Hi all! This coming weekend is supposed to be wicked cold with highs in the upper teens and lows around zero both days before rebounding. Will well wrapped / insulated unground trees suffer dieback at these temperatures for two days? It's been a fairly mild / seasonable winter and I'd be heartbroken if the extreme cold will permeate and devoid any protection on the trees. I'd hate to have considerable dieback because of two nights of single digit temps.

It Looks like u did a great job insulating your trees. Let us know how they do.

 Any one ever try to use the wire heating wraps for pipes on the figs?
Larry

One tree wrapped 30 more to go ? L

It will be very cold in Toronto region with weather forecast to hit -30*C by the weekend

Wishing everyone in cold regions that you get theough this cold front safely & including your plants/fig trees.

I have one celeste, one brown turkey, one black mission, and two kadotas. Each year is a crap-shoot although this past fall is the first time I took "wrapping" seriously. The one year inground small kadota that I wrapped for the extremely cold last winter of 2015 survived unscathed, except that I uncovered it too early causing it to suffer dieback.


I wrapped each tree with a first layer of breathable weed cloth, then a layer of pink insulation (as shown in the previous post), followed up with a handful of tarp overlaps with stones gathered at the base. While I feel confident that this is more than enough for adequate winterization, I'm worried that the extreme cold, single digit temps, will make any existing protection irrelevant. I hope that's not the case. I find that total dieback results in poor yeild during the growing season.

winter protection
Without an internal source of heat the wraped core will eventually drop to the outside temp.  Because of the wrap it will take many hours.  dieback seems to depend on final temp, length of time at the min. temp  and wind.  I have seen many figs wrapped in NY, some did not survive some winters which is why some were buried for the winter. 
I keep my figs and other non hardy plants in an insulated section of my garage with a heater set to 35 degrees.  I don't think outside wintering is reliable even here in Maryland.

All of my pots are cozy in the greenhouse for the winter. I wanted to water my pots yesterday. Even with snow in the morning, it was up to a balmy 38 by the end of the day. I watered them down with 300' of garden hose stretched from the house to the greenhouse because the irrigation system has been winterized. This was the first time they have been watered all winter but they looked great. It is an unheated greenhouse with 2 layers of rigid 1" foam insulation on the inside. Fingers crossed that this will be enough. I would hate to lose even a single one because of 2 days of cold.

**UPDATE**

Finished the experiment. Took less than an hour.

Supplies:

5 x 250w Red Heat Lamps
5 x Bell Weatherproof Portable Spike Light
5 x 50-ft Outdoor Extension Cords
2 x 15-ft 3-outlet Extension Cables
1 x 2-outlet Timer

Timer is set to 3 hours on / 3 hours off intervals. Had to go back to Home Depot and exchange the 125w clear heat lamps for the 250w red ones because the 125w didn't give off enough heat. I tested the heat intensity by moving the spikes around until I felt a little warmth on the tarp. The bulbs look close but I was surprised to find that the outdoor bitter cold environment significantly impacts the intensity of the lamp as opposed to using it indoors at the same distance. My hope is that the tarp absorbs just heat to prevent the trees succumbing to dieback from the bitter cold for the next 5 days. This winter has been quite mild that I'd hate for a short Arctic blast to cause significant dieback.

This setup may also come in handy during the early Spring to prevent damage to new growth during the inevitable night or two that temps dip below freezing after the trees have already been uncovered.

 

 

 

Figgi that is hilarious. I would have suggested wrapping with Christmas lights or heat tape, but pretending they are some kind of rotisserie sausages works too. The neighbors must now know that you are crazy. Before they were just thinking it. Lol Do what you gotta do.

Well this will surely put my inground Desert King and its wrapping to the test with -23c and -25c lows this weekend.

Here in Niagara they are forecasting -4F for 2 nights. 

The wineries in Niagara protect their cold tender grapes with giant fans. 
The air above the ground (i.e. 50') is some 9 to 13F warmer than the air at ground level so by mixing these the air at ground level is raised and reduces the damage to grapes.  
 
My figs are well protected so I am not concerned with just a 2 day cold spell.  Also the temps have been dropping gradually so this also helps.  Sudden temp drops can be killers. 
I will throw some old blankets over the younger figs to help them out for the next 2 nights.

Wow Paully, that is some real cold air you have coming your way. I'm hoping your in ground trees can pull through it, but that seems like a death sentence for all above ground wood. That converts to -22F, serious brrrrr.

You should take some cuttings of GR for your fellow Canadian Pino while the wood is still alive, good luck!

Actually Calvin I think Paully was just trying to rub it in to us Ontario members lol..... He actually lives in the tropics of Canada out west ;)

Fig11 You have to becareful  of one thing condensation it's bad enough with no heat source I lost a couple of trees that way I would imagine that the heat light would cause allot of condensation on the tree which would cause mold I don't have any trees in the ground anymore but I do know a couple of local guys that have trees in the ground for 20 years and they put a piece of PVC pipe going into the bottom on the ground and one coming out the top to give the tree ventilation Don't mean to be a know it all just something to keep in the back of your mind to look out for 

Heres the temps in my area 6B CT 

 

Right, thanks Tyler. Ixnay on the emergency cuttings, sorry Pino, not that I had anything to do with it anyway.  :) 

Turned on heaters in the shed for the first time this year.  Not complaining.  Temps suppose to dip into the
single digits on Sun morning here in NYC and shoot back up next week.  We should be alright.

For container figs stored in barn I have used roof and gutter de icing cable. 
It comes in different lengths I have the 31m' length that I thread around and on top of pots.  The cable is waterproof and only gets warm to the touch. 
it seems to have worked in last year's very cold February. 
This year have only had to use it a few times.  Next few days it will be on.
Next year I am thinking of trying this for my in ground figs.
Stay warm
 

Figgi, besides warmth, your experiment serves as a great light feature on your lawn! Nice job!

-14 F   here this morning. I have one inground Hardy Chicago near the south side of the house wrapped with multiple layers of straw, piled high with leaves, then wrapped with weed fabric and black poly. I have a remote thermometer sensor stuck in the middle of it that reads 10F this morning. The ground is heavily mulched with cedar mulch. I had hopes of the whole plant surviving  but now I am hoping for just growth from the ground up this spring. Next year I might put a 40w light bulb under an inverted metal coffee can near the base and run it during cold spells.  Good luck with the cold everyone!