Hi All,

I wanted to get some discussion going on the best way to handle fig trees in the ground.

Currently, I have all my plants in pots, but I am considering putting 1-2 "sure shots" in the ground to increase my yield and provide a deeper baseline of fruit.

I'm in zone 6a so I am hoping to hear from others in zones 5-7 with in ground trees.

Some questions that came to mind:
If you only had one yellow/green/white and one "dark", what would they be?
How are you protecting it?   Digging up and burying, wrapping, bending and wrapping?
Do you need to root prune?
Standard, bush, fan?

I would love to hear from the veterans and pros in the northeast, Midwest and Canada. You know who you all are...

thanks!

Ok, most of mine are in pots as well.  I do, however, have one planted in ground.  Its a locally found dark fig that has shown no signs of FMV and it ripens fruit for me here in Michigan (every summer except 2009) without oiling. 

I've been wanting to put in a green one as well.  I've got a couple which are good prospects, but have not taken the plunge yet (I'll first propogate a back-up)

I've wrapped with burlap & tarps (success), fiberglass insulation (failed) pipe wrapping foam (failed), bales of hay and leaves (success).  This last fall I pushed a couple bags of leaves around it and that's it (I'm both an optimist and had a serious deficit of time due to marital problems and other things.....can those things really go together??...lol)  Even so, it looks good.  Time will tell, though.

Its a somewhat bush form (with 2 trees coming up from the center)  largest stem this fall was about 9 - 10 feet tall. 

I put a fig in the ground this year, it was called italian honey, I think it's a brown turkey but I am about a 6b and I wrapped with string to tie it up, wrapped with burlap then put posts in a square around them with more burlap around them, stuffed it full with straw and leaves, I did put out mouse poison at the bottom, and then wrapped with a tarp and put a bucket on top.  We will see if it survives.  Bug me if I don't post in the next couple months to remind me and I'll give an update.

there's quite a bit of difference between the fruit of a Brown Turkey and an Italian Honey.  what makes you think the variety is actually Brown Turkey and not Italian Honey?

thanks everyone for the contributions.

Can any other members offer experience?  Im really hoping to make a decision for this year.
If you only had one yellow/green/white and one "dark", what would they be?
How are you protecting it?   Digging up and burying, wrapping, bending and wrapping?
Do you need to root prune?
Standard, bush, fan?

Dark, gene sal.  Have never covered it in my zone. 

The eye on the figs is red from a very small fig to ripe.

Hi Nas.I have the same 6 zone and i tried many inground varieties in 4 years of trials,like hardy chicago,sal's,alma,excel,red sicilian,nordland,marseille vs black,violleta bayernfeige,salem dark,english brown turkey,paradiso,san peitro and celeste belleclaire.If you dont cover them,even with a light protection,they all die to ground.The only one who survive to me a second winter is a dark fig,from Greece,Chios island,named by me...BLACK GREEK.I left half of tree Uncovered in winter after i pruned the long green branches late in fall.We had,here in Cleveland,Ohio -3fahrenheit for few days and a single digit for a whole week.It's geen,alive.That's what i'm calling a Hardy fig tree! Sometime,names and fame dont matter! Marius

thanks everyone, I am sure I will have to cover them in my zone.

Does anyone root prune their inground trees, or does digging them up every  year to bury them suffice for trimming the roots?