Hi everyone, my name is Jack. I'm located in South Jersey, usda zone 6b or 7. Several years ago my son gave me 5 small fig trees for Father's Day. The varieties include Black mission, Hardy Chicago, Blue Ischia & Brown Turkey.

The first few years I tried to raise the trees in pots (which I would cover for winter), each year the cold killed all of the top growth. I became convinced that because the pots were above grade, that the trees froze solid?

At the beginning of last season I decided it would be best to plant them so I picked an area on the south side of my house that for the most part shielded them from the winter winds and ensured at least some sun during the day that I figured would prevent total freezing.

At the end of the season all of the trees were looking great, 1 tree had grown approx. 3-1/2' and the other 4 grew to about 2-1/2' tall...all new growth from the spring.

Last fall I was determined to do everything I could to ensure they made it through the winter! I started out by tying the branches into a semi tight bunch. I then surrounded each tree with a 21" diameter cage made from concrete reinforcing wire (tomato cage) and wrapped the outside with carpet, followed by several layers of shrink wrap.
Next step was to fill each cage with dry and fluffy leaves(mostly oak/maple) and topped each cage with a 25 gallon plastic tree pot with the center hole taped closed. Each pot also had 4 hole at the edges that I left open to allow moisture/condensation to escape. The final step was a few layers of black HD leaf bags taped tightly around the cages as a cover to prevent any water from entering.

Fast forward to approx 2 months ago. Temps here spiked into the mid 80s for a few days. First thought was the trees were probably cooking inside so I unwrapped 1 of the trees. The branches had plenty of green and looked very healthy. There were even small rose colored buds forming.

I checked the 10 day and the forecast was very mild so I unwrapped the rest of them. A few weeks later, a cold front rolled through accompanied by 2 nights of heavy frost. I attempted to cover the trees with just the large leaf bags but they wound up in the next county when the winds picked up and exceeded 30mph.

Ever since, they seem to have stalled and the wood began to look more on the brown side as well as the new buds. Yesterday, I scraped one of the tips to look for green but didn't see any. I then decided to prune one of the tips and sure enough, it was dead wood.

Now...before I go at these trees with a set of pruners I come seeking advice. First thought is to start pruning from the top down until I see something that indicates the branch might still be alive. I'm hoping to hold off on doing anything until I'm better informed by an experienced fig grower. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!!!

Jack

Jack, several of my in-ground trees experienced something similar due to that same cold front i.e. the swelling green buds and brebas were killed and it appears that some of the wood that was viable has died back.  When fig trees are in dormancy they can survive cold temps down into single digits but once they are out of dormancy they are much more vulnerable to the cold.  At this stage it is not easy to tell what is alive and what is dead.  You might want to wait about 3 weeks when (hopefully) there will have been enough warm weather to more easily see the wood that is giving rise to new green buds and which part is discolored and dessicated i.e. dead.  At that point prune off the dead wood.

Steve, thanks a lot for the reply! How far back did you have to prune back to get back to viable wood?...Or haven't you pruned your trees back yet either. Ok, to show just how inexperienced I am, I have a dumb question or two. Assuming I do get "lucky" and there is some of the branch that wasn't totally killed off, is it best to prune just below a node or above? In all the years Ive been trying to grow these trees I've never needed to do any pruning as it was always new growth from the base each year. One thing I forgot to mention is that each tree is beginning to send up new branches from the base. Do you still think I should wait another 3-4 weeks?

Jack

Hi Jack,
You should wait.
Let the tree save the wood she can save. That wood might be able to produce some figs for you this season. So you really want to wait until July and then decide.
You'll then prune an inch above the last alive bud .
If you start pruning, you'll prune alive wood before you know that it was alive. But as always, the trees are yours, and you're free to prune were you want.
Just curious : While using pots, did you put the pots in a barn or shed for the winter ?
Fig trees are hardy down to Zone7. In Zone6, you should go pots (4 gallons or so) and put the pots in a shed during the harsh cold months.

Thanks, I really do appreciate the help! I will hold off on the pruning and wait them out. While I was growing them in pots, I dug and planted the pots for the winter and mulched them in well. Winters here seem to be hit and miss - My method of wrapping was most likely the main reason they died back to the roots each year.

In hindsight, I'm obviously sorry that I panicked and unwrapped them as soon as I did despite the mid 80s temps. I didn't think about it at the time but I should have probed the inside of the cages with a compost thermometer before hand. Thinking about it now, it was most likely much cooler inside than I had thought at the time! I'm curious, does everyone wait until the last frost date to unwrap or go ahead and unwrap a few weeks earlier and then provide a nighttime cover in times of possible frost?

Hi Jack,
I have a topic here about the 80liters (20gallons) trashcan protection method. I fill the trashcan with dirt from the nurseries.
The dirt from the nurseries has a latency ( because of the 80 liters volume) in both cooling and warming.
You should try it on at least one tree come next winter .
Here I unwrap my trees between 1st in 15th of March. I could wait until 1st April. But for my town, protection til 1st/15th of March is enough .
I don't want to fool the trees too much and get them going too soon .
In protections, there is really a true balance, and one needs to find it... Although with a greenhouse ...