What a treat to find a bunch of people besides me who love figs.   One of my favorite fruits.  Nothing beats being surrounded by the heady fragrance of fig leaves while eating fresh figs off the tree till you just can't fit any more.

I have about 6 acres that I've been working on making self sufficient (off and on as I was able) for 10 years.   To that end, about 8 years ago I planted 6 fig trees, 3 Brown Turkey and 3 Celeste.

I'm in east TN, right near the base of the mountains, and most years I do not get a fig crop.  The trees must regrow from the base or lowest foot of wood and, of course, the season ends before the second crop ripens.

The first couple of years I wrapped the trees in field fencing, stuffed with straw, and a tarp laid over the top.   I got some figs then, but I've not done much with them since, and paid the price for it.

I wish I had time to spend on my favorite things, but really, food production is all about survival for us, so I have to find quick and effective (and cheap) ways to do things here.

My parents have a fig tree that actually is a TREE rather than a bush.   It is planted in town, against the southern side of the their brick home, in a yard with a southern slope and other trees all around.   Fairly well protected.

I would like to take cuttings from my fig bushes and try to find a more protected location on my land so that getting figs would not be so time consuming in the covering-them-for-winter category.   But I'm not very skilled at propagation yet.

I failed at cuttings from them a few months ago.   I cut several branches, stripped the leaves, chilled them in the refridgerator for a week, attempting to meet chilling requirements I found online, then cut them into 5 inch pieces and sticking them into moist potting soil.   I can see several things that probably went wrong according to what I have read here this morning.

I was blown away by the very generous and thorough photo essay on propagating by scions that I found here using Google search.    The only question I was left with, was EXACTLY when to cut scions. 

May I take them just as soon as the leaves drop off - right before I cover the bushes for winter?   Or must I wait until February, and have to uncover the bushes in mid-winter and recover them?

The other things mulling around in my head - I have just bought some black tarp to cover them with.   As I stood there trying to choose between white or black, the black won because I felt the black would help to keep the branches and roots warmer, giving them more chance for survival.  Or should I have chosen white?   My plan was to throw the cover over the bushes (all about 6 - 8 feet high, and 6 - 8 feet in diameter), and weight the tarp down with boards or rocks.  I can't decide whether to try to pull the branches together, or leave them as is.   And I don't know if I should use straw inside.

If I want the heat from the ground to fill the tarp, I would not want straw being an insulating barrier, would I?     Or do the branches have enough heat in them that insulating them separately with straw would be more effective? 

Thank you for reading, and I appreciate all your thoughts on the matter.  :o)

Take cuttings now, if you want. If they still have leaves, strip them off, and take the cuttings a couple days later. Skip the frig and go directly to rooting.

- If you are going to root directly in the ground, which is very cold in your area since the plants die back to the ground as you mentioned, then a better time will be in the spring to take cuttings just when the buds are starting to open. But that requires that you will have live branches available.

- I do not think winter sun will do much harm under the black until spring if you be careful when it warms up in spring. At that time you may not need the tarp anyway since the temperature will be gradually going above freezing.So choose black or white.

- I do not think that filling with straw or leaves under the blanket will stop the geothermal heat from helping under the blanket. The effect could be minimized but not stopped but he straw will help insulating from the top and sides.

These are my views. Others may have a better view from experience.

Welcome Valarie!  Thanks for requesting advice on what to do with your fig tree.  You're goning to get a lot of different responses on what to do and you will learn.  Here is my advice.  You live in Eastern Tenn and I live in the Piedmont of NC in Charlotte.  Brown Turkey and Celeste is very very very common in the South.  Brown Turkey is very easy to propagate but some strains of Celeste can be tough and slow to root.  One piece of advice to you is if you take the cutting now, you going to have to keep an eye on them and keep the temperature good and warm for them to root successfully.  If you start the cutting now, just be prepared for some work.  In our neck of the woods, fig trees start going dormant in Novermber.  Winter hits us in January followed by snow, sleet and freezing rain.  I'm in zone 7b and we have 4 full seasons.  I got some cuttings from a friend but I'm not going to start propagation until March.  Heat and humidity are critical for figs to propagate effectively.  Try to get your hands on a few other awesome figs like Sal's, Hardy Chicago, Dark Portuguese, Ronde de Bourdeaux, Atreano and Strawberry to name a few.  These figs grow very well in our area and you be so happy with these figs.  Atreano and Strawberry are green figs with an awesome flavor.  Again welcome.  Cheers,

Welcome to the forum.  I would try some different cold hardy varieties than the 2 you have.  No offense to them but there are more cold hardy varieties (and certainly better tasting ones) out there.  As a matter of fact some of these same figs are easier to root (at least in my experience) than bt or celeste.  Send me an e-mail and when I prune my trees I can send some your way.

Thank you so much, everyone.

Pitangandiego - I wonder if it was your photo tutorial I saw.  If so, thank you very much for putting that online.

