All varieties you are looking for on eBay for sale now from many sellers including Encanto farms.

A big push of cold air is coming to the eastern u.s.

Good luck to all that will be experiencing colder that normal temperatures.  Hopefully everyone is better prepared after last winter.  I feel bad as I saw buds on the cherry trees and we are going to have sleet and freezing rain next week.

Just a slight update....

So far, the recent weather has been just as bad as last winter's, even though December was not as bad as it was last year.  The deep freeze has started again here in The Bronx, NYC, and once again, the possibility of fig trees being severely damaged are very real.  Containerized trees are at the greatest risk.  Any trees stored in temps. between 35* and 45* F will probably do just fine, and will live to sprout yet another day.

My "Black Mission" that survived last year's winter, lived on, only to display a very bad case of FMV/D...and thepurchased replacement "BM" was just as badly infected.  Both were thrown in the garbage, where they belonged.  The tissue-cultured "Olympian" -Wellspring Gardens, grew rampantly, had no disease, and pushed figs, which were nipped off.  In addition to the "Olympian", I was able to get a few replacement unknowns,  from local sources.  All the trees are resting in my unheated shed, and the jury is still out as to their survival.   

If the current weather patterns are any indication of what can be expected in the future winters, it will be very difficult to keep grounded trees from being killed back in the colder climate zones.  Bronx winters were not as severely cold as the last winters, and I never had to contend with so much cold damage.   From my direct observation, many of the older, established, grounded fig trees growing in The Bronx, DID NOT survive from The Winter of 2013-2014.  Many re-sprouted, but just as many died.  Not a good sign.

So once again, I will wait out the remainder of this winter with crossed fingers. 

Good luck.

Frank

Frank,

   When you say the Oympian figs were "ripped off," do you mean stolen, or that they were removed to strengthen the growth of the tree?

Hi Dale-

Thanks for the interest. 

To answer your question....the baby figs on the young "Olympian" trees were nipped off, to divert available energy into making vegetation, and to strengthen the growth.  The "Olympian" tissue cultured trees were only a few months old when they started to set figlets...way too young to allow the figs to develop.  I think for the first 2-3 years, a grower should concentrate on strengthening the root system, encourage as much growth as possible, and establish the basic framework of branches...which was my goal with the "Olympian".  The figs will come in subsequent years.  Waiting is the hard part.

If these "Olympian" trees, which are now in cold storage, live, and re-sprout with the coming Spring, I will again, concentrate on growing as much vegetation as possible.  Big, lush leaves, means good roots.   The figs will again, be nipped when they sprout from the leaf/stem juncture.  I may allow one of two figs to reach maturity, just to see how they might taste.  It's hard to resist.  The rest of the baby figs will be pinched out, continuously, throughout the growing season.

I always try to follow the 3-year rule: ...The first year, it sleeps...the second year, it creeps... the third year, it leaps.  Roots first, roots and branches, second...then in year three, fruit/figs.

Happy growing.  Hope this helps.


Frank