I have a few small fig trees that were generously given me by some forum members, and one purchased as well from a farm/orchard nearby (in addition to all the cuttings I am growing).  Six trees were overwintered in the cold room of my basement, repotted up in size (5-1-1 mix w/ granulated lime and Espoma fertilizer), and are now overnighting in my garage.  In the past week, we have had nice weather 50s-70 in the day, so I put these leafless trees out in the sun, and have been bringing them inside at night since a couple nights were below 40.  

I am assuming that the trees will benefit from the sunlight with regards to awakening faster than if I just leave them inside at the same daytime temp, right?

And is there any point in keeping them in the garage during the day when a lot of rain is expected - these are 2-3 y old trees?  Or don't worry about extra water since they are older trees now?

if the soil mix drains well, watering is not much of an issue with old trees. they will handle it fine. only problem is when the figs are swelling. when the figs are swelling, more water/rain means less quality in the taste dept. some figs tho.. doesn't seem to matter on that either. 

Ed you seem to have done your homework on the temps for the fig shuffle.

Come to the dark side !

Ed,
Its the temperature that brings them out of dormancy... 50's at night 60's Days.
IMO, its probably better not to leave them out in the rain until the trees are actively growing, the roots are still dormant and may drown in excess water.
Good Luck.

We've had almost a week of warm weather but now it's going to dip into the 30s for a couple of nights. The bigger plants that are still dormant I'll leave out, but I'll be shuffling the cuttings as soon as the rain stops... I have a sunshade over them that also sheds the rain. I'm tempted to just toss a tarp over the whole thing, but I have too much invested in them to take the chance. Welcome to the wonderful world of figs.

welcome Ed.
Take them out in the morning, and if the temperture goes below 50 take them back in.
Good luck
Vito

The other thought I had about a lot of rain is that it will just wash out any fertilizer and lime I've added

don't know much at all about growing things. fig is my first real tree or whatever. 2011, and 2012, i used two different fertilizers. slow release and MG. the trees did very well. in 2013, we had lot of rain, but i changed my fertilizer to organic. not sure what happened, but tree didn't grow as much as i expected them to. i'm not blaming on organic fertilizer since it works for everyone else. this yr, i'm going back to top dressing with osmocote and giving MG every week till the figs are on and ready to start swelling or when the trees are at where i want them. 

MG stuff will wash out quickly with rain, i would assume.. but osmocote is the back up. it will release it on watering and rain. lime.. i toss couple of handful now and then when i remember them. they don't wash out easy. they turn to darn clay like things and hand around the top of the soil all the time. 

Hi,
Lot of rain will wash away the fertilizer, and expose the upper roots to air.
I use fertilizer as small balls - and once even with in ground trees, I saw a river flowing from my garden to the garden of a neighbor, and just guess what was swimming on top
of the river ... Most of the balls of fertilizer ... My neighbor did never thank me for that free bonus - but perhaps he never understood why his vegies were growing that fast ! ... And why the next
years they never would :( .
With rain you can have hail, and wind. Wind may well throw the pots to the ground, and eventually break some buds or stems.

But some rain is good, as it will wash the dust from the tree and her leaves.

I brought mine back in tonight only because of windchill and I already have a lot of winter damage, tomorrow night the windchill is not as bad but sunday I will bring them out again, small ones stay in the hoophouse and they are quite comfortable there.  One interesting thing is that the col de dama blanc seems to be the first one that wants to break dormancy, don't worry Martin I have a couple Noirs as well (2 darks for 1 white, I'm half way there to the darkside lol)

Oh no Vito, take them in if the night temps are below 50??? Uh oh.

Hi Donna.
At what temp do you bring them in?
Vito

One sure way to wake them up faster, since they don't need light, is to keep them in a warm (70's) area indoors for a week or 2 (to warm them up) before you start the shuffle, so long as it will be warm enough outside once they start to leaf out. I've tried it and it works.

40 and up. 50 and up to be safer. i brought all my new cuttings out tonight to the front porch that gets very limited sun. from what i have read.. and only what i have read, 42 and up will have root activities. not sure if that's true. but our temp will drop to 37 around tues or wed. i'm willing to risk it :) have too many cutting anyway and most of them are Kathleen's Black and mother tree is waking up wonderfully after 2 days of 80+ temp.