I am following this thread with interest as I am in the North East of Scotland and have very similar problems to you Knutinh. I have got my first figs this year, they are in an unheated polytunnel, so they will need lots of fleece during winter still.

My first ripe fig. A bit of a cheat because it was allready unripe on the tree when I bought it early this summer.

Tasted a lot better than any store bought fig I have tasted.

Lots of small figlets now forming on the branches. Guess they will not mature this season.

I will try keeping the plants alive in pots this winter, will try in ground next year if everything works out.

Have been feeding them highly diluted tomato fertilizer along with a good watering about once a week. Seems to fit our temps and moisture quite well.

So my unknown (presumed Brown Turkey) has ripened 2 nice fruit earlier this summer.

Now, I have 6 fruits on the bush, 2 of which are darkening on one side (see picture). 
 
Leaves have been yellowing and dropping at a modest pace. No fruit dropping.

We have been fortunate with a mild autumn so far:
 
but not any more it seems:

Is there any hope? Should I remove any figs? I presume that winter survival is improved by having a gradual autumn / winter adapatation.

regards
k

Your weather seems very much the same as ours a lot of the time. I have got my plants in the polytunnel but it is only a couple of degrees warmer than outside, so they are wrapped up in fleece at night. I am waiting until the leaves fall off, then I will remove any figs larger than a pea.

Hi Knut, and hi forum.

Fredrik here. I have contacted you on another site (hagegal.no), where we have talked about apricots and peaches, and also now decided to go halves on the cost of fig import.
Since we already have decided to order some figs, I thought I'd just say hi, as I saw you on this forum as well.

I've ordered two figs from Edible Landscaping in Virginia, but only the Hardy Chicago, made the transition from bare root, to potted. A White Marseilles did not make it. I didn't throw it out though, trying to see if something happens this spring. I have a sliver of hope that the root might live and that something might sprout, even though it looks like a dead stick.

I have a 2-3 year old Brown Turkey, vase shaped, that gives me maybe 10 figs every autumn. I didn't remove the figs that were on it in spring last year, but I heard that this is they way to go, if the main crop is to become any good. I'm going to try to grow it into a little multi stemmed container tree with 3-4 main trunks and try to keep it low (as it needs to fit in a garage), but trying to build the girth on these trunks to make it decorative and nice.

My question to the forum would be, my Brown Turkey, would I re-pot it every year? or do I keep it in the same pot for several years?

The dried out White Marseilles, any hope of a second coming?

Best Regards

Fredrik

Greetings! There is a forum member that lives in Denmark that you may want to ping or perhaps if he sees your post he can chime in.... His forum handle is "fighugger". He can likely provide you insight into his experiences growing figs in that area; not sure how close you might be to one another...

The bigger the pot, the greater the roots.  The greater the roots, the bigger the tree that can be well supported, producing tasty fruit.  

So here's my approach:  First, you should figure out what maximum size tree / pot you want.  Then you should pot up to the target size pot as soon as you can.  Assuming adequate water and sunlight, the tree will fill out the pot very quickly -- probably within one season.  Then you basically prune the tree annually as needed to keep it the target size; and you prune the roots once every 2-3 years to reduce congestion, winding -- maintaining proper balance between roots and shoots.

When the referenced article recommends repotting every 2 years, I think they are talking about a mature tree.  So every 2 years, you remove the mature tree from its pot, prune some of the roots (method discussed elsewhere), then replace it into the same pot.  You'll need a relatively small amount of fresh potting medium.

I would recommend looking at Desert King. It's quite cold hardy but also provides a very early crop. I believe the author of this link grows them outdoors in the northern alps....Which may also make him a source of cuttings for you.

http://planetfig.com/cultivars/fcveng8588.html