Hi everyone,

Let me apologize in advance for introducing myself to the board with a question.  I live 45 minutes West of Atlanta, Georgia and I have recently started growing a number of figs.  I have for the last 4 years mainly focused on pomegranates, mulberries, and persimmon.  After reading these boards quietly for months, I cut down my gargantuan BT and Celeste trees.  I was never impressed with their taste and what I heard on these boards convinced me that  I had to try something new and I'm now trying to grow a broader variety of figs.  On to my question...To make a long story short, I ordered cuttings from UC Davis 4 years ago.  One of the varieties I rooted was BM.  After I rooted it, I put it in a sunny spot in my back yard.  Unfortunately, it did not flourish.  This fall I dug it out and brought it indoors thinking that this might help it strengthen it.  After a month of being indoors, its one branch stayed green but otherwise there was no change.  Three weeks ago in the midst of an unseasonable warm week of weather, I planted in a different spot outdoors.  Stupid, stupid move...the recent cold spell likely killed it.  Should I leave it in the ground and hope that it comes back from the roots in the spring?  Or, should I get it the ziplock/spaghnum moss treatment?  I would be incredibly grateful for your collective advise. And, let me apologize again for the abrupt way that I have intruded on the board.

Utes

Welcome to the forum!  Nothing wrong with asking a question.  Black Madeira pops up on ebay fairly frequently.

Die in the upper 40's   Really???

Wow,

I really did not realize  any were that sensitive?  I see where that was written, but I wonder if might have been something different than cold damage, and I sure respect Martin's opinion. Mine has survived that, and I really never thought any would be damaged until close to freezing if dormant. Now you have me worried about my BM

Sorry Utes Welcome F4F , Meant to state that prior to concern over my BM.  I am north of Atlanta dabble in a lot of those same fruits Which pomegranates, mulberries, and persimmon  have done best for you. I think these last few days I was 1F may be a benchmark between my dreams and reality on some them

that's what i read too. mine spent 3 days in mid 30 and were fine. not sure if it was because they were in larger pot and sheltered from wind or not.

I have several BM that were started from green cuttings this year. They are fully leafed out and growing. Until this cold we are having now they were living on the back poarch with night time temperatures in the mid thirties. They have been brought in because the temperature has been dipping into the mid teens. It's 6:20 AM, 34 degrees this morning and they are moving back to the porch.

I have two other BM's that I started from cuttings I got from KK on ebay that grew like weeds and I have one started from a cutting I got from the USDA at Davis that has reached a height of maybe 6 inches and about the size of a pencil in diameter,the same for their Black Ischia. I believe it's FMV or another problem as I have read others did not have the best of luck with these varieties when started from cuttings from the USDA.

Mine routinely sees -6 Celsius several times away with no die back, the first winter is the worst for them, I have heard that is when they are most susceptible.

I don't have the  BM, but what I have notice with some of the varieties that I do have is that it may be a combination of temp and or a wet location.  I found that a variety that I had died back to the ground several times until I moved it to a dryer location and has been fine ever since.

What happened to dieslers plant was a fluke......figs are just not that sensitive.  I left my recently started one gallon plants out last year in temps in the mid 30's overnight and they did just fine.  

My Black Madeira is growing in the ground. Winter temps here often drop into the 30's and can occasionally even drop to the upper 20's. The tree is fine.

To the original poster, if you had never dug it up there would have been a good chance that it would have grown back from the roots even if the top was killed back by the cold. Since you dug it up and replanted it the disturbed root system may not make it. If it was me I would either pile a lot of mulch around the base of the tree and hope the roots survive, or dig it up and bring it inside in a pot. How badly damaged does the wood appear to be? Does the wood look wrinkled or dried out?

I really appreciate the advice.  I will do as you say and mulch it up.  I checked the stem today and it does not look good.  What a shame!  For what it's worth, I have left it unprotected for the past three years and it has survived temperatures into the low twenties (perhaps even colder).

Black Maderia, Smith, Strawberry, Black Jack and a few others do not like very cold weather. Smith being one of the worse! I would not move it again until later on this Fall. You've already double stressed it and BM is not a strong tree. So, I know it's not happy. Depending on its root ball, size, and height I would tower it with a lot off leaves or burlap because winter is not over. I think the roots may still be good and it might grow back but I wouldn't grow it out in the ground again. But this is just me talking and my experiences growing one of the best trees, the Black Maderia.

Utes, trying to grow the Black Maderia can be a challenge for a newbie. I think we've all been in your shoes reading about these so call "best tasting" and then when we get one it disaster strikes. Again, we've all been there. Many friends here will offer advise and I gave you part of mine. Here's the other part:

There are so many others figs to try for your climate and mine that you will love. Try some of these figs, Tacoma Violet, Marseilles Black, Excel, Hardy Chicago, Black Mission, and Atreano. These figs grow fast, taste amazing, and easy to grow.

Utes,
Fig tree's respond to amount of daylight hours and air temps thus knowing when to start to prepare themselves for dormancy and or wake up from it.
By moving them such as you've done coupled with disturbing its root system it throws them off kilter with the temps, natural sun and indoor filtered lighting.

Perhaps as above poster mentioned insulate well for the winter season in your area as moving it once again
 is not good for the plant and hope for the best.
Good Luck

Alan no never said its one of the most cold hardy trees around in post #18 or #20.

Any fig tree as it gets older and used to the climate will gain some more ability to resist cold.  This is only resistance and dependent on many things such as fertilizer, health of the tree, your local climate etc.  I haven't had a problem letting it get exposed to -8 celicius for 6-8 hours several days in a row, I may just be lucky though, or my tree is healthy enough to handle it, but not for extended periods.  My reason for doing this is all my trees get exposed the same to the cold other than young trees in 3 gallons or less, once they get into the 7 or above gallons they will see that cold weather, as suggested above, treat it with kid gloves any young tree, and if you have no back up, err on the side of caution and don't let it get too exposed at the wrong times in fall, winter or spring.  A lot of people I have heard loose their BM on the first winter in storage or in ground in warm locals, and others have no problem.  

CHivas, that's good to know.  I let all my trees get some cold weather.   I have one BM that I got 3yrs ago.   It was huge when I got it.  I paid a  hefty price for it including shipping but it was a full grown tree.  I got mine in early Fall with figs on.  It was in a 5gal pot.  I upped the pot to 15gal and after it fruited and made me proud, I winterized it inside my garage.  The next year, it did great but that winter, I did not winterize it.  Temps dropped down to 22 a few times in November  and again in January that following year.  That freeze burned a good third of my tree.  It did not grow as strong as previous years and that could be due to a crappy year last year.  This year, I decided not to take any chances.  I moved it back inside my garage in late October. 

I'm in zone 8a but we do get very cold night and sunny days.  Three days ago, we had 6 degree temps and today we're back to the 50s which is normal till February.

When I lived in Illinois, I wanted to plant a fig tree.  But what I learned about living up North is...when the ground gets cold, it stays cold, then comes the sleet and snow and gray skies all the time.  I know its a challenge for everyone living up North with a fig garden.  I tip my hat to you guys!  But even in my area, in my research BM and Smith do not like cold temperature.  They just don't come back as strong.  My Smith is in the ground and did well the first year in that spot.  Today, I am considering digging it up and placing it in the largest pot I  can find.  To me, Smith isn't nothing but an ugly Black Maderia.  They taste pretty much the same.  And the tree is so hard to find in nurseries.

Last year I did not fertilize much.  But this year, I will be giving all my trees monthly liquid fertilizer and wish for a super fantastic year!

Cheers!

I fertilize my BM heavier than the rest of my trees, maybe don't try this yourself though if you have no back up.  I use tripple the label on fish fertilizer because at first my BM was growing slowly, it started to go the first year, then the second year it really took off and this past year it really grew wild where I was able to share cuttings with some people.  I think it needs encouraging with fertilizer if not growing very well, but do in small steps, if you are using half strength try a feeding at full and see how it does then another at full if it is still ok, then maybe 1.5 strength etc until you get the results you want but proceed with caution and don't blame me if it kills your tree the fish fertilizer is not as strong as chemical fertilizer.

Baud uses 7-3-10 twice then one 6-3-10 fertilizer.  Too much phosphorus can block calcium and iron which figs need so you might want to be careful how much phosphorus you put on you generally don't need a lot of it for fruiting plants.  Nitrogen can harm roots but depends on its form, ammonia and urea can burn them easily, nitrate and nitrite are much safer and what organic fertilizer gets converted to for plants to take it up.

i've been using nothing but chemical fertilizer until last yr. i think my previous fertilizing schedule worked better than organic fertilizer i changed over middle of the yr.

this yr, i'll be going back to MG fertilizer and slow release in the spring. when the main crop starts to form, i'll cut over to organic again.

I over winter my figs in my garage where the temp goes down to 25f or there abouts on very cold nights. I've yet to loose a fig storing them in this garage. This winter I do have (4) 1 gallon Black Madeiras and (7) Pretos along with about 150 other figs in 1 gallon pots. If I loose any I'll certainly post about it but as they are out of the wind I'm not very worried. I worry more about missing a few and having them get too dry.

I generally keep my larger black madeira in a pot on the deck until temperatures fall into the lower 20's, then into the garage. The pot will be frozen as hard as a rock. So far it has never even had frozen branches, but low temperatures here do not usually last that long (overnight and warm up the next day). Small figs go in the crawl space once temps hit the 20's. I am afraid to see what the 10 F temperature we had recently did to my unprotected in ground fig trees and pomegranates.