Greetings

After all the cold this Winter , I finally was able to uncover my in-ground Hardy Chicagos and Celestes that I buried in a ton of leaves last Fall. I'm hoping they made it.

First picture is from early January '14 after one of our many cold snows, the second shows the uncovered fig hedge. I still need to uncover my largest HC, that's a lot more work.

any chance of getting 1 cutting from your celeste?

They look good from here Mark!  Hope they thrive for you this year.

Thanks Frank, given that our temps here got to at least 3F, I was hoping I had them buried enough. Of course, my neighbors think I'm crazy in the Fall when I go around picking up their leaves out for pick-up!

@Shailesh, before the frame, I heavily mulched the root base. Then pulled the tree trunks down and tied them lower to the ground. Then, built the mesh frame, and filled it with both shredded and un shredded leaves (mostly oak, maple). Finally, topped that with a tarp. To keep any rain from pouring straight in on them. On the larger HC that is next to our house, by the brick chimney, pretty much the same process, but i wrapped the top branches in several big thick quilt movers blankets then topped all of that with a tarp.

Here's a pix of my truck in late Fall during one of my trips 'round the neighborhood:

Mark, you moved to Australia?

Bob, yes on days i don't use a photo app to insert photos, I'm from the land down under :-)

Here's a pix of my trees that were kept in our unheated sunroom since last Fall. I've been slowly increasing the amount of rain water now that they are leafing out and most pushing figs. You all think it's time for some diluted fertilizer?

Mark yes when ours come in leaf and roots are drinking water i give them fertilizer at full dose.
But thats me.  ; )

Thanks Martin

I thought this would be a good time to give them all a shot of fertilizer as they all wake up from their long winter's nap. All of these plants are really looking good and really enjoying these warmer, longer days. I've only been using rain water as well, so will now incorporate some fertilizer too. Tks!

Hi Maro2bear,
Roots awake before the trees leaf out. IMO, the tree should have reserves to push all buds out.
So I started fertilizing as of beginning of march - but that's me :) .
Of course if you fertilize too much - especially in pots - you may burn the trees - so just read carefully what is the recommended dose .

Just a question : Do you bury the posts a bit in the dirt, or do you put them on plates ?

And by the way, what is the trick to keep the leaves in the truck :) ?

Greetings all

another gorgeous day here in Maryland! Started out at o/a 34 F and continued to rapidly climb right through the 1800 hour to just about 70F. Took off from work at noon so I could tackle my largest unburying project! I guess this will be year four for this Hardy Chicago. So, after about 10 large bins of leaves, I got down to the base and things look pretty decent. There were actually lots of new roots growing into the very bottom of my mulch layer. I'm thinking I might prune back the tips a bit more of all the branches to keep it a tad shorter.

Looking good Mark! Good luck this fig season.

Thanks Art. It was one long, cold, snowy winter even here in MD. I'm NOW glad that I took the time to cover/bury my inground trees. Let's hope for a good bumper crop this Summer.

Here's a picture of my sunroom figs just ten days after the one i posted above in Post # 7. They are all really leafing out nicely, especially after a few hours out in the dun over the weekend. Of course, with the FROST warning for tonight, they are all back inside.