I call it Mount Etna Unknown, ripened fruit on September 1st and 2nd, 2014:
          
This fig, above, picked in the hot afternoon tasted of strawberry jam. The fig picked yesterday evening (no picture), maybe a little less "ripe" but to me even more flavorful, tasted of grape-strawberry, or to be more exact: grapey-grape-wild-strawberry.

This cultivar has tasted the same in-ground as in pot these past couple weeks.

This is a one year old bush placed in-ground last year as a rooted cutting. Last fall, I cut it to the ground and heaped a couple inches of mulch over it. No artificial protection, simply cut back and mulch.

I would be interested to see reports of other unprotected in-ground fig bushes in zone 6b or colder that are ripening fruit this year after this harsh winter.

This is a great robust fig - vigorous, productive, early, very tasty, hardy, and apparently disease free. I am very happy to have stumbled upon it. It was sold to me as cuttings labeled Brooklyn White in fall of 2012.

Sounds like a winner Tony, thanks for sharing. Let us know if you ever figure out what it truly is.

Probably have to leave it to science to figure out with precise certainty. Kelby, how have your in-ground figs done this year? Did you attempt protection at all?

This promises to be an interesting thread.  This will be a decision year for me as far as which in-ground figs to go with.

Even if not ripe yet are you interested in a status of how far along in-ground figs are in the colder zones?

Pino, Yes, sure. Some of my promising as yet unripe in-ground cultivars include especially a number of other Mount Etna strains (Gino's Black and Takoma Violet in particular), plus Improved Celeste, Celeste PP, Binello / Gallo?, and possibly Banana / Gallo?, also LSU Gold, and possibly Aldo and others.

Next year, I'll be hopeful about especially what Ronde de Bordeaux, Florea, Nero 600m, and others can show, after their first winter unprotected in-ground.

Tony, last winter I only had a BT in the ground as a 1 year old plant put in ground late summer. I only threw a pile of leaves on top, it died to about 1". Grown back nicely, but not fruiting yet. I have 6 more in ground now that hopefully I can share some info on next year.

In ground and survived  in 6b this past winter. Congratulations!

Looks and sounds great. Would probably do ok in 6a too. Might ripen a couple weeks later is all.

In addition to my zone 6b trials, I'm trialing about a dozen cultivars unprotected and very young in zone 5b (northern Pennsylvania) this coming winter. Not as many types as I would like, might be more in subsequent years. Will see what comes of it next year, if anything. In fact, I planted a few cultivars at 550 meters (1800 feet) in zone 5b. I don't think that Valle Calda [550m] or Nero 600m, though planted that high, were planted in that cold of a growing zone.

"Last fall, I cut it to the ground and heaped a couple inches of mulch over it. No artificial protection, simply cut back and mulch."

Tony, I'm having trouble understanding your rationale for cutting the tree/bush down to the ground in the Fall.  Given the winter we had, it probably would have died back to the ground anyway but if we would have had a normal winter you would have lost quite a bit of live wood, correct?

I have also put a bunch of figs in the ground this Spring and am mulling over what the winter will be like and how best to protect them.  They have grown like gangbusters - some are 6 feet high and wide.  I will definitely do some serious pruning on them to make it easier to protect them but haven't decided how severe a pruning job to do.

Steve, I did not cut everything to the ground, but everything that I did not cut to the ground died to the ground anyway. 

The winter was especially harsh. In a less harsh winter would anything above ground have survived? I don't know. It's possible, I suppose. However since these were all very young trees, I figured that it was unlikely. I did protect one tree a couple years old, cutting it about two feet from the ground and covering it with a plastic tub: bad result, rodents girdled it at ground level. I don't want the various hassles of covering, or the uncertainties of it. I'm identifying cultivars and strategies to avoid that.

And I did have a distinct further rationale for cutting most of the cultivars to the ground: doing so allowed me to spread an uninterrupted layer of mulch and/or wood chips and/or uncut fall leaves, which flatten down quickly in fall rains and seem to form a kind of tarp, or superior insulation. 

If anything, I am worried about having the figs be too well naturally insulated and thereby attracting nesting and root-eating, bark-eating rodents. I want the figs to be quite cold in the winter, even relatively exposed, to naturally ward off rodents, while being able to survive to bear fruit come summer. I was conscious about that going into last winter, and nothing has served to change my opinion so far. Rather the opposite.

I couldn't agree more, Tony. I do the same thing. On a first year tree, even in a mild winter, it will die back anyway ( or at least partially-not leaving but a few inches because it doesn't have its "winter coat on". There isn't much protection ( thickness) on one year old bark. It has been my experience that in the years I've grown trees in the ground, ( 12 yrs), first year trees die back. Mulching is a smart move and a lot easier to do than wrap frail whips at that age IMO. To prevent the rodents from tunneling and chewing, I throw moth balls near the bases, and that seems to work well. After a few years, the branches are thicker, and better equipped to handle the temps and NW wind.

Tony
I like what you are doing trying to find the right varieties and ways to minimally assist them through the winter.
I have a similar goal.   The problem is that if I don't give them adequate protection then I find that I will not have a lot of figs that year and this exposes my real goal of having lots of my own figs to eat.

Searching for the elusive fig that can grow unprotected in my winters (-20C is typical) is like looking for a horse that flys.,LOL

I like the work members like ascpete, Herman2 and others are doing in training and protecting figs for the winter and watch eagerly for their posts.

