Greetings All

Here we are on 1 March 2015 and it's snowing, sleeting, and raining down on us today. Good time to think about our upcoming Maryland fig season. :-) Most of my figs remain in pots in our unheated sunroom that gets down to freezing, maybe just above. The two water fountains that i have in there that add humidity actually had a light ice layer last week when outside temps were at zero. So, not much heat, but well protected from any extreme temperatures or wind gusts.

My oudoor trees remain buried in snow and of course remain protected by their extra thick shredded leaf mound. My oldest, thickest fig, Hardy Chicago, is half buried in many layers of shredded oak and maple leaves, topped with plastic tarp and garden bags. Not the prettiest.

Ive gifted off a ton of Hardy Chicago cuttings this year so I'm hoping those folks have good luck with them.

Here are a few photos of the start to 2015!

Hey Mark,
I'm in Frederick and haven't posted on this forum until now. I've been growing a few figs for a couple of years. Last winter my trees got nailed by the cold and stripped by rabbits. I dug everything up and put them in pots. So far they look pretty good overwintering in my garage. Looking forward to warm weather!
Dave

Mark

How do you shred your leaves? With one of those leaf vacs?

Hi Maro2bear,
I don't like my tree to get that icy coating.
I tie the branches and put a bag (an empty bag of dirt from he nurseries) over to protect the bark.
I'm always worried that the extra weight from the ice might pull the branches down and separate them from the trunk.

Are you sure, you're not in Zone6 ?

Mark, cuttings from that big Hardy Chicago are now rooted and leafing out up here.   Nice to see pictures of the mother plant, she looks like a survivor!

Kane, you should do an introductory post.  I live a half hour south down I270 from you.  Glad to make your (virtual) acquaintance.

Mark, your protection looks better than I have for most of my figs.  I have too many in-ground to deal with plus I had assumed that, while we might have another colder than normal winter, it would not be as bad as last year.  Well, my gamble didn't pay off!  We will have to compare notes on how much damage there is.

Steve, I'm counting on your plants for the least amount of die back. I need more figs! :D

Greetings all Mid Atlanticers!

Who would have thought we'd have another banner frozen, cold winter! Rewton, good luck with your unprotected ones, i hope they pull through! Give me a yell if u need any more cuttings. Any luck with the Vista cuttings yet? Jesse up in Maine, good to know thst those HC cuttings survived and have roots, great job! And keep us posted. The source tree was purchased 4 years ago from Lowes and has been in the ground here in MD since then. This will be it's fourth Summer and it continues to push out 100s of good ripe figs.

Rafael, i have a Troy Built chipper shredder that does a great job at making nice leaf shred. I drive around our neighborhood in Fall and pick up nicely bagged leaves and shred them for my trees and garden. Probably picked up 75 garden bags last year and turned them into shred for the trees.

The first few years when the large inground HC was smaller, I did pull it down and fully cover. I got behind on a few things this past Fall, so only managed to do a good prune, boxed it in, leaf shred, plastic and other wrap on top to keep the entire mound basically dry. The bits that are protruding, might take a bit of a freeze, but it's close to the house in a protected corner, and catches first sunlight. This morning, following an overnight sleet storm, sun was out and all ice off those limbs.

Spring is around the corner. Highs in tbe 50's later this week!

Mark, the Vista cuttings have done great.  I may get all three to take.  I'll post pics soon.  I have a Worx leaf shredder that works pretty well for leaves but doesn't tolerate even thin branches and twigs very well.  I'll have to check out yours sometime and possibly upgrade.

I'm thinking of planing my 4 year old HC right next to the house near the south facing wall.  Would hate to lose it, but I think I need to take some risks this year and plant some more in ground to increase yield.  I have too many potted figs (about 85).  If I just have a few in ground I'm sure I can protect them somehow.  My wife would not approve of your leaf cage though :).  I have bent a few down to the ground and covered in dirt.  Have not tried to keep dry.  So probably they iced and froze.  Will see if they survive.  Basically trying the stepover method. 

Can you tell I'm tired of the winter?  typing in incomplete sentences.  3 to 5 more inches thursday.  when will it end...

Also for you maryland folks, I have started a bunch of cuttings this year and will have many extras that I will be looking to unload come springtime.  I will charge a little but not much.  Will also ship. 

Rob, I wonder what all this rain, melting snow, freezing rain and snow followed by 6 deg F temperatures on Thursday night will do to what little life remains in my outdoor figs.  The top growth on many of them is probably a lost cause but I'm hoping the root system and base will survive.  Sux.

Agreed Steve.  I am very curious to see how my stepover figs have fared.  They were only buried a few inches deep.  That makes it super easy to bury and dig up, but not sure how much protection it will afford.  I will post pictures if and when Spring ever comes and I get to dig them out.  I think that the snow cover is actually a blessing around us and provides some protection from the cold, but I really don't know how many freeze/thaw cycles my fig berms had to endure.  And I don't know if a fig tree laid horizontally, buried 3 inches deep in a mound of soil, possibly freezing and thawing many times, is any better than one sticking up in the air and getting blown with 1 degree winds.  Only time will tell. 

I also have some fig trees where I put a black 7 gallon plastic pot upside down on top of them, with a layer of insulation and a bunch of mulch.  My goal is not necessarily to make the whole top survive, but at least a couple inches above ground so that it gets a head start in the spring. 

This winter should have been a good candidate for testing how much protection each method has provided in a pretty nasty winter in our climate.  So I will post photos and conclusions in a month or two.

I will say that my methods were very quick and easy, although probably not the most attractive. 

Yes, my backyard looks like an invading army of fig blobs!

Greetings All. Another real frozen mess we have outside today: snow, sleet, freezing rain, rain, but no wind! I'm hoping my one stand alone HC (picture no. 1 in first post) does better this year. Last year i had a very small wire frame around it, stuffed with leaves, covered with plastic bag and it froze pretty hard back to the ground. In fact, i almost yanked it out one weekend, didnt get to it, and the next weekend it popped up a shoot. Kind of like Rob's method.

I'm sure my "fig hedge" trees will be fine. ( picture no. 2) i pruned them all down hard, and they are well covered in the leaves, and protected from wet by the blue tarp. Worked last year, so I'm hoping for similar results. This hedge is a mix of HC ad Celeste. I agree with Rob,mthe snow layer really does help insulqte and protect plants from the extremes.

Many of my potted trees in the cold sun room have green tips, as does one larger Celeste that is in the garage. Hey, Spring starts 20 March ad there is talk already of the first blooms soon for the infamous cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin.

Lets hope this is a quick storm that passes quickly and the forecasted warm front rushes in soon.

...and just to give us warmer thoughts of Summer, attached is a pix of some of our potted fig trees on the deck in late July 2014.... Bring it on!

Greetings. Major snowstorm being forecast for our MidAtlantic region starting this evening. Most of us should receive a good 6 inches of insulation and moisture for the ground! Better than zub-zero and gusting wind. Post some pix of your in-ground fig trees post snowstorm!

Here is a view of my backyard a couple minutes ago showing in-ground figs protected in various ways.  I'm so anxious to unwrap them and get them growing...if they are still alive, of course.  The ones I'm most concerned about are the three against the back fence (MvsB, Malta Black, and Sicilian Red).  With those I just have mulch piled about 12 inches up the trunk - the rest is exposed.

Steve
The shapes of your bagged trees remind me of "snowmen" we'd make when I was a kid in Rhode Island.  I really admire your adaptations.  If you used white bags over them and some strategically placed black tape for facial features they could look very much like snowmen.

Rob, Maybe that sort of gimmick would be more visually appealing to your wife.  Maybe get her involved in "the fun" of building them.

I'm jealous of all your precipitation.  

Good Luck and

Greetings from Paradise, as we from Santa Barbara CA so humbly put it.  Zone 10a  Tim 

Yes, if only there was a way to transfer some of our precipitation and cool weather in the east to those parts of the country in the west that really need the precipitation and didn't get much of a winter this year.

Tim, we're jealous of the Zone 10a notation right about now. Spring is around the corner and we all have the fever.

Good job Steve - nice wraps!

I'll go out and check mine soon here, snow coming down hard and steady.

All

Here's how my Black Madeira looks today, a few nice green buds waiting to pop once warm weather breaks.

....and the snow continues to provide a blanket around our in-ground trees......

Greetings, as it continues to snow hard here in these MidAtlantic states!

In my post #23 (right above) thats my fig hedge that is made up of Hardy Chicago and Celeste. In late Fall, I pruned them all back pretty well in preps to cover and wrap them up. Hardy Chicago went into plastic salad bins and many were sent around the country. The celeste I just quickly put into a plastic baggie, with some small amount of water thst I pulled to one corner. I put this bag in our unheated attached garage and pretty much left them untouched. I might have rinsed them once.

Today I've been catching up on a few chores and thought to check on these cuttings. Sure enough, they want to grow! Nice green buds, shoots and lots of root initials. I'm thinking of selecting a few and placing them in cups and let them run.

Here's a pix of whats in the bag :

Even though it got down to the single digits early this morning here, for the first time in a long time I am optimistic that Spring is coming very soon.  It is sunny outside with little or no wind.  It doesn't really feel that cold.  The 10 forecast looks good.  Bring on the Spring!