We are heading into a week or two of lows near 40F highs up to 70F, so I uncovered my two in-ground figs today. They were started as cuttings last winter and  planted in ground just to see if they would survive. Both one year old plants did fine. One has some minor rodent damage, having the bark eaten away in  a few places, luckily no girdling.
So it is possible, in zone 5b, to plant newly rooted cuttings into the ground  and have them, with adequate protection, survive their first winter.
Protection consisted of a circle of wire mesh around the plant, filled with leaves, mesh was  then wrapped in carpet,  more leaves around that, plastic container with ventilation holes over that, and more leaves, about a foot or more on the ground all around.

grant
z5b

That is great news Grant.
I think I am in a little colder part of zone 5a/b and it is a couple of weeks before I should uncover my in ground fig.
I could be wrong about that.

Grant, we have been planting young figs into the ground, off and on, for around 6 years. have never lost any, and we are in a zone 5. 

grant - can we see couple of pics if you have any available?

What variety of figs are they?  Are they planted near the house?  Also what exposure are they.  Nice job!

This is all good to hear guys, I will be putting out 20+ one year olds into the ground a year ahead of schedule. I am getting cocky now that I am in zone 7 and had several unprotected established trees make it through the mild winter with minimal damage. It is going to save me about a hundred gallons of potting mix that will be much better used for this year's cuttings.

Sorry Eli,
I did not take any pictures
Ed, One was planted against the southern facing wall of the house, the other was out in the backyard, in bit of a dogleg valley open  to the east, closed on all other sides. they were both natalina from Grimo.
Bob, I am in southern  Ontario, Nice to hear you are planting young ones inground as well, Most often we read that plants have to be 4 or 5 years old before spending the winter outside and in-ground. I did not bend them to the ground, but built the shelter up around their natural growth habit.
hey Driveway, normally I think it would be too early as well to uncover them, but with weather like that in the forecast, I thought better to open them up, not wanting them to possibly overheat, let them get some sun and air, and if it  gets colder again,  they are easily covered.
Brent, I think so too, Those two in-ground figs will be getting permanent neighbours this summer. I am thinking it will save a lot of time and trouble of bringing pots into the cold cellar for the winter.   I know this past winter did not have pronged periods of intense cold here, but heck, the tips on both plants are still green.

Grant
Z5b Kitchener, Ontario

Hey all this sounds good. You guys are giving me some hope. I'll have to experiment myself.

Congrats Grant, I too had good luck with my inground trees. No damage at all I uncovered them yesterday. I wrapped them with burlap then a lair of Tar Paper and a tarp and a couple containers with mothballs.

2 Year Old BT-MD


2 Year Old Celeste


Unk. Colasanti #3 rooted May 2011 and planted inground Aug.


1 Year Old Paradiso Nero starting to form breba's

Bob ,
I used your technique for winter protection.
When do you think you will uncover your figs ?
Thanks

It's funny. The more and more I go and see fig trees in backyards in NYC, I find they are not covering at all.

did you remove all the potting mix/ soil the plant is in before putting it in ground?

Nelson, Nice looking plants.
I also used the moth ball technique. I think for the plant of mine that got chewed up a bit that the holes were not big enough in my container to allow enough scent out.

Eli, I did not take all the potting mix off the plants, just planted them like I would any potted plant.

Grant