Most of my plants are ready for the cold, but one in particular (TXBA1) still has about a foot of un-hardened green growth. It was the saddest little plant in a pot for a few years, didn't grow at all until put in the ground this spring. It didn't get any different treatment than my other plants that are now ready for dormancy. I imagine it will be best to cut the plant back before a hard freeze, but I'm not sure, any advice welcome.

Mike in Hanover, VA

I've got some just like yours. My take is that cutting back isn't going to help nor hurt. The shoots will freeze back to about the same point either way. I'm going to pull some of my shoots like that down near the soil, cover heavily, and go for stepover figs next yr. But I'm doubtful that they'll make the winter totally intact even heavily covered.

Hi Mike, I was taught that cutting back will allow a freeze to enter deeper into the plant and do more harm.

Thanks for your input Steve and Gary. I kept hoping the cooler nights and shorter days would signal the plant to harden up. I was originally thinking I would try to root all of the tops, to try and insure that I didn't loose the plant, it is supposed to be hardy to Z7 but I was concerned how all the green growth would weaken the plant if frozen.

I usually take cuttings once the plant is in dormancy, and I haven't seen any problems with cold hardiness. I do recall reading something about taking cuttings before a freeze leaving a wound that doesn't have time to heal, is this what you were referring to Gary?

Mike in Hanover, VA

If you plan to take cuttings you should probably do it before a freeze as the green wood won't survive.

If not, I think leaving it on protects the part below where you would cut it off.  In spring cut off the dead wood. 

Thanks Phil and Chuck. I'm going to cover this plant for a while in hopes we have a long, warm fall so it can start to harden. We are expecting near freezing weather this weekend. I will probably use a blanket to cover it before it gets dark in hopes of trapping some heat from the ground. It's hard to tell from the picture, but this plant is nearly 5 foot tall and very bushy. I hope I have a blanket large enough. Except for a couple of known hardy varieties, I have been moving my potted plants to winter protection for the past 6 years. If I had this problem before, I don't remember, because they were not vulnerable like my plants are now in the ground. I'm just glad it is only one plant.

Mike in Hanover, VA

Hi Mgorski,
Search for my thread on winter protection and stop pulling your hairs.
Remove all the bottom leaves and figlets up to 2/3 feet of height.
Tie all the stems together to the middle of the tree with some electrical cables - the ones that go inside the walls as they are hard enough to keep their shape.
Take an 80 liters dark trashcan and cut its bottom. Push that over your tree. Fill with dark compost from the nurseries.
The trashcan will act as an heat well trapping some precious °C around the whole tree.
For the top, take two stakes that you'll push in the dirt - 6 feet must stay over the dirt.
Push a plastic bag over the two stakes. That is how I do it.

Making wounds now is a call for the frost to enter more deeply at the heart of the tree... So not a good idea IMO .
You could cut the tree a bit beneath the height of the trashcan, and protect the tree and have your cuttings.
But, green cuttings are not the easiest  to deal with ...
Good luck.

I place a bucket(ends removed) and pile a bunch of dirt to protect root zone. Then I pile some dirt to shore up bucket. Next
I make an outer ring with chicken fence and use a pile of leaves to cover whole plant. I place a plastic sheet at the top and secure.
Kept my Dauphine alive last season. In 2012/13 winter I just did the dirt thing and the top got killed but root zone was protected.
I have also used a large plastic bin to cover 1 gal trees laid flat on ground. It seems to work. I understand Adriano does that and
he has some insulation to protect plants laid flat to ground. I will build some boxes & laid some 30+ potted trees to ground with
some insulation. Easier than hauling them to garage.

Hi chuckliketofish,
The stakes are for keeping the plastic bag above the tree - so that if snow comes, the weight won't be supported by the terminal buds, but by the stakes.
For me using compost/potting mix from the nurseries is better - My dirt is full clay and that would keep the stems too much humid and they would rot IMO .
Necessity makes us progress ! - I lost some 10 trees in February 2012 and I hope to never ever face that again - especially on my producing trees .

We have a few new plants that grew very well this summer from winter cuttings that are not completely browned up however they are getting that way. We will move them into the garage to prolong the time before it gets much below freezing.
The Battalgia, Voillette de Borgeaux and the Red Greek that are 2 seasons old have darkened up completely.