Looking for Zone 7b Fig Advice

[CyntheB]

Alan ~ We've had a weird winter. No precip from mid-September 2017 'til early January 2018, when we had our first snow storm. Temperatures have varied from the low-70s F during the day to the mid-teens F at night.

The plastic snow shelters I bought to protect the figs through their first winter worked fine, until we had strong winds. It seems the wind creates a swirling vortex in that area near the raised bed and tosses the shelters right off the baby figs...even when I have ground stakes at the corners and bricks in the pockets!!! So for our cold nights, I'm using a bucket with a heavy rock on the front fig. And triple layers of bubblewrap over the back fig held down with stones. Uncover the little trees during the day, once the temperatures are several degrees over freezing.

Q1) Is it okay to let the snow (when we have it) contact the dormant figs directly?

Q2) The front fig (Dominick's) has some freeze damage at the ends of several stems. As much as 2 inches on the longest stem. Less on the others. As long as the base of the stems seem fine, the tree should recover in the springtime...correct?

A1) Their second winter outside yes, yet this winter it's best that the snow does not. The first winter they are way more sensitive especially when they are that small. Yet their second winter on the snow can not hurt them.

A2) Yes, and even if it got worst than that they should be fine, the first year out during the winter can be very scary for a new fig tree owner, so far it looks like your nights have been warmer than ours. Here it got down to about 3 degrees Fahrenheit a few times. Yet we have the same kind of warm days here many years like you are having. We have had them over a week now. The 60s or 70s and then freezing is very common here, yet it has been very warm and not freezing here for over a week.

Okay. Alan ~ I will keep any more snow this winter from touching the baby fig trees. Yes! It's a bit anxiety producing to get the figs through their first winter. Thanks for your advice and reassurance.

Was at a fruit tree pruning workshop Saturday morning, where the subject about hardiness of figs and pomegranates came up. Two fig varieties that seem to tolerate our climate / elevation are 'Hardy Chicago' and 'Brown Turkey'. Are the 'Aldo' and 'Dominick's' hardier than those? I don't recall now which pomegranate was discussed as being able to survive here. Several of the ones you mentioned in your greenhouse experiment post sound interesting.

The problem with Brown Turkey is that many different varieties get called that as you already know and some are more cold hardy than others. The BT mess is so confusing that my best response to that it trial and error with brown turkey until you find a more cold hardy one. LOL

Hardy Chicago, and Dominick, and Aldo are all put in a category called Mt Etna, as far as actual cold hardiness there is not much difference between them. What varies between them is "if there is serious die back" can they grow back and still produce a decent crop. Hardy Chicago I have never grown yet it has a reputation for coming back from die back and producing the same year in zone 6 and even in zone 5 yet a think in zone 5 it needs to be protected to reproduce the same year, Dominick might actually be even better than hardy Chicago at recovering from frost damage yet I have not grown them side by side to compare. The Aldo I had never left the pot, I sent it to you, the first frost it had seen was at your home. I just read that Palermo Red did not die to the ground at 3 degrees Fahrenheit even though it had die back it has survived temperatures under zero degrees Fahrenheit in west Virginia, which of course is die back to the ground. It's supposedly comes back from die back very well yet like I said I have no experience with it and die back. In your climate the late frosts may do more damage if they come out of their dormant stage too soon.

PS the Aldo cold hardy facts that I am telling you are for a bigger and probably older tree than yours.

The Aldo's (Palermo Red) is not showing much frost damage. It is in a slightly more protected spot, being planted behind Dominick's and therefore closer to the house...but still not THAT close...to give it growing room. I'm hoping to keep them from dying to the ground. Want to preserve their vigor as much as possible.

Thanks for all the interesting information you post!

[alanmercieca]

The problem with Brown Turkey is that many different varieties get called that as you already know and some are more cold hardy than others. The BT mess is so confusing that my best response to that it trial and error with brown turkey until you find a more cold hardy one. LOL

Hardy Chicago, and Dominick, and Aldo are all put in a category called Mt Etna, as far as actual cold hardiness there is not much difference between them. What varies between them is "if there is serious die back" can they grow back and still produce a decent crop. Hardy Chicago I have never grown yet it has a reputation for coming back from die back and producing the same year in zone 6 and even in zone 5 yet a think in zone 5 it needs to be protected to reproduce the same year, Dominick might actually be even better than hardy Chicago at recovering from frost damage yet I have not grown them side by side to compare. The Aldo I had never left the pot, I sent it to you, the first frost it had seen was at your home. I just read that Palermo Red did not die to the ground at 3 degrees Fahrenheit even though it had die back it has survived temperatures under zero degrees Fahrenheit in west Virginia, which of course is die back to the ground. It's supposedly comes back from die back very well yet like I said I have no experience with it and die back. In your climate the late frosts may do more damage if they come out of their dormant stage too soon.

PS the Aldo cold hardy facts that I am telling you are for a bigger and probably older tree than yours.

The Aldo's (Palermo Red) is not showing much frost damage. It is in a slightly more protected spot, being planted behind Dominick's and therefore closer to the house...but still not THAT close...to give it growing room. I'm hoping to keep them from dying to the ground. Want to preserve their vigor as much as possible.

Thanks for all the interesting information you post!

You are welcome, each year they get stronger until they are thick enough to not have any major die back in your climate. The thicker and the longer the roots get the more cold hardy and the faster they grow back, the same is true of the tree it's self as far as thickness.

[CyntheB]

Hi Alan ~ Wanted to let you know both figs ~ Aldo's and Dominick's ~ have new spring growth! I'm very pleased they made it through this first winter in the ground.

eFIG-Aldo-1stSpring-h9579.jpg (628.68 KiB) Viewed 2436 times

FYI Aldo's seems a bit hardier (it's also planted nearer the house). The stems did not die all the way to the ground and some of the new growth are leaf buds on the stems.

eFIG-Dominick's-1stSpring-h9578.jpg (566.13 KiB) Viewed 2436 times

Dominick's stems died almost to the ground from the cold temperatures (into the high teens this winter) even with various forms of winter protection. It is growing well now from its roots.

[alanmercieca]

Hi Alan ~ Wanted to let you know both figs ~ Aldo's and Dominick's ~ have new spring growth! I'm very pleased they made it through this first winter in the ground.

FYI Aldo's seems a bit hardier (it's also planted nearer the house). The stems did not die all the way to the ground and some of the new growth are leaf buds on the stems.

Dominick's stems died almost to the ground from the cold temperatures (into the high teens this winter) even with various forms of winter protection. It is growing well now from its roots.

Our Dominick fig tree never had seen the winter cold outside as tiny as yours did, you will be surprised how fast it grows, I am not sure how fast the Aldo grows thick compared to the Dominick yet here it grows way thicker way faster than any of our other fig trees that are about the same age. It's a monster thickness grower. Our Dominick had way more damage than usual this winter. Some pest put fungus in it, and this was the most harsh winter and late frost it has seen in ground. Yet it stayed way bigger than the others. I am very impressed this year with our fig trees. Most of our fig trees had seen the worst winter in ground ever. With exception to the Dominick the fig trees had less winter damage than normal. The Dominick was the opposite this year big time, usually no more than tip die back on that one. So it did not gain as much cold resistance as the other ones did for the record cold and warm winter. Even our Peter's Honey had way less die back than normal, yet it had the highest percentage of die back of all our fig trees.

I am learning that our exact location stays cold longer than other areas of North Carolina that reach the same temperature as us, and our area reaches colder temperature more often than for them. I think that it has to do with us being at the very bottom of a valley, it stays the low temperature longer than for other people even just a few hundred feet away from us has shorter low time and can be a degree or two warmer on very cold nights than just a few hundred feet than us. It sounds like your location stays at the low less time than here does, and the lower colds come less often for you than for us.

Your fig trees should be able to survive anything that your winters throws at them since they did so well this year. I was worried since roots slow down growing during cooler weather that you might have planted them too late. Yet they are very healthy looking, and almost ready to take off growing. It appears that the weather people think that there is no chance of frost left in your area, and since they look so ready to grow I suggest that you get some Holly-tone (organic fertilizer), it will give them a good start. Chances are that you'd need to only fertilize them once each year, long before they fruit to help the vegetation grow, once fruit production is great enough the vegetation growth will slow down a lot so you need to beat the fruit growth as soon as possible, especially when they are still that small, yet they already have proven to be strong growers so with fertilizer they should grow even better/greater.

[CyntheB]

Your fig trees should be able to survive anything that your winters throws at them since they did so well this year. I was worried since roots slow down growing during cooler weather that you might have planted them too late. Yet they are very healthy looking, and almost ready to take off growing. It appears that the weather people think that there is no chance of frost left in your area, and since they look so ready to grow I suggest that you get some Holly-tone (organic fertilizer), it will give them a good start. Chances are that you'd need to only fertilize them once each year, long before they fruit to help the vegetation grow, once fruit production is great enough the vegetation growth will slow down a lot so you need to beat the fruit growth as soon as possible, especially when they are still that small, yet they already have proven to be strong growers so with fertilizer they should grow even better/greater.

Thanks! Alan for your advice. Will find Holly-Tone and fertilize the figs ASAP. I'm curious...had these figs experienced a winter in pots at your home? Or were they kept in your garage? Wondering exactly how old they are...?

Also, I'm interested in your Peter's Honey fig that you and I have discussed before as I recommended it highly. Where do you have photos / discussion of it on the forum?

[alanmercieca]

I kept them in the garage during all the freezes. I am not sure how old the Aldo is because it was gifted to me in August 2015. It was tiny then. Yet it did look like it was left out the prior winter in the pot and had damage from that winter. Or something else happened to it. Here's the thread that I started for your Aldo as a reminder viewtopic.php?t=93

The Dominick I started rooting in 2016 sometime around August, so that one is very young, it's about 1 year and 9 months old now.

I tried reproducing my Peter's Honey tree last year and a heat wave came unexpectedly and burnt the cuttings, little to no roots with too much light and with too much heat can do that. I will do some air layerings on it this year.

[CyntheB]

Alan ~ Thanks for those links on the fig varieties. I will go explore them tonight.

On another subject:
When do your figs go dormant and drop their leaves? Dominick's is still growing strongly. Baby figs are getting bigger. Aldo's has a few smaller, lower leaves turning yellow and dropping here and there, but it doesn't look like the beginnings of real dormancy to me.

[alanmercieca]

Alan ~ Thanks for those links on the fig varieties. I will go explore them tonight.

On another subject:
When do your figs go dormant and drop their leaves? Dominick's is still growing strongly. Baby figs are getting bigger. Aldo's has a few smaller, lower leaves turning yellow and dropping here and there, but it doesn't look like the beginnings of real dormancy to me.

Lower leaves do that every single year on all of my fig trees. It's the heat that does that, it happens all summer yet the greatest premature leaf drop happens here when the days are hot and the nights are cool. The same thing can happen to the top leaves on some of the most heat sensitive fig trees as well.

Here we get way later dormancy than you would. I did not keep record of when yet sometime in November, or when first frost hits early the frost would then force them to go dormant before the time of the year makes them go dormant. For you the frost will most likely force the fig trees to go dormant most if not all years since your frosts come so much earlier than for us.

[CyntheB]

Alan ~ Here are the fig trees! Photo was taken this afternoon. They have grown taller than my height: 5'5" Dominick's (in front) is loaded with figlets. Am praying our first frost holds off 'til mid-late OCT. Did you ever post how to speed fig ripening with plastic cups?

eFigTrees-MidSept_2752.jpg (377.35 KiB) Viewed 2419 times

[alanmercieca]

Alan ~ Here are the fig trees! Photo was taken this afternoon. They have grown taller than my height: 5'5" Dominick's (in front) is loaded with figlets. Am praying our first frost holds off 'til mid-late OCT. Did you ever post how to speed fig ripening with plastic cups?

Those fig trees are looking great. If they loose some height in the winter do not let that upset you, they get more cold hardy with age, and they recover/regrow fast. I think they may like your winters better than ours, yet I am not sure about that.

Yes I did yet past a certain date the cups stopped helping, it only helped for a very short time. There is no miracle way to speed up the ripening, there is a very short time that anything can help speed up the ripening and if not timed right you are wasting your time, some people put honey around the eye of the figs and that speeds up the ripening too, yet like I hinted at there is a very short time that it can speed up the ripening.