Bill, yes I think I may likely have to employ rodent deterrents eventually. I think I can come up with a few organic deterrents rather than moth balls. We'll see.

Pino, I share your concerns about productivity. For now, my best productivity comes from drilling many extra holes in pots and sinking them into mulched ground then pulling/cutting out the pots each year. And also growing in regular pots above ground.

However, concurrently I'm working toward creating highly productive in-ground fig bushes in zone 6 and even in zone 5, ideally. My plans may change, but currently I am trying to identify the most robust varieties for such conditions, the ones with the best "spring-back" qualities after ground die-back.

Eventually, hopefully sooner rather than later, I hope to attempt underground cordoning. In other words and pictures, I hope to attempt something like the following, at link, but a few inches underground rather than a few feet above ground:
http://growinggreener.blogspot.com/2006/08/method-for-growing-figs-in-japan-with.html

I don't know if it will work but think it is worth a try.

Some people are architecturally inclined and like to try to devise covering and shelter for above-ground wood. Not me so much but people are different which is good.

Hi bigbadbill,
What do you call a one year tree ? Is it a first year growing for a cutting ? If so, sorry, but not all of mine do die-back protected in my Zone7.
You should try my post about winter protection and give it a try .
If you attract rodents, it is mainly because of a bad choice of media. If you use compost from a nursery - it is draining and still only dirt, so you are likely not to attract rodents .
At least for the last two winters that I use this method, I haven't have had a problem .

As for winter protections, let me write this again for all our newbies : Better safe than sorry ! The method I use is just so easy and winter-proof  !
My former method was with plastic sheets all around the trees stapled on a wooden frame ... Man, with wind and snow accumulating over the roof - that was a real pain as
It would break open just at the worst moment - when cold winds were blowing.
Now, wind can blow, it won't move my eighty liters trashcans filled with dirt from the nurseries !

Some members often speak about dessication of the stems during the cold winter ... On stems  protected by compost from the nurseries (dark dirt - no remaining wood quality) that just doesn't happen.
Because the stems are exchanging water with the compost ... Taking and giving at will .

Good luck to all with your fig trees for the coming winter ! Hey, wait, let me harvest this year's main crop first :) - if I can do.

Instead of chemical deterrents for rodents, has anyone used physical barriers? I'm planning on wrapping trunks as best I can with nursery tree wrap, the white spiral stuff. I was playing with an idea of using 6 or 8 inch PVC pipe with a cap to help insulate and keep out critters...currently cost prohibitive for me though.

A hungry enough rodent will find a way, unfortunately. Hopefully the local stray cats will help this winter.

With regards to wrapping up an inground tree... are there any issues with the tree not being able to "breathe" or does that not matter since they are dormant??   Do people get mold issues doing this?? If the insulation material is dry and the containment is kept water proof.... do the trees overwinter fine without rotting?? My thought would be as long as they are dormant and kept dry they would be good?

Tyler

Tyler,
I haven't done it myself yet, but as it may become a possible necessity when I plant one in ground.
To be prepared for this wrapping, I consulted two local old-timers who have done it over past 15 years.
They strive to make it waterproof to keep insulating value unreduced (last winter there was no dieback), but they do always provide a "chimney" or top vent.

Damir

Jdsfrance,

I am in a slightly colder area than you, so believe me, first year cuttings die back, protected or not.  I've grown them for 12 years, trying different methods.  My feeling is why not sacrifice the tip growth and use those as insurance cuttings in the winter (what else do I have to do?)?  The mulching, no matter what media, attracts rodents in my area.  I use what Bass uses to deter them.  My 5 year old in ground Sals produced 80 pounds of fruit last summer in zone 6b with no artificial protection.  This system is just fine for me.

Thanks Damir thats what I was wondering.

"My 5 year old in ground Sals produced 80 pounds of fruit last summer in zone 6b with no artificial protection.  This system is just fine for me."

That's impressive. If you had produced 8 pounds, an order of magnitude less, it would have still been impressive. 

Did your Sal's bush die back entirely to the ground the previous winter or two before producing all that fruit? I imagine if it had totally died back it would have required a very large underground network of buds to then produce so greatly.

Total ground dieback is not ideal obviously but for people in the north it may be the most practical way to go. It seems possible that it could be very highly productive as well.

People in the north may need to think of growing figs the way they think of growing bulb type plants that die back to the underground bulb and roots every winter then produce a lot of exotic looking beautiful flowers every summer. The main differences being that the seemingly exotic looking flowers produced would instead be the ripe fig fruits, and the bulbs would instead be either untrained clumps of buds or long trained rows/ropes/cordons of buds producing the yearly groundbreaking and fruit bearing stems.

Hi Tony,

The 2-3 years prior, the Sals suffered no die back at all.  It was a monster last year because of it-I hadn't anything close to that production in the past.  This year it did die back...not to the ground level, though.  I mulched it well, and that is where the new growth emerged.  It is an ugly mess due to this sprawling and brawling, but if you have the room for it, it can be productive.  I just realize that I can't expect to get consistent yields because of the occasional harsh winter.

Bill, I figured that was the most likely scenario.

And that reinforces my view that well-planned underground cordoning - or perhaps even mere undermulch cordoning - could potentially provide consistent high yields in cold areas without the need for any protection, beyond some mulch. And the mulch is not even an extra additive, since I use it in any case for its water retention and nutrient providing qualities that are so useful during summer.