There is much discussion on fig trees being cold hardy but I haven't seen the parameters for "cold hardy" defined for a fig.  It may be that a "cold hardy fig tree" has a different meaning depending on whether you live in California or in Maine or Timbuktu and whether the fig tree is in a container or in-ground.

Not an expert but these are some things cold hardy means for a fig tree;

- When dormant and mature (>3yrs old) an unprotected in-ground fig tree can sustain temperatures as low as -10C (14F) and that following summer can produce both brebas and main crop at normal crop levels.

- In the fall can sustain a light frost -2 C (29F) and not loose its leaves and continue to ripen figs until a hard frost.

- In the spring can sustain a light frost without losing all new growth and not lose its brebas and not be stunted.  Some damage  to the new growth would be allowed as long as the above factors hold.

- Climatic Zone 5/6 and higher is adequate to ripen the fig. 

Would be interested in hearing what others think of cold hardy fig.

hiya, pino. for myself, i look for figs rated for zone 6. in 2 months i'm putting HC, black triana n morle paradissio. in ground to see if that's true.if theysurvive, i'll call them cold hardy figs.

Hi Susie
That is how I do it too.
Wondering where do you find zone ratings for fig trees that would be interesting to see?
Thanks

Any fig tree that can make it trough this Winter here in NJ,this year,in ground without protection ,will be rightfully considered cold hardy.
We already had -3F,this Winter and last week was everyday close to 0 F during nights.
Next week will go down to -10F
If the wood outside soil line is alive in Spring they are cold hardy.
Out in the open now:
HC
Marseilles blk vs
Gino
Dalmatie
Sal Gene
Malta black
Atreano
Tacoma Violet
Violette de Bordeaux(already damaged by cold)
And a few others in front of property,much younger,and unable to protect.
Ask me on April 1,you will have results,to your question!

Can't wait to see the figs that do well.  How old are they?

Hi, I also think of cold hardy figs those that survive down to zone 6/5b unprotected after 3 years or so.I hope my 2 HC's make it through this cold winter...I barely protected them.Last time I checked they seemed ok...

pino, sellers state the cold hardiness, so i take those claims with a grain of salt.

half the time i see different zones listed for the same tree, by different nurseries, so they may not have good info anyway.

what we need is a table listing figs by zone. i haven't found one.

my figshave been in pots, so i know they are yummie, but they are getting too heavy to move. i'm switching everything over to inground.

i'm not gonna suffer a week of back pain again, just from moving trees around. fewer trees that take less trouble is my goal. i'll let you know what lives thru the winter.

I agree it would be nice to have a list of fig varieties and their cold hardy grading, including climatic zone, disease sensitivity and other criteria.

University extension and government agency have lists like this for grapes and other fruit.   Maybe UC Davis has something for figs?

try one of jon's pinned topic... something like best fig in yr area.

There was already an extremely comprehensive post by Herman a couple of years ago on the best cold hardy, see

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=5932236%C2%A0


Of course people are constantly learning of new varieties and unknowns that are cold hardy.

There is a guy in Switzerland growing cold hardy figs in Alps w a website too. They even succesfully grow figs in Sweden, I've seen an article or post about that.

The key should be cold hardiness in winter. Any fruit will be damaged by an unseasonable frost in spring or autumn, so that would be a difficult criterion to fulfill as those frosts are by definition uncharacteristic.

Ficus carica are from a Mediterranean climate which is actually classified as "dry-summer subtropical" and "average in the coldest between 18 to −3 °C (64 to 27 °F)". Most Ficus Carica ouside of these areas are cultivated.

There are several cultivars that have a better resistance to cold and some that have acclimated to colder regions. A few members including Herman2 have been trialing hardier cultivars for in ground planting and publishing their results, but the expectation of leaving fig trees unprotected in a Zone 5 or Zone 6 may be a bit unrealistic, they are mostly Zone 9 or Zone 8 at best. The Cultivars that can better withstand the cold are usually good to a Zone 7 and most times in micro climates and with some protection for their early years...
 
I will be planting many trees in ground, but I'm not expecting them to be cold Hardy to my Zone 5b/6, there will be planned winter protection and constructed micro climates.

<edit> added link... Herman2 has been documenting and posting about his trials for years... http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1277626201&postcount=1

Rafael;  The Herman2 thread is very interesting read.

Pete - thanks for that info and the Zone scale.

Hopefully herman2 and others will post the results of their trials. 

