I have the plant for 6 years and the first years it grew very slow,in 2012 and 2013 it produced a handful of ripe fruits each,and ,then 2014 Winter damaged it ,to soil line and possible some root damage too,so no fruits in 2014.
2015 ,Winter just as bad as 2014,plant died close to ground level,but:
It grew well in Spring and started incipient fruits on June 15,and so plenty of time to ripe,till Oct 25,end of Summer here.
For it's size it is loaded with fruits,and i know how delicious they are when ripe, so i have to recognize ,that the tree finally adapted ,in ground here.
All i got to do is protect it even better next Winter!!.
Here is Preto, Today,very happy and healthy plant!.

 

That's fantastic news!  How did you protect your Preto during these past 2 tough winters?

I filled the chicken wire you see ,with leaves ,and ,in top I placed an empty trash bag,so the rain water will not go into the dry leaves.
That is it,and it only had about 4 inches alive,on the 2 main stem,that can be seen in the pix.
Of course i could have done better,but ,i have to many to take care,and so i did the best i could with what i had!.
As time goes by,I keep selecting them and so,my number of trees is getting smaller,but what is left is getting better,in terms of quality.

Edit note:This tree was never ,over fertilized using Nitrogen fertilizer,as some people suggest to do when tree does not want to grow fast.
In cold climate nothing but limestone and mulch should be used to grow fig trees otherwise the tree will be tall,large and dead next Spring.

Looks nice and healthy!
A candidate for some temporary greenhouse protection to extend the season and get the figs ripened?

Looks nice and healthy. Good luck.

Excellent, Herman.  I put a 2 year old Preto in ground this past May in zone 7.  I should be getting 6 ripe figs before the cold hits.  Good luck with yours.

Very nice looking tree, Herman2.

It never ceases to amaze me how you guys manage to develop such beautiful trees in such harsh climates.

I tried to grow some Litchie trees over here (they should resist to -4 ºC (24.8 ºF) when their are adult. I protected them with everything i could get my hands on, for their first winter, including a special UV white frost protection cloth.

That year we had a 30 year record low of -7 ºC (19.4 ºF) and they all died. I gave up. Maybe in the future i can build a greenhouse to be able to have some of these semi-tropical fruits i love.

Jsacadura, мои инжир каждую зиму подвергаются отрицательной температуре -10-12 градусов по Цельсию.

Vladis,

"All you winter figs have to endure -10 to -12 ºC (14 to 10.4 ºF) ?" Impressive!

I understand that some adult fig trees can endure -15 ºC but i doubt some of our Mediterranean adapted cultivars could resist those temperatures for long periods. They could probably survive but probably never produce a crop.

Looking good Herman.Looks like you got more growth on your fruiting
wood than I did.My in ground tree is only running 6"-14" of new growth
this year.

Herman congrats, great to see this variety adapting for you. When I met Jon in San Diego 4 years ago, I asked him to sell me a fig plant good for Northeast. I still don't understand why, but he gave me Preto. Now for 4 seasons it is one of my top 3 figs, amazing flavor. This year they are coming earlier than usual, my first one is dark and ripening as we speak.

That looks a lot better than my potted one!

If the FP can survive the last two winters then it must be home free.  If I ever get more space to put additional figs in ground I'll try this with my Preto.  I had about 14 varieties in-ground during the last winter with varying levels of protection and didn't lose any but they were all heavily damaged with some freezing to the ground.  Most will produce fruit though with some it will depend on how warm our Fall is.