Someone on the local freecycle was giving away fig trees they had just dug up in the morning.  I managed to rope a buddy with an SUV into helping me, and managed to haul away three rootballs.  I put two in the ground and one in a 10 gallon grow bag.

The people who dug them up could only tell me that the previous owner had planted the figs years ago and that the figs originally came from Italy.  The only reason I bothered to pick them up is because the plants apparently survived this past brutal winter, and one of my long-term gardening projects is to get some hardy figs planted in the ground.

Now, the questions:

• Will the plants survive and establish themselves in my yard?  They were dug up for a good 8+ hours before I picked them up and planted them.
• One of the plants had a lot of new growth, which doesn't look too happy after being out of the ground for so long.  Should I cut it all or most of it off?
• Assuming the trees make it after the transplant, what are the odds they will survive unprotected this winter considering they survived the polar vortex?
• I also managed to get a mix of several woody and green cuttings.  What's the easiest way to root them (i.e. most amenable to a time-deprived, toddler-chasing parent)?

Welcome to the forum!
Others that have much more experience will come along and answer questions for you, I just started my fig journey a year ago July 4th! 

If it was me that had scored this nice find, I would try to baby them from the shock of transplant and being out of the ground for 8 hours.  Give them some shade, keep them moist, talk to them and encourage them.  For this winter I'd protect them for the same reason, give them a good start and then perhaps next year see how it goes.  By protect I mean giving them shelter and warmth.  Bring in the potted one to the basement or attached garage and allow it to go dormant for the winter.  Lots of posts here on how to over winter potted figs.

Again, welcome!

Great find!  And welcome to the forum.  There's lots of info here, pretty much everything you need to know.  Check out the getting started section near top of main page.  The baggie method is quite popular for starting cuttings, or if you have a lot just putting them in a pot with good soil outside in the shade, and ensure they don't dry out seems to work as well.

If the root balls were big, you will probably be fine for winter, but I would protect them the first winter anyway, you never know we might get another bad one and the trees are now in shock from being dug up.

With the roots being cut, I would thin out a lot of those green stems, I think the roots need time to heal to provide for them.  As Shailesh said, keep them shaded until they recover if possible, then slowly expose to full sun.

I'm still new at figs, too.

Chances are high that they will survive. I had gotten a rootball from someone who dug it up and had it sitting along his garage for a day and a half. I got it home and set it along a fence where it stayed for two days covered with wet rags and plastic on it until I planted it. With that said you know that figs are really hard to kill.

Pick the healthiest branches and trim the rest off to help with shock and water loss until it grows more roots. Although I'm sure even if you were to cut every branch off it would still grow.

Since your new tree has been moved, winter survival will be different. The original location might of had a better micro climate for winter survival. The best thing to do is protect it in winter until it gets well established then you can experiment and test it's winter hardiness.

Keep it well watered for the next couple weeks. It's hot in here Fair Lawn NJ. Hopefully it was planted in a place that's full sun. If it was me I would also wrap it in the winter.

Keep them well watered and heavily mulched. They should start sending out shoots by late summer. What did you do with the tops you cut away? They might make some good cuttings for those who like to try starting unknown figs.

That first one is the one to worry about, the others look fine.   On that first one, the way it wilted, is due to not getting enough water.  Either the ground is too dry, or there were not enough roots left to support all the green.  If it's the ground too dry, get more water too it.  If it's because of not enough roots, clip off most of the green to limit moisture loss through transpiration.  As long as it's got some good roots, it'll put out new leaves.

I recently cut off and potted an airlayer and all the leaves went limp within minutes.  I cut all the leaves down to about 10% of their original area.  about 60% of those leaves have fallen off, but the others have perked up.  It looks like it's been through a battle, but I trust it'll recover in a month or so and put out new leaves.

Thanks for all the input.

I've cut off about 75% of the green growth on the wilty transplant, leaving 5 or so stems of new growth that looked relatively healthy.  The in-ground plants are in full sun locations.  I covered them with light burlap, which I think I'll leave in place until the plants look like they are settled in.  The potted plant, I'm leaving in the shade for a while.

I have a collection of woody and green cuttings which I'm going to try rooting some in water and some in potting soil/shredded paper.  I'm guessing these may not be the optimal rooting choice, but they are the ones I think I will most likely be able to accomplish with my time constraints.  I haphazardly took cuttings since it's my first attempt at propagating figs and I was trying to get done before being back on toddler-watching duty.  I'll be happy if just a few of them take, and I'll be completely overwhelmed if more than a few of them root.

