I'm a wanna be new fig landlord just getting the fig tree addiction, and I live in zone 7 Tn. and I have found a dozen people in my small county that have 1 or more fig trees  in their yards and all those  this year have green figs now but none that have ripened yet. I stopped at a lady's house today and she had a fig tree growing under a cypress tree and she told me it has figs on it but they never get ripe. I looked at it and it is in the shade 90% of the time although it looks to be a viable plant. Also fig had old dead canes all through it so it has never had any attention I'm sure. All the other fig trees here also have had no ripe figs this year or the same words from them. They never get ripe anyway and most have tried to destroy them but to no avail. They come right back from the stump. None have ever been fertilized, protected in winter, pruned, ect, ect, ect. All I have seen with the exception of one man from Lebanon who knows his fig history and all info about them he has told me aligns with what I've gleened from this forum except his figs are beautiful against the south wall of his large house, but only a few green figs on them, none that are ripe and frost is expected this Sun. so Bye Bye green figs on all of these tree. Again his are beautiful but he does not protect them or care for them anyway except, he told me he cuts them down to the ground every 2 years is his management program. And he only likes dark figs he told me, and he only eats them fresh when he has a few.  Most all the fig trees(bushes) I have seen with the exception of a couple appear to BT or Celeste type as best I can tell by their leaves, which I know really doesn't mean a whole lot so my question is this, Am I wasting my time. I plan on being pro active in my figs and do all the things I can to make them produce in my area. It can get cold here but figs are in Canada for goodness sake so it can't be just the cold because all these people who have these trees have had them for years and some decades but little fruit. Is it the landlords and their upkeep of their trees or are  figs that selective on setting fruit. It has been very dry this summer. 

Hi tnsigger,

You are in Zone6. So you should go potted trees. Fig trees are hardy to Zone7 but one needs to use some tricks for better production ( careful watering, fertilization and winter protections).
You could use (winter) greenhouses too.
In the wild, except for some milder Winters and warmer Springs, you'll have hard times and green growth but not so much fruit production.
You would need to have a named strain that is adapted to those harsh conditions. Don't go take any wild cutting, or you'll pave your way into the toad kissing experience - which is fun sometimes but boring in the long run. Even in Zone7, I removed one strain and I'm close to remove a second - both unknown obtained through trades.
So far, my best spent money on figs was with my Dalmatie. Well, no, it was on the ufti strain that I got for free :) .
There are infos on this forum and in the book or site of M. Baud on strains more adapted. Brunswick, real Brownturkey, Dalmatie, healthy Longue d'aout to name a few.
Good luck, and remember: hopes keep us going ! But you need good feeding to your hopes for them to come true...

I used to live west of you, (I assume since you mention Lebanon as one place that you have checked figs) in the Jackson area. I live in PA now in zone 6B. My experience in both places is that BT and Celeste will hardly ever ripen after a hard winter when they freeze back to the ground. I would recommend planting Hardy Chicago and or Olympian. Both of these produce for me even if they freeze back to the ground. I do give them some winter protection and last winter neither one froze back completely.