Okay, I am asking yet another question...and I have done some searching on the forum just so you know & have not found what I want to know, at least for my mind....so:

For those who are familiar with my zone (northern Kentucky, a mile from the Ohio River), what should I be doing to start preparing my container figs for their first winter in my garage?  
I know I need to start cutting back on the watering, (though we've had drizzle for the last three days).  If we have another heat wave I don't want to NOT water them.  ??  
At what temperature do I need to start shuffling them for warmer temperature, such as in my garage? 
Is there a set temperature to go by to use as the "sorry you have to stay in the garage" point?? 
  Once in the garage I will be putting a barrier of some cardboard boxes that have been flattened along with some old carpet pad or carpet.  But should I wrap the plants in burlap? 
Was thinking of securing the pot contents and laying the plants on their sides or creating a pot layer upright.   Do I water the plants at all once they are in the garage?

Sorry for all the questions & thanks in advance for your answers. 
Sara

I know you are not close in geography but the zones are about the same.

Hello Sara, I'm new this year and have the same questions. I live in S.Jersey and not sure what to do. I see at the top of the forum there's topics locked, at least i think that's what it's called. Would love to see a couple other things catagories up there also. Would like to see a section for putting away your figs for winter, one for cuttings and rooting, potting and repotting,etc.. This way we can go straight to what were looking for without doing a search' which might come up with 100 different things. I'm not good with a computer so i don't know if this would be difficult to do. Please forgive me i didn't mean to hi jack your question, just very unsure and do not want to harm my new trees. As aways good health, luke

This is a good topic. This is my first winter with pots too. I was just going to leave the all outside until the leaves fall off then bring them in the basement. I didn't think there was much more to it.

Alan

Dom-Daylight CFLs should work fine if you don't want to spring for a growlight, and, are keeping them in room with good light from windows. You have to find fixtures as well of course, I found mine in a dumpster. The idea is to extend day length more than provide stronger light. Figs will not grow and go dormant with less than 12 hrs(guess) of sunlight.

Last year was my first year growing figs.  I left my plants out side under a simple tunnel covered with clear plastic until November 6, when I brought them into the cold cellar.  During the warmer days of October, I uncovered the tunnel so they wouldn't get too warm.  The trees dropped their leaves, and started going dormant during October.  I watched the night temps closely, and November started getting too cold to leave them outside any longer.

My cold cellar stays between 35-40 degrees, and was perfect for the plants.  I did not cover them, and I did not water them.  In early April I took them outside, placed them in the tunnel again, and watered them well.  They had buds forming after a week and a half in the tunnel.

I think I'll take them out a few days earlier next spring, if the weather is reasonable.  I think covering them is not a good idea, as Dominick has said.

Andrew ,
Once you moved the plants into the tunnel in early April and they budded out after a week  or two , did you have some back up heat source in case the night temps got too cold for them ? Or did you ever have to shuffle them back inside a garage or other building ?
Sounds like you got a great early start.
Kerry

Kerry,

I erected the tunnel within 10 feet of my cellar, so If I needed to move them in I could do so easily.  My trees are still young and the pots are not very big and heavy, so moving them only takes a few minutes.

I plan on re-potting most of them next spring into their mature pot sizes, so moving will take more of an effort.  An alternate heat source may be the next big investment.

Let me clarify on something I may have confused, the trees did not bud out completely, but the buds only started to swell within that time period.  I was watching for that to see if any of the trees did not show signs of live after their long winter's sleep.

I'm still not getting any ripe fruit, so maybe I need to be even earlier.  Or maybe I'm doing something wrong?

to 71gto: you say you put them in your basement? does your basement get cold enough? did you have figs this year? i don't understand about the cold. what do the people do in southern california, put there trees in a large refridgerator? i'm confussed. Is there a right answer? Is there a wrong answer? luke in NJ

This is the first year I have figs on pots, so I'm going to see what happens. My basement does get pretty cold. I do have a detached garage, but that gets freezing cold in there.

Hello, everybody,

The first year I had two plants in the garage,I wrapped them with insulation (pot and all) and lost both.  This will be my third year growing in pots.  Last year, after most of the leaves fell off, I put them in the garage (unwrapped) with a small heater set to keep the temp between 35 and 40 degrees.  I only gave them a little water approximately 3 times during the entire winter; all the plants did well and I lost none of the 50 plants that I had at that time.
Vito

Dominick.
How did you treat your SWC?
 Did you fill them one time?
Or add a little water  all winter long?

This is the first year growing in SWC. So I don't know yet how i am going to treat them.

You should empty the water reservoir before storing them in shed or etc. Water them from the top during the winter months.

That was most likely the way I was going to go. 1/2 to 3/4 cup every 30 days should do the trick. I have to check the bucket to see if the roots grew through the wicking holes anyway.

Very informative everyone.  Thank you.

There are some good suggestions in this thread.     I grow most of my figs in containers and grow them in the gritty mix.    Here is how I have successfully dealt with them over the years in my zone 5 climate.    

So what about us Southerners? I'm in Zone 8b. Do I even need to worry about protecting them? I was going to just place the little guys under my deck which sits 4 feet off the ground and backs into a north wall and east wall on the side of my house. I just to keep them out of any frost. We generally get a few nights into the 20's and every now and then a night down into the teens, but it generally gets back above 32 during the day.  

Ingevald,
Thanks for your tips, I'll make note of them.  I didn't realize Kansas is considered zone 5.  That gives me hope that I will succeed in 5a.

Alan,

I agree with you in general about climate in Vermont, but I don't think it's cloudier here than most other parts of the northern states.  I'll offer as an example the weather in Oregon, or Washington state.  Both of which are milder than Vermont, due to the tempered sea breeze, but considerably more cloudy.  And after  39 years that I've lived here, I don't think it's any less sunny than when I lived in NYC.

The length of daylight increases as one moves north from the equator, so the length of day is longer in Vermont than in North Carolina in summer.  As is the length of day at the North Pole, the land of the midnight sun, where the sun never sets during summer.  Sun's rays are less direct in higher latitudes, but day length makes up for some of that.

I'm trying to pick the types of trees that are cold tolerant, or known to do well in pots.  There's much experimentation and learning ahead, so I hope to use the knowledge of others on this forum, such as yourself, to shorten the time it takes to choose those varieties.  But some experimentation is also fun, and keeps things interesting.

As my trees mature, I'll watch for greater fruit production and quicker ripening.  I'll also try direct planting a mature tree in ground.  I've started looking at my most protected areas to find a micro zone on my land that might support fig survival during our really cold winters.  I'm not counting on this to work, but it's worth a try.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained