Around the first of April it got very warm here in our part of Connecticut. We had in the basement a potted Marseillese BlackVS, a cold hardy pomegranate from Trees of Joy and a peach seedling from our Crawford peach treee. All three had started to leaf out. So we put then outside. Then late that evening a cold front came down and before we could get home and get the plants back in, the leaves on the peach seedling and the pomegranate had turned silver. About two weeks later all the leaves on the pomegranate AND THE PEACH seedling fell off and both tress died. But, the Marseillese Black VS had no damage to the leaves or the plant it's self. So, thank you Warren and Herman for finding it and testing it. I have been talking to other fig collectors now for about five years and from what they had been telling me, I was starting to think that Marseillese BlackVS might be a lot hardier then the minus 7 degrees the historical weather bureau is showing for the area where the tree is growing. 

Bob:Hardy Chicago,is somewhat similar in fruits,but is not as hardy.
I also keep my HC inground,and this winter it is much retarded by the cold,compared to Marseilles vs blk.
Also from past years H Chicago,has many damages,on trunk,that resulting from frost,and it was not enough to kill the plant.
Yet Marseilles vs ,in same conditions,has no visible cold damage on trunks.
Sal Gene is also similar,but it shows Fig M Virus,on leaves,and is also very cold hardy,even having it.
Fruits are  similar on these varieties,with differences in color when ripe,only.
I do not have the pixes anymore,in my computer,but can tell you,Marseilles,vs black,is moreblue purple,while HC,and Sal,is brown black,with Sal the lighter color.

Does the Marseilles vs blk seem to be affected by FMV? I have a plant that I received in a trade and it has FMV as bad as Gene's Sal's. I got one of those to in the same trade. Unless the trader gave me 2 Sal's by mistake, I don't know what to think.

Curious,
Little John

Bob,

HERMAN: We to, have also  found  frost resistance is as important as cold hardiness. We get many a new nut or fruit here to get through the winter only to be killed by a late or early frost.

Bob:I also had a red leaf Peach,in my back yard on 9th,and tenth of May.and also it had almost all leaves Damaged,by frost,in those Morning.
Also a Bloodgood Japanese Maple,got damaged,and is damaged even now,from same frost.
Jujube too,and my Flowering quince.

Bob & Herman, thanks for sharing your experience and wisdom. I'll have to find another Marseilles vs blk as I'm unsure if I have the real deal.

Thanks,
Little John

LITTLE JOHN: I got my Marseillese Black VS direct from Herman last spring, as cuttings. I planted them out that following fall. I wanted the root system to develope over the winter. My plants are still small. But, if you have not been able to secure some by this time next year, send me an email and I should have extra by then.

i have a marseilles black i bought last year, and it doesn't seem to be as willing to branch as some of my other figs.  of couse, it got frozen back to the ground with all my ohter figs.  however, most of my other figs have put out several shoots and are growing more bush like.  not so with ms black, just 1 shoot, but it's growing well.   i did take the tip to encourage branching. 

anyone else notice this growth pattern?

Papayamon:It is very hard for me to accept that Marseilles vs black,died to ground in Florida last winter.
I do believe you,but,now you hear my story,and see why!
In May 2009,I had 10 cuttings that had rott Damage on some growing buds,so I could not list and sell them on Ebay.
So I pushed them inground around my old Marseilles vs black tree in the middle of the yard.
About 5 of them rooted,and so I left them inground there trough the winter to trial the cultivar once again,and.
With no protection,trough this winter ,they died half way down,to about 1 foot high in the Spring.
Now they are 2 foot high,and will be about three foot high when I will offer them for sale on Ebay,this coming November,and I have a hint,that they will have half a dozen to a dozen ripe fruits hanging on them too.

herman, i know it's hard to accept, but the temperature flucuations here are extreme.  it will be 70's, then in the teens, then 70's, then in the teens, etc.

this was a new plant, and maybe it will do better this year (it will, because i'm going to protect the hell out of it :)).  all i can tell you is i didn't have a single bit of fig tree survive the winter above the ground.  ko'd the desert king (2 of them) as well.

herman, how good are those figs on a scale of 1-10?

Last season Al wrote a response to dormancy about the cells in the fig tree as chilling temps enter the picture water migrates out of the cells and into between them, in short the fig tree is preparing and making its own antifreeze for what lies ahead (winter) he goes into detail but it allows the tree to protect itself as temps lower.
Its my guess if tree is not allowed to do that process as it does here in colder zones a sudden shock could set a tree back quite a bit and harm it before it has a chance to assimilate.

Here is the thread its the 3rd post down last 2 paragraphs.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fig/msg1114122620795.html

yes, take a tree that you have inside in a pot growing  in the 70's, and set it out when temps hit 17 degrees.  then let's talk about how cold hardy it is :).

Martin. I think what you said makes sense. I got a six foot sucker from a neighbor last fall. I planted it in a decent sized pot and trimmed it down to about three feet. It's been growing well and has put on four or five branches. A couple weeks ago, I left it outside overnight even though I took the rest of my figs inside to protect them against the cold temperatures. I went outside the next morning around six, and it was biting cold. There was frost on my neighbor's roof. All of the leaves on the tree had withered, and the new branches were limp and bent. I brought it inside and poured some warm water onto the roots, hoping for the best. When I got back home from work, the leaves and branches were completely back to normal with no frost damage. It seemed to me like the tree somehow withdrew some of the water from the leaves to protect itself from frost damage.

Martin, I don't know of any thing that can take 70 degrees one day and then take 17 degrees during the night. As I had mentioned earlier we have lost even hickory seedlings when the weather does that here. I was only reporting what happened to us with one potted Marseillese Black VS. I was only commenting on the fact that the two hour freeze killed the pomeganada, wich was no surprise. But the fact that the peach seedling which was about three feet was killed and not the fig surprised us. 

my ag agent told me fig trees would grow as bushes here, which freeze to the ground every year and then grow back.  looks to me as though he knew exactly what he was talking about.

this year, i'm going to make a big effort to protect the wood 6 inches above the ground, so it's not frozen so far back.

As lawyers say, I have "hung the rag on the bush" so will see just how hardy the MVS is this coming winter.  However, I am afraid that I will find the same conditions as the rest of you with wide temp swings.  I've had at least one fig frozen back by late frosts. 

I got several MVS cutting three years ago and had good luck rooting them.  I kept two;  this spring I put one of them in the ground.  Two years old, it had lived in a gallon pot since rooting and was root bound and stunted.  I dug a nice hole for it, sliced all the encircling roots (although it had already leafed out) and stuck it in the ground.  It just sat there for about three weeks, but now it is growing nicely, though still pretty small.  By fall it will be three or four feet tall. 

The other MVS was in a much large pot, about five gallons.  I did not have larger pots at the time I potted it.  Last fall I trimmed it way back so that I could send out some cuttings.  I stuck it outside about the second week of April along with all my other potted figs.

The MVS, heavily pruned, just sat there.  Celeste, the Bayernfeige Violetta, Kadota,
Kathleen's Black, Grantham's Royal and others leafed out and shot upward.   Now, withing the past week, the MVS is taking off like a rocket.  I fully expect to get a nice fig crop from it late this summer. 

Oddly enough,  a Joe Morle Paradiso, in the ground two years, is not growing as well as a Celeste planted next to it.  The Celeste froze to the ground last  year due to a late frost.  The Paradiso did not suffer as much and outgrew the Celeste last year.  Both trees were under fifty gallon barrels this last winter and  both came out with no damage.  The in-ground MVS, in the same sheltered location, will go under a barrel as well next winter. 

A point of interest:  The two largest trees I have in pots are two dissimilar unknowns taken as cuttings from trees that have been growing in sheltered locations in Tulsa for many years.  I have no idea what they are, but they are not Celeste. 
Ox

Hi Robertharper,
cant locate local trees in my part of Florida as i reside near Chicago. ; )
I was only pointing folks to the thread by Al  that are curious as to what goes on inside a fig trees branches and what may or may not have  happend to Papayamon"s fig plant.
I grow them in containers , grandparent grew one inground a rather large one and all got together every year to bury it, im very familar with growing in ground from those years.

In reading Papayamons post his fig plant was probably  no more than 1 full season old when that weather occurred .
Its always best and has been stated many times that before going inground in a colder zone such Chicago, Jersey, NY, etc the plant should be several seasons old.
I grow in containers for less hassle for me in burying them or covering them just to much work for me. Growing in my area inground and left unprotected out in the OPEN is out of the question .

Martin, sorry about the mix up of names. That post was suppose to be a response to Mike in Florida. 

If they are getting ripe to perfection,in My climate in a hot long Sommer,then it is a 10.
If they ripe in a cold rainy Sommer like the last 2 Sommer were in New Jersey,They are still,a 8,and the color is earthy green,not blue purple.
My opinion,is that in Florida climate,they will be at least just as good as in NJ,and even better.

Taste pretty good here in southern B.Columbia, Canada. The wife & son prefers them citing excellent flavor.  I have
planted the tree in the ground recently and hope it gives me bountiful harvest next year.

robert, the upside to this is that i didn't get any frost until december, and my figs ripened in oct/nov.  by the time i got freezing weather, i had picked every fig.  the one fig that i had this time last year (not a marseilleses black) is way ahead of where it was at this time last year.  i'll see if it produces earlier this time around.