This is my First year for my potted Figs. However, I have a nice Bldg behind my house that's Insulated very well. What is the Normal procedure
with potted plants? Do I just put them in my Bldg. and just check on them ever so often? Does anyone use "Grow Lights" during the Winter?
I just want to make sure my "Babies" will be alright this Winter... Do they just go Dormant? Do you have to keep the moisture in the Pots while they are stored?

Any Help will be greatly Appreciated, I am very New at this and I really need some advice.

Thanks,

Frank from Bama

I kept mine in unheated garage with heat lamps 24/7.  They never lost leaves and continued to grow.  I also tried a standard 4ft shop light about 24" above my smallest trees and they did real well.  I don't know about grow lights as I think they are too expensive and what I did worked well for a heck of a lot less money.  I don't know about chill hours, I have lived in the Bahamas and Hawaii and neither has any chill hours and figs do fine there.  One thing I think I did see was that the leaves did turn yellow and fall off but replacement leaves were almost immediate, no apparent dormancy.

In conclusion, I don't know, I'm sure there a lot of opinions, that is what makes figs fun, each to their own.

I'm in the same boat and wondering the same things.  Also curious if the trees should be left out in the elements until the leaves drop and they go "dormant" before being pout away for winter storage.

I do know that the soil does need a small amount of watering to keep moist during storage, but I understand it is very little.

Another question I have is if sunlight is important if I'm letting them go dormant. I don't have a garage and my basement doesn't have windows with a lot of light coming in them

I am in Zone 5a where temperatures can dip to -25 deg C most winters during night hours (Occasionally dipping to -30C.
I have been storing my plants in two places, both places kept dark during the dormancy storage.
1. In a cold storage in the basement. After defoliation when temperatures start going sown below freezing, I water and drain the pots and take them down to the cold store which stays dark and at temperatures between 5~6C and 12~13C during the whole winter. In my case, the pots never need watering. The ceiling has always frozen moisture that start disappearing in late March. I usually bring out my plants in mid-late April. I have never lost a plant in this storage area.
2. For the past couple of years I need to store more plants in my attached unheated garage. I use small space heater to keep the garage temperature between freezing and 8C. Occasionally the temperature can go to -5C for a few minutes when garage is opened for a short duration as needed. These plants are stored after being well watered in the fall. These pots in the garage do show some dryness of the soil but not to the point of concern for the dormant plants until happily mid-late April come around,I will say I do have some 5% plants damaged or dead when stored in the garage. Few of these green up late  in June but do not fully recover because we dot have long summer so these have to be stored in the basement cold store to avoid further damage the following year.

My plants stored in the garage green up slower than the ones stored in the basement cold store.

I just started growing figs in the past year or two. I live in zone 6a. Last year mine went into my unheated, attached garage, some wrapped in blue tarps and others not. They all survived just fine. One note of of unknown significance is that an upstairs cold air return vent empties into the garage and the garage has an insulated overhead door. I do not know the average  temperature in there, or the diurnal differential.

Frank,
From my experience last winter, the trees should be kept just above freezing in a dark location.
I left several older trees out to test their reputed cold hardiness, and they were exposed to 15 Deg F, with the pots becoming completely frozen, then stored. A separate group was expose to 25 deg F but were then stored. The storage area was maintained at a minimum temperature of 30 deg F for most of the winter. The colder group (group #1) had dieback and a few plants died. The warmer group (group #2) leafed out and produced figs much earlier. There was an even warmer group (group #3) that was stored inside in an unheated room which varied from 45 to 65 deg F. This group leafed out even earlier, but fared about the same as group #2 once placed outside in the spring.

Unheated (or partially heated) space maintaining a Temperature of 30 to 45 deg F., with minimal moisture in the potting mix, was all that was needed.

hello, I will tell you that I kept my first potted fig indoors in warmth by the window for years, worried about it's fragility and youth, and it would leaf out in winter, but never produce figs, no matter what.  Clear lesson: dormancy and chill hours are imperative.  I lived in Alabama so I know what your winters are like, they are fairly benign.  An insulated, unheated garage will do great.  I water my pots at least once a month during dormancy, just a spritz out of the watering can.  My figs endure 25-30 degree F nights and have never had an ounce of dieback.  I do not wrap them, nor would I recommend you to do so since we are in the same zone 7b, even though I get colder winters by far.  If by chance there is a really cold snap I might bring younger, smaller pots indoors until the really bad cold passes, and I certainly will do that with my smaller specimens this winter. But put them back out once the cold snap is over.  Good luck!

Rafael

I like Pete's answer.