Hi I live on long Island ,ny in zone 7. I have a small green house for the first time and I've been wondering about where I should winter my figs this year. Should I put them into the shed like I did last year or should I pack them into the green house? The average winter temp was 33.5 last year where I live and I'm not sure what would be the best place for the trees.  Last year I brought a lot of the more expensive trees inside for the winter so they could do some growing and I paid the price of that with being inundated by GNATS!!! I won't be doing that again, they can get that an early start in the green house around late february. Does Anyone have the same set up..... if so what do you do?

I wish I had that set up  :)   I'd put any trees that have figs that hadn't ripened yet in there as soon as night time lows go under 65 or so or daytime temps don't get over 75.  Then once all the figs are ripe let them go dormant over a few weeks.  Then they go in the garage.  Then in Feb if you can heat the greenhouse so it never goes under 50 I'd bring any long season figs in there and let them wake up.  If you can't keep the greenhouse that warm in Feb I'd bring them in as soon as you can keep nighttime lows over 50.  Good luck!

Thanks Rob? not sure of your name. I'll try that, I just refuse to deal with all those damn gnats again, that was quite a nightmare that I don't wish to see again.

I was wondering the same thing Bob as I am putting up a small greenhouse this year.  thanks

Hi
Last winter was my first with my greenhouse(there's a post with pics if you search). In the winter, your greenhouse will be very warm on sunny days and at night depending on the r factor(insulating strength) it will be 0-15 degrees warmer than outside with no additional heating. My daytime range for winter was 75-100 and nights were about 7-8 above current temps. I used electric heat in the greenhouse to keep night temps at 38 for 2 months and the balance at over 50 to wake my trees up.

So you might need some supplemental heat if you are storing figs in the greenhouse. I am going to run mine year round this year to take away winter blues.

By the way, the greenhouse is lots of fun.

I have a greenhouse 10' x 20'. I over winterd a couple potted figs in a couple of years ago. Now the cover I had then was not very good and the trees sufferd some damage. This year I have a brand spanken new 6 mil uv treated poly cover. Clear. My issue is when it 20 outside if the sun is shinning bright then it can get to 60 in the green house. And at night even with a heater the temp still drops like crazy. This year I am wanting to add three or four 30-55 gal (black) water barrels. The ideal is full of water during the day they will absorb the heat and at night slowly radiate it.

I've done well with potted figs, potted citrus, and in-ground citrus in greenhouse and only heat to 34-39F. You only need warmer at night if you want to push spring growth earlier. Days here inside greenhouse in winter reach 50-60F warmer than outside, 110-120F unless cooling actions taken. I run as cool as possible for chilling stone fruit during day for a 80 day period. Thus winters are 30s night 50-60s day. Works great for figs. Have 4 months harvest of figs. Could get 6+ months harvest if only growing figs and willing to heat more.

good info all.  My biggest concern would be the nightime heating like Dave discussed,,,

You will need a heater if you store figs in there. More insulation on the walls with least sun penetration will keep your GH warmer. Mine is a Riga V and it has 8mm sides and 10mm front/ back double polycarbonate which is pretty thick for hobby gh's. It only gains 7-10 degrees at night with no heat. This year I installed 4 in thick wall blocks for the floor for addition heat gains. I stored about 80 gallons of water in there last winter but I think the effect was minimal. I am not doing that this winter and will use that space for more plants.

A greenhouse needs nearly 4 gallons water per sq ft to help much on passive heating at night. That's a huge dent in floor space even using 60 gallon barrels. One 60 gallon barrel for every 17 sq ft floor space by my calculations. About 1/4 of floor space occupied by upright barrels.

My greenhouse is 32x54x16ft tall. Covered with double inflated poly. On a clear night it isn't any warmer than outside by morning. With heavy overcast it will hold up to 6F above outside. Any warmer than that and you need insulation, a lot of water, or heat.

I wonder about composting in a greenhouse for heat. A good heep can reach 160 only problem would be comming up with compostable items during winter. Could stock up on leaves and pine needles and I have a steady supply of freash horse manure. Might work. Anybody think of this before?

My trees where in a greenhouse last winter, and they where fine, but we had a mild winter and the temp never really goes below -8.