Thank you for your expressions of sympathy and I very much appreciate the friendly offer of replacement trees. You forum members are the greatest.
Yes, it was a cruel massacre, but all is not lost. I will rebuild my collection (I can't be without tree-ripened figs), but on a much smaller scale. Because I have no alternative to growing containerized trees, I will limit the number to just a few, selected varieties. I also will limit container size to 18 gallons. Lifting heavy, 25 gallon containers, at my age, will surely guaranty that I will be planted in a quick-draining medium.
@ Rich in NJ....
The ambient temperatures in December dipped into the teens and low 20s but it was the prolonged, freezing winds, that did the killing. Wind chill factors made outside temps feel well below zero. The deep freeze never stopped for weeks. I am almost certain that the new wood that grew in 2013 was not yet fully hardened off. I stop all ferts. by mid July, and water only when trees look stressed. I try not to grow trees with too much water. But because my trees leafed out very late in '13 and I wanted to get to taste at least a few figs, I felt confident that trees would be just fine with my usual growing culture. . In retrospect, I should have stripped off the few figs that grew, and just grew my trees 'harder'. Dormancy stage started too late, and then trees got slammed with unexpected, plunging temperatures. The newer wood didn't stand a chance.
I never wrapped any of my trees. Didn't need to. NYC temps. in my area very near to the Long Island Sound, are always tempered, and far milder than the rest of the State. The vast areas of black top and cement also keep the temperatures on the mild side, effectively Zone 8-9 with occasional cooler periods, usually in Jan-Feb. But even then, the freezing weather never really lasts for more than a week before warmer temps. return. Not this winter. Once we were frozen, we stayed frozen solid for months, and we had plenty of snow too.
By the end of December it was all over for the trees. When I could finally break through all the ice, and snow that prevented entrance into my UNHEATED shed my trees were already dead. Putting them in the shed was just an exercise in futility. The stage was set, but I held out some faint hope that I would have at least some re-sprouting from the roots. I should have gotten them into the storage shed BEFORE the freezing weather hit, and I should have used some thermostatically-controlled heating source to prevent the containers from freezing solid. Even some light bulbs would have been better than nothing. Subsequent deep snows and icing conditions made re-entry into my shed impossible.
When Da Bronx finally defrosted a few weeks ago, I reluctantly, and delusionally-in-denial, went into the shed to check on the trees, and to behold all the new green buds that were sprouting and ready to burst. Instead, I saw desiccated stems, crispy twigs - that snapped with the slightest sideways pressure - and a sick looking yellow just under freshly scratched bark. As the trees further defrosted, I dug into the soil and noticed that the bark on the fat, major roots just slipped off. It looked rotted, and slimy, and smelled moldy. I know dead when I see it, and the trees were dead.
The sad reality is this: Take any and all precautions necessary, to prevent hard, prolonged freezing. Unheated sheds are OK, but you might need some supplemental heat source to prevent damages, or tree/root death. Cool garages are good too, with precautions.
I've said this before....growing fig trees is easy, keeping them alive -through freezing winters- is far harder. Now, I will practice what I preach....with new trees.
Hope this story helps.
Frank