No, I wasn't going to put them in the ground.  At this point I was going to use the paper towel/baggy method, then put them in vermiculite when rooted.   I was hoping to have some viable transplants by spring.

Ottowan - that's where I was at concerning the tarp.   Thanks for putting in your two cents on it as well.  The straw sounds like a good thing, then.

I'm no expert figgy person, but the ones I've had from these two types have been very sweet and delicious, except for at the end of the season when they have no chance of ripening properly.    I've never tried other figs though, so have little to compare them to.   They seem almost too sweet and yummy to be fruit - almost like candy.  :o)

I think my Brown Turkey are more prone to fruiting, but the Celeste seem to grow a bit more.  

ejp3 - thank you so much for the offer of cuttings.   I will do so.  :o)  Even more cold hardy and better tasting?   That's hard to beat!

snaggle - Thanks for such a friendly hello.  :o)  I'm in zone 6b.  The figs leaves are turning yellow and dropping off at this time.  We can get winter snow anywhere from October to May - you never quite know when it will hit, or if you will get any.   But I'm hoping the Accuweather long range forecast for a mild winter is a sure thing, so I can get a lot of propagation time in.  We are still working hard out in the gardens and small fruits area on this first day of November, it's sunny and sleeveless weather, but heading only into the 40's later this week. 

ValerieEden,

Hope you guys won't mind but I need to jump in here.  Sarah, I lived in Marietta for 7 years in the 90s.  Now, I live in NC.  You and I are in the same zone 7B.  As you know the most common figs in our area are Brown Turkey and Celeste and some Mission.  There are hundreds of figs that will grow absolutely fine in our area.  You should think about a few things before deciding. 

1.  Do I want a black/dark fig or do I want a green/yellow fig?  The reason I say this is after growing figs for many years, the rich taste is different between light and dark figs.  As for dark figs, you just can't go wrong with Sal's, Hardy Chicago, Ronde de Bourdeaux, Dark Portuguese, Violette de Bourdeaux, Petite Negra, Gino's --- dark figs and Atreano, Paradiso, Strawberry, Brooklyn White, Green Greek -- green figs.  But there are many many many others that will grow fine that I did not list.

2.  Do I have lots of birds in my area?  For me, I live in a well developed neighborhood meaning I have lots of huge tall trees.  Bird and squirrels are everywhere.  Hawks keep most birds at bay but I still have too many!  My green figs are almost untouched by birds because they can not tell if they are ripe.

3.  Do I want a fig with a tight eye?  Some figs have a tight eye to keep insects out and some have an open eye that will ooze honey from the eye keeping insects out.

4.  Do I have enough sun?  Some people say figs need to be in full sun.  I agree with that to a point.  I have learned it depends on the cultivar and the age of the tree. This year I had several 3 year old trees in 5 gallon containers in full sun and guess what happened?  The leaves were being scorched and burned by the sun.  This did not happen to my Atreano and LSU Purple and LSU Gold.  When I moved them under a canopy the burned leaves fell off and new leaves grew and the tree was fine and produced more fruit.  Plus I have a 4 year Stella fig.  Last year I placed it in full sun and it was fine but it grew very slow and only produced 1 fig that was sweet and amber inside.  This year, I did the opposite.  I placed the tree covered on my deck and it produced 6 beautiful figs that were so red and so sweet!  So, full sun depends.

Just something to think about.

Welcome Valerie I live in. East TN also and will share some small plants if you email me. Best success surving a harsh winter with branches above ground seems to be by shelter such as a southern exposure near a masonry or concrete building and a enclosed courtyard is ideal. I ate a ripe Hardy Chicago, Sals and Patrick super giant on Oct 31. Most fig trees in open exposed areas where I live 50 miles north of Chattanooga start from the ground up most years

Dennis, thanks for the help narrowing down what figs  to choose to start with.  I have lots of birds, squirrels and chipmunks, so I will start with green figs. I have full sun to part shade.

Sir Lamps,

Thanks!  Yes, your advice fits exactly to what I find in this area.  I have a southern exposure on my house, but not really protected well.  Every once in a while strange things occur to me ~~ like erecting a 90 degree brick wall, V-ed open facing south, and planting several figs in it.  LOL

Shaded in summer, boy would that bake in the sun! 

You guys have given me some great ideas for the UC Davis scion wood order.   Thanks!

I keep trying to mulch and cover these figs, but the weather feels like May.  LOL   Sunny and 72 degrees.  

I know what's going to happen.  I am going to wake up, check the weather, and find out that I have exactly 59 minutes to completely cover 6 bushes before a sleeting arctic blast arrives.  

I love zone 6b.  It's schizophrenic. 

I'm going to need more straw though.  I hoped a 1/2 bale loosely dropped into the branches would be enough, but it's more like 1 and 1/2 bales.     These fig trees are more like 5 to 7 foot tumbleweeds with about 50 branches each.   I keep wondering about trimming down to only a few main trunks, but seems like I did that the first couple of years but it did not help with fruit production since it dies back every year beyond a certain height.   I think multiple trunks will give me a better shot at more fruit.