Last winter I bought a temperature controlled outlet and connected a space heater to it in my garage. My figs seemed to do fine and I didn't notice my energy bill being higher. Of course follow the advice of bada bing about type of extension cord and heater, etc. Many space heaters are equipped with automatic shut-off if they are tipped.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Allied-Precision-Ind-Temperature-Controlled-Outlet-TC035-/350922011769?pt=US_Networking_Plugs_Jacks_Wall_Plates&hash=item51b494f479

I use a thermostat that turns my electric heater on at 35 deg and off at 45 deg.

This is only my second year with figs - and I was a little unprepared so I decided to go with the Christmas light method here in NJ. I had two one year old figs in an unheated shed last winter and night temps got down to about 11 degrees for a week straight. I did nothing and they both came back strong. They are in big 20 gallon or so containers. This winter I have three in there - when the forecast came out I wrapped the pots in insulation. Then today I strung some little white lights all around the branches - I have no tarp and right now it's about 16 in there. I'm not sure if this will work or not - but I'm pretty sure the roots will be ok because they're in a lot of dirt - so hopefully all won't be lost! 

I'll let you know how low it gets and (if I remember) I'll post whether or not they survive! 

E512 - welcome to the forum!  I've never tried the lights but I was thinking the larger cone-shaped xmas lights would put out more heat than the small white ones but maybe I'm wrong.  The insulation should help.  Anyway it's encouraging that your trees did well last year.  

Yeah - I would have used the larger ones if I had them, but I started switching over to LED lights and I only had those little guys left! They put a little heat out - I'm hoping it's enough to keep it above single digits.

Well, I think larger lights would have been a better bet - my thermometer said it got down to about 6 degrees out there! I'm still hopeful that they'll pull through since it was just a short time. These guys are definitely used to a bit of cold from the past winter. I'll post here in May (that's when they usually start waking up) to let you know if they came through and how much die-back, etc.

Hopefully the microenvironment around your trees (wrapped with the lights) kept them from feeling the full brunt of the 6 degree temps.  I ran my space heater at an intermediate setting all night and it kept the garage between 26-29 degrees while the outdoor temps went down to 9 deg.  The prediction here is 3 deg. on Monday night - ouch!

Hi all ,
( I have posted the exact same info in a couple other threads , so sorry if you are reading it again . Hopefully it helps someone . )

For those that have an unheated garage or shed it might be helpful to run a cord to it and plug in 2 or 3 60 watt incandescent  light bulbs and see what happens . I use three  50 watt bulbs to heat my figloo (7x7x8 feet ). I have them hooked up to a thermostat that turns them on and off . it was -26 c (-17f) yesterday and no problem maintaining set temp of 36f. The walls have 2.5 inches of insulation so that definitely helps . But it can't hurt if you think you will lose plants and it wouldn't cost more than 1 or 2 dollars to run those bulbs all day long . My power rate is apx 25 cents a kilowatt hour including taxes and extra charges so at 4.32 kilowatt hours for running three 60 light bulbs 24 hours , that works out to $ 1.08 per day . Of course you could use more bulbs or higher wattage too.
That is the absolute maximum but in reality i spend 10 to 15 dollars a month to maintain 36f on the coldest 3 months .
A thermostat is not necessary , you can unplug when not needed or use less bulbs . The light does not affect the plants or wake them up .
You could also put all your trees in one part of your garage and create a box around it with plywood or cardboard or tarps or foam board and just heat that section instead of the whole garage.

heres a link about my setup . 

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/figloo-update-5040799?highlight=figloo

John

John, your set-up looks great.  However, my garage has no insulation and basically about 1/2 inch of wood is all that separates the figs from the elements.  That plus the larger space (it's a one car garage) leads me to think I need more than 60 watt bulbs.  One good thing is that the floor is about 6 inches lower than the soil surrounding the garage on 3 sides so that helps.  However, for others who use a small garden shed the bulbs might be all that is needed.

You've inspired me to check on the thermometer I have in the coldest part of my garage.  It's 34 while outside it's less than 0 F.  I'll sleep easier tonight.   :)

Jan 7th  2014 ...

Holy moly; it is (brrr) cold here today!

+5*F and windy with a chill-factor of -16*F.

Prolonged extreme low temps and a (dry) wind combination do kill figs.

I am not sure that I have experienced this kind of extreme cold before...

I only wish that Al Gore's prophecy comes true. Balmy CA-like weather
right here in NJ so that I can grow oranges too. Yeah right!

On the bright side, we should be breaking above-freeze temps come 2 more days.

George, I read one of the newspaper in Malaysia that says the cold blast will last until next week for the midwest and new england. The temperature will drop below zero and with the windchill factor some areas will be around -50 degrees. I've been to NJ, lovely state, stayed in Hoboken for two weeks.

Norhayati

It was 37 in the garage when I went to bed last night and when I woke up it was 21F. Outdoors it was 6 F and very windy.
I've got the 50k btu tube kerosene heater turned on now and I'll switch over to the indoor type kerosene heater in and hour or so.

My garage temp. went from 30 when I went to bed to 25 when I got up this morning.  It's +1 outside now.  I'll probably continue running the heater on a relatively high setting until tomorrow morning. One plant I didn't really do anything for is my Russian Pomegranate.  It's against a south facing brick wall.  It will be interesting to see if it survives.

Those 150 watt bulbs really made a difference out there - I wish I had used them last Friday. They kept the shed at 11 or warmer - pretty good considering the temps last night. It's about 21 in there right now and 6 outside. Not sure what my electric bill will look like after this two have run for 36 hours straight though... I'm definitely looking forward to warmer weather.

When I arrived at home today the temp in the garage was 30F and the outside temp was 10F. I used less than 2 gallons of kerosene to heat the garage all day. It's supposed to warmer tomorrow during the day so maybe I will turn off the heater in the morning and restart it in the evening.

Thanks Jake - that's great news - especially since I decided to leave them in until it gets above freezing around here. Hopefully that's tomorrow!

Well - it seems like each fig has a few little budding leaves on it. The three year olds have no dieback - and the little guy had just a bit of dieback. That's pretty cold hardy, because it was well below freezing in that shed for several weeks. One night it even got down to 6 degrees! But it seems like those two 150 watt bulbs and the lights worked out. What a relief...

Of course now I started reading all these threads about borer beetles... so there's that to look out for.