I understand that realistically growing figs in zone 7 or cooler will require winter protection and we can deal with that.  But for some figs even that will not be a long enough season to ripen the figs.  So for planning purposes and to save some disappointments after all that work it would help to know which figs are viable candidates for in-ground in the cool zones. 
Of course container growing can always be the answer almost anywhere as a friend from the northwest territories proved to me last summer.

Thanks

Pino i grow in containers.
I did put a 10 year old Hardy Chicago in ground spring of 2012 out in open North/West/East and protected it with cheap plastic greenhouse only that first winter.
It died to soil level and came back.
Made airlayer to grow in pot and left it.

Fall season i raked some leaves at its base and left it otherwise - no greenhouse.
Shoveled some snow around it this winter season thats about it with most of its limbs grown in bush style exposed.

To date coldest night low was 20 below zero with 12 days or more below zero this winter.
Good ole fashion Chicago Burbs style winter.

Monday night another cold front comes thru now there saying in latest update 21 below zero is expected with 14 below zero the following night.

Spingtime will tell what happens to the fig plant although i do not worry it was for fun and have its backup in a pot that will produce this season.

So far Colisanti Dark is decently hardy in the fact I protect it for winter, I did less so this year than before, bubble insulation and blankets around around after I tied the branches up towards the top, then wrapped in a tarp.  Dalmataie same thing, we will see what happens to Niagara Black with winter protection, but MB VS is left un protected and has damage from a dog chewing most branches off and around the trunk, so far it looks promising but we will see come march/april when it warms up.  I covered some step over figs like Acspete does, Rdb and Col de dama Noir so we will see how these ones do here, I am feeling optimistic on them though usually when it is really cold they are covered in snow for added insulation, but I agree I don't like the idea of leaving them unprotected in my snow, I think the wind chill will be too much for them.

Pete,
I just saw the links you posted of Herman2 trials results.  Great info!
makes a lot of sense;  "  hardy cultivars, that are early ripening, and have close eye to resist rain"
I will update my wish list.

Chivas
Have you tried to grow the trees as multi stem bush or espalier?
 
I like your MBVS story "MB VS is left un protected and has damage from a dog chewing most branches off and around the trunk"
Are there deer dogs in your neck of the woods? LOL

Just my puppy, she chews on them because you can't see it from the porch and gets bored, I just put up fences and it solves the problem.

The Dalamatie was bush (she killed it as well), Colisanti dark is a large bush form, multi stemed, second winter in ground for me, 3 winter over all.  Niagara Black is just a small tree maybe half an inch trunk and 2-2.5 feet tall, if it doesn't survive I have larger Niagara Blacks to replace it.  Only the RdB and CdDN are espalier and first season that I tried them, they are 2 years old with main trunk about 1.5 inches thick, the RdB is a bit skinnier but it seems to grow as a more slender tree for me.  I did Plant some Negronne cuttings directly in soil last spring and they all took (3 foot branches) so I bent those over into the espalier as well so these may also become part of the CdDN espalier although much smaller due to lack of space.

I never tried espalier trees before this year but Pete made them look easy and if this protection works for him I am fairly confident that it will work for me as well, he has great results with his trees so if mine die, I probably did something wrong and will try again.

Pino,no cold hardy figs in my area near Rochester ny,i have tryed many over the years,no luck,and the fig trees that i tryed for dardyness where alway a few years old,this year my Gallo is still alive,hope it will survive,we are having one of the coldest Winter ever.Ciao,
Giuseppe

Giuseppe,
Rochester must be very similar to Niagara.   Your gallo sounds like a keeper but there are also many more.
Here my figs I have been growing for a long time with winter protection produce nice brebas and main crop.  I have 4 varieties in-ground that are doing very well and I see other members raving about other cultivars like; MBVS, Negronne, Niagara black ....
I would like to see a list of all figs that grow well in Zone 5/6/7.

pino, have you seen this?
http://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/Cold_hardy_figs

Giuseppe,

We found an elderly Italian gentleman who had a fig tree in his yard in Sodus, NY... just up the road from you.  He has had it in his yard since he moved to NY ~1960s.  It was EXTREMELY hard to root for me and I lost most of my cuttings, but there is one little guy hanging on and one of the suckers I cut is finally starting to break a bud (after 4 months!).  Some of us believe it is a form of English Brown Turkey, but only time will tell.

Nick

Susie,
That's an interesting website will give it a read!  Wonder if Mark and Anna are members?
Thanks a  lot!