I give the made up name "mountain figs" to cultivars that can grow in ground in zone 6 at a certain age that have a chance to survive winter with minimal or no protection and then can bear fruit during the short warm season. Again, I think of "mountain figs" as both cold hardy and early ripening, as they need be in a cold zone with a short season, when grown in ground. Below is the cultivar list I've come up with to this point. Mistakes? Missing? Superstars? Your top five "mountain figs"? I am new to figs as of last year so am basing this list on research rather than my own experience. Next year I'll have a report on various in ground trials in zone 6. -Tony

"MOUNTAIN FIGS"

(Cold Hardy Early Ripening Cultivars - CHERC)

DARK

• Marseilles Black

• Sal's GS/EL

• Gino's Black

• Takoma Violet

• Malta Black

• Hardy Chicago (Mongibello)

• Salem Dark

• Black Bethlehem

• Dark Portuguese

• Keddie

• Improved Celeste

• Celeste / Creech

• Ronde de Bordeaux

• Nero 600M / Valle Negra

• Florea

• Danny's Delight

• LaRadek's English Brown Turkey

• Hanc's English Brown Turkey

LIGHT

• Marseilles White / Lemon / Blanche / Italian Honey / Lattarula

• Stella

• Hunt

• Atreano

• LSU Gold

• Verte

??? POSSIBLE OTHER "MOUNTAIN FIGS" (CHERC)

• Sicilian Black

• Malta Purple Red

• O'Rourke

• Fico Preto

• Natalina

• Negretta

• Palermo Red / Aldo / Sal's Corleone / Red Sicilian

• Abruzzi

• Adriatic JH

Your list is compete.
One thing you have to observe when you get your trees.
In your climate only healthy trees will make it ,doesn't matter the cultivar.

Supposedly Doree will survive this climate as well, but I have no evidence of this, would be interesting if anyone has information to confirm this or if it's just unconfirmed.

Noire De Caromb, is from the mountains, or so I read.

Amazing list. I wanna have one of everyone cultivar. Maybe Nordland can be added to that list? I dont have it but i heard it was hardy. Also Hardy Hartford defiantly should be on that list.

Fico Preto (a.k.a Figo Preto I assume) would not be a good choice in your zone from what I have read.  It is supposed to ripen a bit faster than Black Madeira but is still a late ripening fig and needs a relatively long, warm season. I would love to be proven wrong but I think it would need serious protection to survive the winter in the ground in your area. 

Tony, different people have different definitions of cold hardy.

We are testing a lot of the ones you have on your list.

My idea of cold hardy is that it can be grown outside without winter cover, in a zone 5b/6a.

So far, I would only recommend three for an area that cold, without winter cover.

Florea, LaRadek's EBT, and Hanc's EBT.

Although Hardy Harford was re-discovered by us growing in Hartford, Ct., with out cover for over 30 years. It was growing in a very protected spot. Hartford is a zone 6b. That is a lot warmer then 5b/6a. So, I do not recommend Hardy Hartford, any where colder then 6B, if it is planted in a well protected spot.

I have not learned how to add attachments to the F4F forum email yet. Send to me an email to robertcharper@gmail.com and I will send you a list of figs we are growing, and testing. I can attach the list to your email.

Bob @ T. Pine zone5b/6a Connecticut

Bob, the several cultivars listed on the bottom of the Dark Fig list made their way there due largely to your postings. Likewise, the several cultivars listed on the top of the Dark Fig list are there due largely to the postings of Vasile (Herman2) on the forums. And the postings of many others factored into these lists. You and Vasile and many others have written about most of these various cultivars in telling detail it seems to me, enough so that the Dark and Light lists could be better ordered and defined, at least tentatively. Given the observations of you and Vasile and others, maybe the top and the bottom of the Dark list contain the most cold hardy cultivars. The Mt Etna cultivars (and the Mt Etna-like cultivars) are in the first half of of Dark fig list, generally, though maybe not perfectly. I don't know about the Light list. There is a lot of wishing and hoping or uncertainty going on with the Possible Others list, at this point.

Tony, I should add that the three that I recommend for a zone 5b/6a, without winter cover, would be after the plant has become mature. May 5 to 7 years. Even then it would depend on the growers experience.

You will have to be able to not only control the cold, but also, soil moisture, winter winds, late winter early spring sun, amount of fertilizer given, and when it was given, whether or not the grower removed new fruit and new tip growth, after the 5th or 6th leaf, and probably several other factors, that I'm not aware of since our cold weather testing is not scientific. nor has our testing been long enough. But, hopefully as more and more growers like your self become interested, we will gain more and more knowledge on how to grow figs successfully in cold areas of the country. 

Because we have only been testing for cold hardy figs for around eight or so years, each year we find another factor effecting winter survival.

Although I'm not aware of any other figs that would take 6a cold, without cover I would not be surprise if some fig collector did find one.

Also, in my mind when one says mountain figs, I see the Iranian figs that I hear about. Figs that are suppose to be able to take as low as minus forty degrees Fahrenheit. I would imagine some time in the future fig growers will be able to order Iranian mountain figs from any nursery. 

But, until that day Florea main crop, LaRadek's EBT's breba crop only, and Hanc's EBT main crop, of which Herman has identified as actually being a very cold hardy version of Southern Brown Turkey, are the only figs I would want to try into a zone 5a

Bob @ T. Pine zone 5b/6a Connecticut   

Great thread. How old should the cold hardier plants be before planted in ground in zone 7?

Tony,
Sent you an email! I'm in WV too.
I'm near Buckhannon. Where you located?
I'm still trying to convince myself to put one of my hardy Chicagos in the ground in the spring.
Which ones do you grow in the ground?

