should I wrap my fig trees for the winter before the leaves drop? I live in New York City, zone 6 and the fig trees have not yet lost their leaves but the night time temperatures have dropped into the low 30s.  My trees are young  were planted from cuttings this year.

Ideally, you should grow out your cuttings for 2-3 seasons before setting them in-ground in your zone. If you cannot dig them up and pot them to store in a controlled dormancy location, then you will have to protect them. Here are some suggestions...  http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/travis/docs/FrostsandFreezes.pdf . Good luck!

I am in your zone and have not covered the figs yet.  I don't think I would ever cover them for the winter with the leaves still on.  I always wait until they are dormant and then make the decision to cover or not.

Hi Ed, I'm not to far from you in NJ. What are some factors you use if you decide to cover them?

Age, and specific cultivar.  If I had a vdb in the ground I would definately cover it, but not necessarily sals of corleone, latarolla or marseilles vs.  Also a spot close to the house on a southern exposure may preclude having to cover the tree. 

Thanks, Ed.

I wonder the same thing about my in-ground fig trees [Italian Honey and Desert King]. It's before sunrise on the first frost night [-3° C, 28° F]. They look pretty good but should I wait for the leaves to fall before wrapping them? I have time this weekend but not for a few weekends after that.

PS those of you who sent me messages about getting cuttings from me, I haven't forgotten you and have your messages. [some i responded to, others are in my inbox]  For some of you I didn't get an address so I will contact you.

Protect Desert King as soon as leaves fall.
If the Temperature are known to be well after 32,when first frost will happen,then,you must brake leaves off now to induce dormancy on Desert King only,in order to protect the minuscule incipient Embryos,that are there now at the base of leaf tho you can't see them with naked eye.
If not you run the risk of Embryos being killed by first late frost and so your fig will grow huge next year but no Breba fruits at all,while the main crop will fall off or taste like Rubber.

Hopefully I wasn't too late. When I got back many of the leaves were wilted from the frost, so I pruned them back [cuttings to be swapped] and covered them temporarily until I can wrap them this weekend.

I live on Staten Island, NY.  My figs, all seven trees, are not covered following there third year of growth. 

My B T fig trees are 3 years old and all leaves were wilted from the frost so I removed all leaves  and green fruits by breaking.

i have the same question i am hoping i can jump in on this.. zone 6A here.. queens NYC.... should i remove the green figs off before cocooning with burlap and plastic and the 5 gallon hat on top.

Hi charliethefig,
All humid (leaves and fruits are) material you leave on a protected tree is very likely to rot and you don't want the stems to rot.
It happened to me last year on a tree - I missed that bloody fig - and one fig got against the higher part of the main trunk and that created a brown stain and voilà the tree after that stain dried out and died.
The tree grew from under that zone, but guess I lost some 10 brebas with that forgotten fig.
Normally here, the figs get toast and fall, but as last winter was some mild, some figs made it through the winter on the trees, and that allowed for that fig to stay against the stem.
I left some of those figs as a test to know if they were worth it here in my Zone7, but experience showed me that although they made it through, they had brown stains from frost damage,
so for me, not worth leaving them on the trees.
I've been knocking figs on trees since end of September, but some trees did grow new figs since that date, and so I'm still knocking figs.
I, as well, left on purposes some figs on the trees to slow down the trees , especially on my "Dalmatie tree 2" .
Or she could have gone vegetative growth and that would have been even worst .

I've been knocking some yellow leaves on the trees for them not to rot on the trees, and I'll wait until we get -5°C at night for some days, to clean completely the trees, let the stems dry a bit (I don't want them wet at this point )
and wrap them and put the 80 liters trashcans at their base.
I have some trees that are now all yellow, while some others are still full green :( .

So, yes, before cocooning remove all humid material or be prepared for mold - and remember humid/wet + mild/heat = mold.

thanks guys as usualy for the information

This brings up the related question of when a fig that is just starting to develop late in the season is a main crop fig without a chance to ripen (and should be removed before winter) or whether it should be considered a breba (and should be retained).  I have a San Pedro variety Filacciano Bianco growing in-ground which has several figs around 1/2 cm to 1 cm in size and am wondering whether to remove them.  I do plan to wrap the tree.