Out of 80 varieties Niagara black is the first this year to break bud.

Started watering too.

First weekend of the month, time to give drinks to the basement dwellers, AKA figs.
Opened the door, turned on the light and did double take, triple take!

My figs (except for Black Jack) have all gone past breaking bud, most have a couple inches of growth, one even has 6 - 8 inches of yellowish stems and leaves!  Dear God, in ONE month?  With no light? They have not been fertilized since August, they received 2 cups water first weekend of Jan, all are in 5 gallon paint buckets except the Black Jack, she is in a 10 gallon pot.
The one window in that room is covered in foil, no light gets in.  Unheated basement, the room they are in is on north side.  Just been darn mild except a few cold days.  Like three days ago overnight low was 2, had about 1 1/2 inch of snow.  Right now it's 63.  Go figure.  Of course, the hyacinths and daffodils outside are coming up too. 

So the big question is.... would it be best since they have budded and stretched out that I bring them upstairs to a sunny room out of direct light?  Or something else?  I am still shocked and scratching my head! 

Well Marie, there ain't no stoppin them now! If it were me, I'd remove the foil from the window and let them get some light. My BJs are inside but I messed up and forgot about them and left them out in November when temps dropped to 25 degree. But, they will come back. Like your area, we reached 57 today and suppose to reach 62 tomorrow. My garage figs are waking up but I usually don't bring them out till Easter.

It has been unseasonably warm here lately, and now my Hardy Chicago is breaking dormancy a month and a half or more early. Oddly, it just finally went dormant about 3 weeks ago.  Where or highs are usually in the 40's, today it was 70.

I've got 30 trees that have broken bud and begun to leaf out beginning early to mid January.  I've had to check on the dormant trees once a week to see who has begun to wake up.  If the buds are just swelling a bit, I leave them be and hope they'll stay "groggy" for a few more weeks.  But if the leaves are starting to break out, I bring them up.
  I keep my trees in a cold section of my basement.  My only conclusion is that it just isn't cold enough to keep all the varieties dormant.

These are the guys that have been awake the longest, positioned in a south facing window.


These guys (minus 3 or 4 recently rooted cuttings in the back) are the ones I've brought up just within the last week.  They get morning light through the glass doors in the picture, then afternoon light through the south-facing window.
 

I've learned that it's important not to overwater them at this point!!  They're just waking up and not fully leafed out, so drenching the soil now only leads to bad things.  I typically mix up a small amount of water with Gnatrol and just try to get the soil rehydrated.

Cheers,
Jim

It was 70 degrees today in Charlotte! Ardh!!!!, I'm in Barney!

This is definitely not the winter I was expecting.  Some of my trees were still green when they had to go into to garage.  I really can't afford for them to break dormancy early.  Most need to be repotted, but I do not have supplies.  Fortunately there are a few nurseries that are open year round.

James,
Santa Fe Sand & Gravel has a small pine bark mulch called "Supreme" mulch or bark can't remember which. Anyway, 98% of it will pass through a 1/4" screen and you can get a huge garbage can full for much less than buying the bags at nurseries. O'Tooles carries a wide range of different sized pine mulches as well, they even have one that is average 1/16-1/8" bits(someday I would like to try that one).

Just checked my Olympian and she be coming out of sleepy time. My DK looks like it will be a week or two away.

__________________________
Rick Lakewood WA Zone 8

Hi all
I have a breba coming out on my Peter's honey.
And a lot of buds getting ready to open.
Vito

Dennis mentioned in the first post of this thread unknown Pastilliere. That is the fig that is the furthest along here in my part of sunny Socal. It's all leafed out with shiny green leaves, and has figs about an inch across. Hope they don't fall off this year.

The terminal buds on y Hardy Chicago are starting to open.  The temp is still cool 40F.  Increased sunlight hours or internal clock must be waking them? 

My apricot and pear in my pot broke dormancy, and some figs too.

My Black Madeira cuttings shot out roots after 4 days as well as my panache...wow the plants can't wait for spring!

Just about every thing in my garage has broken dormancy.  My Paradiso has 8 brebas on it and already has 18 inches of growth!  I have to repot it this weekend.  Yesterday it was 70 degrees, partly cloudy and slightly breezy.  I took the day off and through out some crab grass preventer and plant food.  It's 64 now and suppose to be 28 tomorrow but the rest of the week we will be in the 60s.  YES!  The fig shuffle will begin next week!  And will starting my cuttings soon.

I'm well under way to a new season of figs. My largest fruit at his point is the Bebera Branca. Fruit is a good 2" long already. It should be ripe in June if I can keep the critters away...thinking a macramé hanging pot with a screen mesh covering.

my small potted fig tree has been in the basement, dormant for the winter. been thinking when and how to bring it out of dormancy. last year we kept it in the ground and unwrapped it the end of March. it seemed dead so I moved it and it would later sprout new leaves. we then potted it and moved it to a partly sunny location for the growing season. so this is our 1st time bringing a live (hopefully) fig tree out of dormancy. am I bringing this outside or just upstairs into the warmer house to start growing again? we have some significant snow pack that will likely last into April.

Most of my figs and poms have leafed out.  I am currently in the process of taking them out of my garage now.  And I'm getting ready to buy my new greenhouse kit, 12x24.  Once received, I will place some trees back in the GH because I know we will have one more cold temp drop before Easter.

I have 3 areas in the yard where there are figs. I've noticed that in the most exposed area, the figs are breaking dormancy the slowest, and those on the south side of the house with more sun reflection and more protected from down canyon winds, are coming out the fastest.

I just finished watering my trees.  I have an unknown which has broken dormancy, a Nazarti with a Breba on it, and a handful of others with green buds.  I'm hoping they stay dormant for at least another month, but it looks like are in the 60s for the next 10 days without any dips below freezing.