If I can help please PM me.
So sorry for your loss. 

My figs were frozen solid (a couple in SIPs) for many weeks maybe even months this past winter. After all the garage was below freezing for a month or two. They have not woken up yet but they look good. Let's see how it goes

Frank and Rafed: I send my sympathy to both of you for your loss. Thank you for sharing.

Best,
Tam

Started uncovering this weekend. Unfortunately it looks like I lost both my Malta purple/reds and possibly my Sicilian Blk. I too am holding my breath on all the others. Time will tell.

Rafed I'm so sorry . It's just heartbreaking.

Hello All!

I came here, SPECIFICALLY, to start (or find) a thread just like this one!!!

I've been bit with this fig obsession since 1998, the year my Dad passed away, mostly in desperation of wanting to keep the fig tree he planted in my yard alive. Ya see, I never took the time to learn the details and to be honest, I'm not even certain that he learned as much about them as I did since that year. And perhaps, I have a long way to go yet.

This past winter was BRUTAL, I was worried all winter long with the arctic temps we got blasted with week in and week out, all I could do was hope for the best. Well, I'm about 90% certain I lost my entire fig collection, about 45 pots in all, which included approximately 30 different varieties that have been accumulated over the past decade by various means. Mostly from the great members of THIS forum, swapping out cuttings, and buying about a dozen over the last couple of years as well. I was most excited about acquiring my Panache just last summer. Well, I'm so tired I'm pretty sure I'm done....for now anyway. I'm close to retiring from my career and pretty sure we'll be relocating to Tn. in as little as 2 yrs. I suppose it would have been a p.i.t.a. anyway trying to move 50 pots so maybe this was a sign???

Very frustrating day to say the least, I spent about 4-hrs out there today in hopes I'd see some positive signs while unloading pot by pot out of the shed but nothing real encouraging. I think the larger pots MAY have some life in them but most all of the branches are pruned up and dead so I'll have to cut them back. The ONLY good news to come of the day, SURPRISINGLY, was my 4 in-ground figs appear to have survived. I had plenty of die back, and one has a little bit of mold on the limbs but otherwise they look alive.

Hope the others here fared better than I!!!

http://500px.com/FrankOrtisi/sets/fig_obsession

I guess part of the fun of this whole fig thing is experimenting and taking chances. I took a chance with a 2 year old unknown fig (an airlayer of another inground fig that I lost the tag for and have no recollection what it is) that I had that really did great last year. It was originally in a 1 gallon pot and I planted it in the ground in a very sunny place. It grew over 4 feet, had lush foliage and many figs, most did not ripen but the few I ate were really good. I wrapped it in burlap, with muslin over that, tied it, stuffed it with leaves and then foamcore(insulating board), tarped it and roped it down. A couple of tubs of moth balls and a small prayer.
Uncovered last week, the muslin was wet on one side and moldy as was the branches. I cut it back to where it looked good and here is a picture of my 8 inch tree. It feels solid so I am hopeful the roots are still good. Will post pictures in summer. I put wood glue on the cut ends.
Still a work in progress. I recommend against using a material like muslin. I used it because I got a lot of it for free and thought it would hold the leaves in nicely. I will not use that again.
 

Wow, looking at this sad tale...Makes me sorta happy that my trees only had severe damage.  I was out biking the other days, and I see pretty much all of the in ground figs not budding out like they should.

I do want to suggest that the wet summer and resulting rust damage probably played a role in my figs not hardening off as good as it could.

I got my small old lemon through this horrible winter, but sadly the young one that still had a nice trunk isn't sprouting any new leaves just yet.  Hopefully it will do so somewhere high up and not just barely above the graft union like the old lemon.  Pomegranate is fine.  Loquat and bay laurel took a little damage, but they're fine.  I understand that Cliff England nursery lost all their kakis, and will stop experimenting with them...

My botanical condolences are extended to all forum members that are reporting losses, and badly damaged trees.  It's a miserable thing to lose fig trees.

Thanks for all the stories describing the many failures, and for the possible reasons as to why your trees were badly damaged.  We can learn from these experiences.  Die-back, moldy, slimy bark, ineffective covering methods, containers that were frozen solid, etc. all these details just add to our common knowledge.  We can all learn about what NOT to do.

Frank

A dozen or so, mostly first year trees, had die back in my orchard this year. And this is Florida!!
I lost my inground KB's and RDB's, cddb, NdA , Fracazzano Nero etc etc.
The good news is all but a few of these trees will grow back even stronger. One or two are gone for good, but I have replacements,
Other good news is that those that didn't die have proven their mettle and garnered my respect.
Over the past few years, I've learned to take a breath and make lemonade from these types of events.

Sorry :(

Frank i like your analogy.

Martin, winter die back is nature's way of pinching the tree. Thank you mother nature. ;))

In our community garden on Roosevelt Island - under the 59th street bridge - we had over 10 fig trees some over 15 years old and pretty large. They ALL appear to be dead. The whole garden is green with new growth and they are just skeltons of brown.
I'm not sure if wrapping would have helped this time.

Johnny- The roots are certainly alive on older trees. If there were no low buds on the trunks they will take much longer to grow back. Any weeds should have already been removed from the bases of the trees so the new growths can get sunlight, be very careful weeding and look out for low branches that have touched down on the ground and rooted. The trees will come back weedy, with too many growths. Remove all but 3 healthy growths as well as the dead trunks to reshape them.

Welcome and feel free to start a new topic about the trees.

UPDATE to Post #1

Atreano, Red Italian, Black Mission (older tree), and Bryant-Dark ...dead.  Roots and trunk rotted.

Surprise!  Tissue-Cultured, Black Mission....might be alive!  I managed to get these trees into my unheated shed in late-December, and I pulled them out about a month ago.  Scratch-test shows some green, so maybe buds will start to break soon....hopefully. 

Frank

How is your replacement quest going? I would like to help out also.

I have a  50 years Japanese maple ,(Bloodgood),that died ,half canopy,on northwestern side,due to the cold winds ,this Winter!.

Frank,

Check you PM.

C.J.

Frank,

We had frost in the Catskills this morning.  If it makes you feel any better, I have been in the same boat more than once (including this winter), either from fungus gnats and mold, well-meaning plant sitters, weather or critters. 

I have a relative who is a Kansas farmer.  He once told me that he had spent half of his life praying for rain and the other half of his life praying that it wouldn't rain.  No matter how large or small the scale, agriculture is nothing but legalized gambling...but we keep trying.  (Look up Einstein's definition of insanity.)

C.J.

I am surprised Herman, bloodgood is a standard here for japanese maples and I have seen many specimens 15 feet tall.  Personally I have the lion's mane japanese maple that suffered little dieback (only 3 years old so she is tiny) and a floating cloud japanese maple that have minor die back.  Both are protect from the east and the south east as well as north east.  

I was suprised that my sweet bay magnolia which is not in a very friendly location and exposed had zero die back and retained a couple leaves (only 1 foot tall).  

Just waiting on two in ground fig trees to sprout, 1 may not and waiting for about a half dozen potted figs to sprout.

Distressing to read that still more reports of badly damaged and killed off collections continue to be posted.  Losing trees is really tough to bear, and in spite of all the precautions that we take, Nature calls all things under the sway of her laws.  For growers in colder climates, it's all a big gamble. 

Good luck for the coming fig season.


Frank

These heart touching stories show how amazing fig trees and their relationship to man is.

In all the stories there is some degree of success and learning growing figs.  I find it amazing that fig trees show amazing resilience out of their natural climate zones and equally amazing how people's love of figs and ingenuity triumph every time. 

I am sure we all learned a lot this winter and our figs in the future will grow even better:)

Pino-

You are correct.  Fig trees are very, very, special.  Sometimes they are the only link that we have to our past, or, to beloved members of our family who have passed away.  I have NEVER read any postings on this forum that started:...."my grandfather had a special apple/peach/pear tree that he brought over from the old country"....  It's always about a treasured FIG tree, that we write about, that we worry about, that we mourn about. 

I guess we are the only creatures that can become sentimental, can be saddened, by the loss of a favorite, fig tree....especially, if it is an heirloom fig tree.  Many of us grow and nurture "Memory-Trees"...making the loss, far more bitter.

Figs are special.


Frank

Anyone have a happy story about a in ground surviving? My 5 1 year old potted figs all survived this winter. It got down to 9 degrees where they were and stayed below freezing for weeks on in. They are just budding out now.

Hello Viv-

Tough to read about your Col de Dame Blanc.   I wish it was different.

Yes, fig growers are special.  They "bond" to their special trees.  The "Red Italian" (unidentified) that I grew from a skinny twig was my dad's favorite fig.  He couldn't wait for me to bring him some ripe figs from this tree each morning.  While sitting in his favorite spot at the kitchen table, he could look past the screen doors leading to the back deck where this tree was growing.  He loved it when song sparrows landed on the branches and rested in the cool shade.  My mom, whose memory was erased by Dementia, had no idea who I was anymore, but when I brought her some 'Atreano' figs, her eyes got brighter, and remembered happier times, I'm sure. 

Both parents are gone, the trees are gone, memories and some poignant tears, remain.  I will continue to grow fig trees because they connect me to my past.  They provide a cure for what ails you.


Frank