Good morning!

I have a question or really, a request for your opinion....

When I first joined this forum, I had discussed "cold hardy" fig info for in the ground planting, to be put in a specific area of the garden in my apartment complex..

Yesterday I had an efigany (epiphany) lol... I have a decent sized patch of land about 10'x20' around the perimeter of my building with western exposure that I had planned on just putting a couple of elephant ears (alocasia) and some other annuals in.

Here's the catch (or maybe the gift). Right at the base of the building on this plot of land, are the exhaust ducts for the building laundry room. This means that 365 days a year there is warm air being pushed through these ducts....

Do you think it's a good idea to utilize this space for an in ground planting, as extra winter warmth insurance, or do you feel the exhaust and it's fumes will be detrimental to the health of a fig tree?

Thank you!
Joe

good question.. if the roots are warm, they might not go dormant on time.. if they wake up too early, they might get damaged by late frost. but i doubt the soil temp will get too high to fry the tree. you might need to protect the tree more.

Great topic and one that I am not having a lot of success with last year anyway.

I am not familiar with your building codes but I would doubt that you would be allowed to restrict or hamper the airflow from the ducts.

So I can't see a little warm air blowing on the covered figs as making a difference.  
However the wall would retain heat so if can grow the figs near the wall and utilize the wall for winter protection.

If I weren't in my pajamas right now, working from home with my killer cat stalking me...I'd go downstairs ant take some photos.

I will do it a little later for sure!

Be careful, drier/exhaust ducts often kill plants because the air is very dry.

I'm guessing it would help a little.  Might help more if you could get folks to scheduled doing their laundry during the night!

The exhaust from the dryer is very humid as it is taking the water from the clothes and putting it into the air. Unless there was a way to even out the temperature by heating something that will absorb and reflect the heat at a constant level, the heat will be detrimental. You could place a weather station that records temperature and humidity there and get a better picture of how the exhaust is really affecting the area. 

I am quite confident that it would kill the plants during winter time.
The air does start off being quite humid as previously stated but it ends off being very dry as more and more water gets pulled out from the clothing. By the end of the drying cycle the air is in fact quite dry not to mention hot.

The reason why i would think the plants would die in winter is because the condensation released would then freeze onto the plant when the dryers are not working. I would also think that it would promote molding.

I seriously doubt any of the harmful effects being predicted will be realized in an open area (perimeter of building) of 10' x 20'.

I have citrus near my clothes dryer outlet and then have never suffered.

I have a lychee near my home heating unit (burns natural gas) and it has done well.

The slight boost in air temperature for short periods may help heat up the soil some as well as the plants and air.  It might be nice if you could route the ducts through underground tubing to let the soil absorb more of the heat instead of letting it quickly dissipate into the air.  How many units are there in your apartment complex?  How many dryers?

112 apartments 10 dryers that lead to one massive exhaust duct.

Sometimes you just never know until you try something. You may end up having the best spot to grow in.
The dryer sheet smell from the exhaust may even act as an insect repellent. 

Harvey might be on to something if you can get the heat deflected towards the ground or run through tubing.

I would be very interested in knowing how this goes for you Joe.
Keep us updated.

I would say it is a bad idea because the fabric softener perfumes and lint will ruin the figs. But maybe I am imagining the whole thing wrong. I am curious to see that massive exhaust duct anyway ; )

Maybe I can start my own hybrid of fig... "Joes Downy Fresh"

Hi Joeturbo26,
It all depends on where is the exit of the air.
Is the air conducted to the roof level or is the air released straight out of the wall ?
To make a long story short, if the air goes through the tree, you will desiccate the tree even in the summer as the air released is quite hot - imagine at noon the summer heat plus the heat from the driers ...
If the tree is near the tube but the air is released to the roof level, then it is up to you to plant the trees not too close to the tube to not get burned, and you should be fine.
The easiest, now, being to do a real test . Do you have trees for that cause ?
To be honest I would risk it !

Can you plant 4-5 feet from the ducts, near the wall? You would probably get one or two micro-zone improvement with the radiant heat from the wall. Or at least it is worth a try.

I know you're in NY, the city that doesn't sleep.  But it seems to me that there would be very little clothes drying going on at night after a certain time.  That would likely coincide with the overnight low.  Therefore it seems to me it would give you very little benefit in the winter as far as how much it would raise the overnight low. 

If you could somehow store the heat during the day and then release it during the night, that would be ideal.  That's the principal with a south facing wall, particularly when it's brick or stone.  Maybe if the exhaust blew directly on a bucket of water or a large stone?  Really this would probably just create a lot of freeze/thaw cycles which might be worse than just cold temps by themselves. 

I would think you would not want the exhaust to blow directly on the tree.  That would tend to dry out the plant, as others have said. 

On the other hand, if you have an extra tree, what's the harm in trying it? 

I still haven't gotten a chance to take some photos of the area... I promise everyone I will asap :) 

I don't have an extra tree, in fact I don't have any trees LOL... This was purely a thought I had, that I am glad I brought up! 

South facing brick or concrete wall is best.
During the winter the heat from the soil needs to be trapped to keep the tree warm