rather than in tree form? Seems that would make them easier to bend and cover.

I have some in shrub form for the reason that you mentioned, but now I'm trying to train them as permanent horizontal trunks just above ground level. These will send up shoots along the length of the trunk that will get pruned off back to a bud at the end of the season to be replaced with new shoots the next year. This method makes it easy to cover the plants to protect them. It's called the Japanese Step-Over Espalier method, with the horizontals grown lower than normal to help with the need to cover in the winter. I've only just started training some of my figs this way. Here in zone 5 my biggest concern with this method is voles.

[GregMartin]

Oh and by the way hot sun in Arizona is good for fig trees once they have adapted to the ground. Within a month after planting they should be able to take a lot of sun, they will not need protection from the sun. Fig trees can grow in deserts with little to no watering once they are old enough, although to be healthy and to produce well they do need to be watered once like every four days in dry hot weather once developed. and everyday when they are still young. When a fig tree has too little water the leaves start to curl up. It's best to water after the sun starts to cool down for the day, it would give the tree nice cooling relief at the coolest time of the day. If it's really hot outside then the water would make no difference during the day. The water would actually get hot!

I wonder if the fig roots will ultimately be able to penetrate through the caliche or not so that they'll be more resistant to surface drying. Makes me think it might be good to try to fracture it a bit before filling over it. Also makes me swear that I'll never complain about all our rocks in New England soils again , caliche looks pretty awful for gardeners. If you don't already have one, next Christmas you should get a jackhammer CyntheB!

[CyntheB]

If it goes down to 0 degrees Fahrenheit then that is technically zone 7A, We have went down to 3 degrees here before. Most fig trees can handle down to 0 degrees ok if they are protected at first. If they are protected properly long enough then most fig trees they'd not need protection any more in our climates. There is something most people in zone 7a - 7b usually do not realize because they figure that if a fig tree can survive without protection then why protect them, well there is a very good reason why. If a fig trees trunk and it's branches all get as thick as a fist they usually get very little damage in our climates.

~ Don't think 0F is a common winter temperature here. But it does happen and I need to plan for that.
~ Very interesting strategy to give the fig winter protection until it's trunk / branches are fist sized. Will plan on doing that with new trees I plant.

My container grown 'Peter's Honey' in CA never got quite that big. I protected it in winter when temps dropped below 28F, but eventually lost it to killing cold in the high teens. It was happy and produced figs regularly for several years, before it declined.

Really appreciate all the experiments you're doing, Alan, with cold protection. You and GregMartin may inspire me to grow more than one variety since I have the land to do so...

I do not think you should dig any more than 5 inches deep, fill the hole you dug out with composted cow manure, and maybe also some leaf compost. then using restraining wall blocks make a 5 1/2 to 6 feet circle or a slight oval around where the tree would go, two layers of those blocks. put the tree in and fill one layer of the blocks with more soil like I mentioned above. That way the tree is well above the area that can &quot;water pan&quot;, and that way the soil is beyond a doubt good.

Had thought I'd need a deeper soil bed for a permanent, in ground tree planting. Given how hard and rocky the native soil is here (previous owners did no gardening), my husband and I will be happy not to have to dig deeper!! LOL Pulling out rocks will be enough of a task.

GregMartin ~ We have a pickaxe, (no jack hammer, yet) which we had to use in CA, too...to break up compacted adobe soil in our former garden. But once those beds were made, our flowering shrubs and fruit trees flourished.

Thanks for the encouragement guys!

[CyntheB]

Oh and by the way hot sun in Arizona is good for fig trees once they have adapted to the ground. Within a month after planting they should be able to take a lot of sun, they will not need protection from the sun. Fig trees can grow in deserts with little to no watering once they are old enough, although to be healthy and to produce well they do need to be watered once like every four days in dry hot weather once developed. and everyday when they are still young. When a fig tree has too little water the leaves start to curl up. It's best to water after the sun starts to cool down for the day, it would give the tree nice cooling relief at the coolest time of the day. If it's really hot outside then the water would make no difference during the day. The water would actually get hot!

A neighbor planted a CA grown fig tree 'Brown Turkey' or 'Black Mission' late summer that was suffering leaf burn w/o sun protection. That's where my concern about our intense sun came from.

We're at a 5500ft elevation, so people and plants burn more easily here. Do you think it would be a good idea to paint the sun exposed bark with diluted white latex paint as is done in other hot fruit-growing regions?

Watering late in the day / early evening is an excellent strategy for arid climates. Used to do that in CA since we had a Mediterranean climate (no rain for 6 months).

[CyntheB]

I have some in shrub form for the reason that you mentioned, but now I'm trying to train them as permanent horizontal trunks just above ground level. These will send up shoots along the length of the trunk that will get pruned off back to a bud at the end of the season to be replaced with new shoots the next year. This method makes it easy to cover the plants to protect them. It's called the Japanese Step-Over Espalier method, with the horizontals grown lower than normal to help with the need to cover in the winter. I've only just started training some of my figs this way. Here in zone 5 my biggest concern with this method is voles.

Greg ~ That Japanese espalier method sounds fascinating. (Am a great fan of artistic, purposeful pruning to enhance a tree/shrub's health and beauty.) The rabbits that scamper across our property...forgot to mention them before...would be very pleased if I adopted this method.