Even with a pampered plant like a new from cutting fig, it is usually best to plant in fall or spring. This gives the roots time to spread without stress of heat or leaf respiration. Of course there are time you must plant in the summer, but avoid this as much as you can and your plants will acclimate better. IMHO, you are better off to up-pot to a large pot than to place in the ground in mid-summer. At least with a potted plant  you can move it into shade if needed.

Gene, I would have loved to have planted in a pot first, as that would have saved me the effort of digging a hole and given me more time to plan and prepare the planting site.  I just didn't have any containers big enough.  It may not look like it, but the first plant was on the order of 80-100 lbs, and we had to dig a hole about 3 feet across and 1 foot or so deep.  The second plant was more manageable (~2ft across, 1ft deep), but still too big for any of my containers.  There was only 1 plant that was small enough to get into a grow bag I happened to have.

jkuo-

Good luck with the new figs.  They probably will survive if they grow new roots.  Following the above information will get you some survivors.  Pamper, keep the root area shaded and damp, and limit top growth....also pray for a mild winter. 

If you get a lot of newly sprouted stems.... strive to take some semi-hardwood cuttings, just for added insurance.   I see plenty of cutting material in the posted photos.  If you get cuttings to strike roots, you won the game.

Good luck.  I hope this story has a happy ending.  Rooted cuttings will be the sequel.



Frank

Update 7/22/14:

The fig tree transplants appear to have survived.  They are putting on new growth.  Some of the green cuttings I took are also leafing out.  I only started out with ambitions of getting 1 or 2 trees in the ground.  I now already have two in the ground, with another one going in as soon as I can clear the spot.  This is on top of the container plants I ordered for my fig planting experiment.  I've gone from no figs to numerous plants this season.  That's not quite what I anticipated for my gardening plans for this year.

Aloha, welcome and good job on transplanting the figs!  They look like they've settled in nicely.  I really like the look of the fig plant in that old tin can, very antique.  Make sure she has good drainage though.  I may have missed it, but where are you located?

Jonhny: Welcome to Fig4Fun Forum.

Best,
Tam

Congratulations on saving that fig variety and welcome to the forum!

5/16/15 Update:

The two unknowns planted in ground appear to have survived last winter and are leafing out nicely.  They were wrapped with some leftover packaging paper and a tarp over the winter.  The one planted near the house had less die-back, but both plants still had some surviving stems so I'm not starting from the soil line.

 
 

The tree I had in the 10-gallon grow bag looks in good shape.
 

And the 4 remaining cuttings I have are also growing nicely.  I had 6 more, but I gave them to a friend.  I overwintered most of the cuttings indoors under grow lights, so they were all about the size of the two plants in back.  The two in front went dormant before I got them indoors, so I let them overwinter in the garage.

 

Wow, nice story and what a wonderful job you've done. Your trees look great. I call dibs on the first cuttings this fall! Lol
I hope you get a bunch of figs this season.

Congrats.  I like the long fingers on the leaves of the one in the grow bag.

@ChrisK, I'll happily send cuttings in the fall.  If you lived closer, I could just give you a couple of plants.

Supposedly, there were two types of figs amongst the seven trees which were dug up.  From what I can tell, that's probably correct.  There appears to be two dominant mature leaf types corresponding to two different varieties: one with thinner fingers which taper a bit and have a more pronounced thumb, and the other with fatter fingers which don't taper as much and don't have as big a notch at the thumb.  Hopefully, I'll be able to better differentiate the plants as I get more mature leaves and see some fruit.  Then, I can pick the brains of fig experts as to what variety of figs I might have.

Thanks very much Johnny. The one with the longer fingers,deep lobed leaf looks like a Brunswick or Paradiso family type of tree.also Dalmatie , a type of Greek Vasilika sika and Macedonian white from Bass (also from PA) have that distinct feature. One of your larger potted ones in the background is popping a couple of figlets so you'll know what they are pretty soon. The other kind with the fatter fingers could be anything. Very generic looking leaf patern, but they all look awesome regardless of what variety they are. Great find.

I'm looking forward to that long-fingered one. I love that leaf shape!

Update on the unknowns:

The long fingered one looks like it's most likely a Brunswick. Photos are from bigbadbill, as the plants I gave him were the only ones that ripened fruit. Mine set late fruit which may not ripen before the frost.

   

The other one may be a Mt Etna type? That's my best guess. It's just starting to ripen one of the few figs it set this year.