Chris

Chris, I'm north of you near the PA border, in I think zone 6b very close to 6a. This will be the first year that I try figs in ground over winter: marseilles, verte, celeste, improved celeste, hardy chicago, salem dark, and some other cultivars. Very young, so I expect die back to the ground, hopefully not worse. I recently acquired some of the other hardy or hardier cultivars but won't try them in ground until next year.

*BILL, to be on the safe side the fig should be between 5 to 7 years old.

Kept in a pot or covered if planted out side.

Make sure the root zone of the plant is insulated against freeze, with something like leaves or hay.

Make sure you put down mouse poison. Plus, a lot of other things needed to keep a fig alive in a northern climate.

Some times customers will come back in the spring, and say, "Bob I waited 5 years like you said". But, my plant lost a portion of it's top". You said it would be cold hardy after 5 to 7 years.

Then I have to explain to them, "Yes I said it would be hardy enough after 5 to 7 years to plant in the ground. I did not say the entire plant would be cold hardy enough. Remember the top one to three feet of growth you had last summer was only one year old. Not 5 or 7 years old, like the bottom portion. But, that is not a problem. Since in the north, one has to grow figs in a bush form, they have to be pruned back each year to a height of 2 to three feet. Main crop fig fruit forms each year on new wood, not old wood".


I do not have a lot of experience in what figs would do good in your part of the country. But, from what you described I think Florea would be at the top of my list.

If you would like a list of what we have been testing for growing in a northern climate, send me an email, and I will attach the list of figs to your return email.

My email address is robertcharper@gmail.com

Bob @ T. Pine 


   

I'm in 6a and Hardy Chicago does fine here.  I've had mine in ground unprotected for 20 years but I've started protectin it to get fruit earlier.   If wrapped it hasn't died to the ground yet.  Last winter it was 5 below

Thanks for bumping this thread. I've been looking for a list like this. 

You can add "Dalmatie" to the list. It is a green/yellow skinned fig .

I've it since sept. 2010 inground - bought as a rooted tree of 50 cm height and a one centimeter large stem.
I think/would say that I'm in zone 6 as well; although 2012 sent me to Zone 5.
"Dalmatie" will grow in a small bush. I'm still evaluating it, and I might well next years remove the whole breba crop from it .
The reason for that is that the brebas from "Dalmatie" tend to go "funny" shaped .

In 2011, I had no "Dalmatie" breba and the main crop did ripe earlier / 15 big figs with seeds inside and flesh yellow/brown.
In 2012,  ... It survived, which was already a good thing - no ripe figs / None of my figs did ripe whatever the cultivar.
In 2013, I had brebas with some (not standard) "funny shapes" (2) and sort of blue flesh/ no seeds inside (5) / Those figs where shorter than in 2011 - I had then some 5 main crop figs, but the tree was still recovering from 2012 frost.
In winter 2011,2012,2013, I protected it with a wooden frame covered with plastic around - but not well tied sothat wind was going inside but not the snow and rain.
In winter 2014(now ad I'm posting - I know we are still in autumn as per my calendar but ok), I protected it to hopefully get more figs next year :) .

Now some remarks about my tree and its setup :
1. It is not planted nearby a house - and that would help a lot .
2. It is planted in a zone of gardens, so no one is heating his house in the vicinity .
3. I planted it directly inground in my clay ground - For my new trees I'm mixing the clay with 60L compost from a shop, and they are planted inground in a 80 L pot with removed bottom - for rodent protection and tying the roots as well.
 A daughter of my tree is growing in such a setup since september 2012. I'll see which one performs better in the future .
Both trees are at 1,80 meter in height - but one is more bushy, and the second has 3 stems .

I have other varieties, but they are still too new to report relevant information on them.
All my trees have protections this year, because I had some plastic bags at hand, and I bought some 80 liters pots to put around almost each tree . I removed the bottom of the pots to get the branches through -
Hope this will help my Snowwhites have a smoothly winter rest.

I'm curious about Lyndhurst White.  I've read several posts indicating it's very cold resistant, but it's not on the list above.  Does that mean it ripens too late? I'm interested since I'm in 6a/b and I just bought cuttings of it.  Thanks!

Calling all Lyndhurst White growers: Is this a cold hardy and early ripening cultivar? I've seen some comments in passing that indicate it may be. I don't know how much this cultivar is being focused on and "tested" though. I have a meager rooted cutting of the cultivar, nothing much to try out.

Luke,

NdC is not a cold hardy variant at all.

Navid.

Yes, Lyndhurst white is hardy.  I left it out in a pot all winter last year in zone 6b/7a.  It survived and was vigorous.  Not to mention it was great tasting.  It is top 3 light variety for me.  It was a little late, but everything was this past summer due to rain and colder conditions.

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Update on wintering over with mulch in "Zone 6b": Coldest winter in decades here, I think, hit back to back -9 degrees Fahrenheit but daily highs typically climbed above 10 degrees. I put a variety of 1 year olds and rooted cuttings into the ground in summer, cut them back to near ground level in fall and mulched them mostly under with wood chips and leaves. What I've learned is that by early May virtually everything buds back out. Varieties ranged from the reputedly hardier Sal's GS/EL and Celeste, and Hardy Chicago to the reputedly not so hardy LSU Purple and Improved Celeste, among others. The Mary Lane cultivar seems to be the only one trialed that has not budded out yet but it looks good so I expect that it will. (Anyway, I took three clones off it last fall and they are all doing well.)

Next report I suppose will be which of these sorts of in ground trials, if any, bounce back well enough to ripen fruit this season.

It seems the only serious damage suffered by these low cut trials was to a Stella fig that I gave the extra protection of a plastic tub on top. Some rodent found this to be nice housing beneath which to strip bark. Nevertheless, the Stella is budding out nicely from below.

Another quick update on zone 6 over-wintering and growing: