well as far as i can tell this is the death list from the brutal winter we had.

VdB only one i had
Albiquie Petite only one i had
black bethlehem
MvsB all 3
Sal's Conly one i had
Raspberry fig only one i had.
RdB 1 of 2
osbourne prollific only one i had.
Hardy chicago 1 of 2 




all the rest have been top killed but are sending out new shoots.


how has this past winter treated you?

Dave, that is awful! Do you feel a little like the biblical Job?

Dave, sorry to hear of your losses.  It may be valuable for those members in cold climates to know which ones survived.

e-mail sent

it was kind of a test to see what was cold hardy, and what i have read was. now a few including the vdb and 3 others where in an unheated green house over winter but still didnt make it.

Im taking notes and seeing what works here, will post all my findings.

Thanks for sharing this info, particularly the ones that made it through!

Dave - sorry for your losses. It would be very beneficial to know what the lowest temp hit and the fig varieties that did make it. Also how were they over wintered? All in the unheated greenhouse? I have started putting a few extras in ground to see if I can protect them through the winter so any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Well here is mine...
Excell
Atreano
Ponticelli
Pastiliere Baud
LSU Scott
LSU Purple
LSU Black
Nero 600m
Izbat An Naj
Triana Calabrese
White Triana
Popp's Purple
Petite Negra
Sorrento
Giant Black Geraim
Florea
Jolly Tiger var.
Valle Negra 3 total
Fico Gentile 3 total
Dauphine
Pied de Boeuf
Tena
Syrian Long
Sultane
Stella
Pissuitto Nero
Tarantella
Longe D'Aout
Brooklyn Dark
Paradiso Bronze
Vesuviana Bianca 3 total
Kesariani
Flanders
Kadota
Tarrell Red
Yellow Celeste
Black Bethleham
Brunswick
Sweet George
And last for now 
Maltese Falcon 2 total
Yes, 2013 2014 winter really sucked!!!!!
and the death toll may still go up......

wow...

Holy moly Mario and dave, sorry to hear that the winter had no mercy on ya'll. This past winter I lost a hardy Chicago but I'm positive it wasn't because of cold weather, not sure what did it in though.

Dave, Scott, and Mario.
I tried a first year Natalina buried under about 8" of soil in my flower garden this past winter and piled snow on it whenever I shoveled out the driveway and it came through alright. It has been unburied for a week and a half and the buds are swelling up now.   I lost the tender green tips because they got frosted before I even buried it.    I tested out the Natalina because I had many of those and could afford to lose one if it didn't work out. 

 So if you live in a very cold climate just bury the earlier ripening varieties so you'll have time to harvest before burying again.

Hope this helps.

Mario what kind did the best through winter for you. All of those unknowns I got from the NY area are growing back quick. I was hoping to try the fruit this year, but now I wonder if I'll get figs at all.

Nah job had it far worse and still kept the faith.

Pete and Ryan
There are still a few more that have not started...
Pan e vino dark
Blue Ischia
Fico Nero De Duemane
Genovese Nero
Niagara Black
Panachee
Black Greek
One thing I noticed is that most of these plants were in 2 or 3 gal. trade pots,
were 1yr old plants,
were inside unheated block/brick garage,
were watered once a month with just a little water,
but the one thing I saw was that 75 to 90 percent of them were started with root riot cubes.
When I checked the roots,everyone that died that was started with the root riot cubes had rotten roots from the cubes not braking down.
Also I had 1 Hardy Chicago that was left outside unprotected in 10 gal tub come though unharmed!
It was sitting outside of the south wall of garage with leaves that covered it up.
Go figure!!

Dave
Hardy Chicago
Yellow Lebanese
Hunt
Nordland
Salem Dark
Lsu Gold
Danny Delight
Ronde de Bordeaux
Latturula
Sal's el
Tacoma Violet
and Malta Black had no die back.

I didn't cover any fig trees this last winter, Here's what was in the ground and what have survived for me. All the branches are dead, but here's what is Alive and sprouting back.

Brooklyn White (alive)
Brooklyn Dark (no signs yet)
Dark portuguese (alive)
LSU Gold (alive)
Syrian #2 (alive)
Syrian Honey (alive)
Sal's EL (no signs yet)
Sumacki (alive)
Celeste JR (no signs yet)
Blue Celeste (No signs of life yet)
Ronde De Bordeaux (Alive)
Matta (no signs yet)
Macool (Alive)

So very sorry to read about all these fig obituaries.  This litany of death is just terrible, and seems to have no end. Everyday the death toll keeps rising, especially for those cooler-climate growers.  While I took a bad hit with my trees, it was nowhere near as bad as the losses experienced by others.  My condolences.

I have already started to think about a new plan for storing my figs, come this Autumn.  It involves using a small heat source, "WILT-PRUF", and getting the dormant fig trees into my unheated shed, earlier, and before any hard freezes hit my area.  I learned my lessons, the hard way...and I want to avoid any possibility of a repeat performance.

"2013-2014 Winter"...good riddance!


Frank

@Dave
Did you do anything to protect them, assuming most were in-ground?  If not, was that part of your test, to see which ones could survive the worst winter in 20 years (no sarcasm intended)?  That would sure say a lot as to the hardiness of the survivors!

It would be so nice to have some varieties that could go in-ground and unprotected in Northern Indiana.

Yeah all are in ground but a few. 27 in ground. . Nothing to protect them. Trying to find the Hardy ones. This is the first year my Hardy Chicago got top killed. IM adding some other said to be Hardy figs to the mix.

I lost a bunch of varieties too, including garage-kept 1 year old babies.  I'll just list what survived in-ground:

8 out of 9 in-ground trees survived without protection, but all have new shoots from the ground.  Everything above ground was dead.  These were planted around June of 2013 from newly rooted cuttings.

Alive

• Dark Portuguese
• Longe d' Aout
• LSU Gold
• Atreano
• Bari
• MBVS
• VdB
• UNK 'Carini' - 4 yr old

• Negronne - I will say it isn't planted in the most sunny spot, which may be why it's dead or slow coming back

Mario,
Why do you think the roots rotted because the root riot cubes did not break down. I'm not disputing your conclusion - just interested in how you got there.
thx

I still have no growth on Petite Aubique, Genovese Nero, Acciano (Paradiso Nero), Ronde de Bordeaux, but I think they are still alive. I lost 3X 187-25, 3X Black Fig 1, 1X Kala Heera, and all of the air - layers I took from my in ground trees last year. I also lost all of my extra pomegranates. I'm not sure I can make a distinction between those started in Root Riot cubes and those not. I did notice a marked difference between those in 1 gallon containers and those in 2 gallon containers. I lost <70% of those in 1 gallon, but RdB and one of the 187-25s are the only potential casualties in 2+ gallon containers.

I am sorry know that many of you have lost many fig trees. I put about 40 trees in the shed and about 70 trees under the partially opening deck. I took all of them out in early spring and found out most of them had nice tree stems, only a few trees had dried tips. I only repotted one tree, one-gal White Triana.  6 Last year, I did not have enough experience in growing fig trees; therefore, I used mostly potting soil. There were a lot of rain in my area in the early spring. About a month ago, I started to see most the branches on my trees died. I found out that all of my trees had rotten roots. About 60% of my trees died from rotten roots. I transferred others to 2 1/2, 4 inch and one-gal containers. I hope all of these trees survive. By the way, the repotted White Triana is fine. All in ground trees died to the ground. Thanks for sharing. 

Best,
Tam