This past year I planted a couple established trees in the spring and some cuttings as well.  The cuttings did not have root systems.  I planted more established trees in the fall.  Sometime after my trees went dormant I protected only the established trees, the cuttings I simply mulched heavy.  My method of protection was a tomato type cage stuffed with leaves.  One of the trees I bent over and covered with leaves and mulch.  I was checking my trees the other day, the ones I covered with leaves inside of tomato type cages.  The whole point of protection was to keep the above growth alive so I would have bigger trees this year.  When I examined most of them I noticed that quite a few of them were dead.  The ones that seem to be alive have lost all their green tips and are only alive at the first two or three inches above the soil.  I think I did something wrong, the trees seem completely dried out for some weird reason, some of them have mushy bark when I go to scrap it with no green underneath.  I'm hoping the roots are alive.  I know the trees didn't die from cold because it never really got  that cold this year, I mean it did but not like normal.   The trees in question should have all remained alive without winter protection because they are all cold hardy to at least 10 degrees and the weather only got down to the 20s a couple of times.  Any thoughts on this?

Second question: in grow zone 7b which I am in, how long after spring should it be that I know if these trees are alive?  How long should it be before I see above growth from them and from the cuttings?  Thanks in advance guys!  I'm really excited that spring is around the corner. Here the elderberries are putting out leaves and the daffodils are in bloom, which are early signs of spring.  This has been the case here for 3 weeks.

Maybe they were kept too wet with the leaves up against them.  I am so sorry this happened to you.

PM me your address and I will send you a pack of my LSU Purple.  I know we discussed it before, this is a gift to help you start out again. 

Thanks for the offer JoAnn!  There are some very generous members here.  Do you think this type of damage will effect the roots?

You can try digging it to check if it isn't too big, otherwise I would wait and see what happens.  I think you would have some growth at the roots by May if the roots are still good.

is it possible that you had some protracted warm weather in Jan/Feb that persuaded the plants to come out of dormancy, followed by cold weather that zapped them? 

I would be patient--the roots are probably alive.  Sometimes it takes awhile for the tree to send up new shoots.  After the winter of 2013-2014, my daughter's tree in northern Ohio didn't show life till late July.  That was its first winter in-ground and it was brutally cold.  You'll probably see new growth by June where you are, though.

Btw, leaves are only marginal protection at best.  It's better to protect your trees with dirt.  I pinned my young trees to the ground with bags of compost in the 2014-15 winter (also a brutal winter) and didn't lose any of them.  Of course, I also plant my trees deeper than they grew in their pots to insure the roots stay warm under ground.

We had a very warm winter.  I suppose it is possible the trees came out of dormancy while being covered.

I don't cover, mulch, wrap or anything to mine. I may be playing a dangerous game.  I have lost a few ends of branches last year, none this year since it was so mild.  With those in pots, I had them on the north side of the house up against it and nothing else - all of them are growing.

Sorry to hear about your figs.  If you are still looking for hardy chicago I can get you some cuttings this fall.

I am in Tennessee zone 7a.  My trees die back to the ground every winter.  I cover them with leaves.  They come back every year and produce figs....some years better than others.  I think your trees will come back from the ground too.

I am in Zone 8, but micro climate is quite different, Both daffodils and camilia are in bloom, Nurseries in my area,  put out their pot fig trees outdoor 5 weeks ago, I put out my pot fig trees outdoor 1 week later, it froze damaged and dropped all leaves, It took 3 weeks to re-grow leaves again indoor , I put it outdoor again this week, its dropped its leaves again and I will left them indoor for at least 1 more month.

My in ground Fig tree sprouts at May, It was 50% branch damaged once, and It sprouted at end of June, It needs to feel soils warmer than 60F+ and roots start to grow then it will sprout.

In order to push fig tree sprout, I am thinking to put some black paper/plastics` on top of its soils to heat soils up.

good luck for your fig trees.

Alanamerica I may have to try the wheat straw next winter.  Thanks for the comment.

JoAnn I am starting to rethink winter protection.  Time will tell what I end up doing.  Thanks for the insights.

Berryman a very generous member near me sent some hardy chicago cuttings that I will be attempting to root in the next couple weeks.  When I am successful I will change my wish list.  Thanks for the offer.

Cookiedr how many trees do you have in ground?

Ricky what are the low temps in your area now?

In My area, low temps is about 30F+ only, very rare to see it went below 25F.

your winter protection seems fine, I think that those dead fig trees, They might have weaker roots system, you can wait for few more weeks, If it keeps on drying branches or rotten tips, it is bad sign of dying.

I have one test fig tree planted last fall, I dig it up 5 weeks ago and It was roots damaged by wet winter soil, fig tree do not like wet feet, I built her a raising flower bed of 12 inches, now it recover and its branches puffing up.

Young fig trees have only top layer of root system, After few more year, I think that cold hardy fig trees will form second layer of root system at deeper soil, It is much harder for cold weather to kill its 2 layer of deeper roots, and it stores more energy to re-grow new branches at spring time.

I'm sorry that you lost some of your figs.  Please understand that figs never come back from the roots.  They only come back from wood that was far enough underground to be unharmed.  That's why I tell people to bury their trees as deeply as possible as long as there's reasonable drainage.  Usually the wood doesn't have to be very far underground at all to survive.  Here in Z6 with a mild winter I can see sprouting as early as Ap 1.  More often it's around May 1.  A severely damaged plant may not sprout until late summer.

tennesseefig, I would guess that they got too wet. I had the same problem the first year I covered my figs here in Central Arkansas (zone7b). They all came back, but I lost a lot of wood. This year did the cage with mulch and leaves, but I also wrapped the tops in burlap and put a bucket over them. They call came through the winter perfect. Nothing dead at all.

Also, if you still need them in the fall, PM me about cuttings of Strawberry Verte and Hardy Chicago. I would be glad to send cuttings when I prune my trees.

I've also got a really nice unknown (I think TX Everbearing) that makes small but very tasty figs. It survives winters here without any protection and even has brebas on it this year! They are small, but wife thinks they are the best tasting fig in the yard. I could send cuttings from it as well.

I have 7 different varieties of fig trees in ground here in east Tennessee.  I pile leaves on them every winter.  Most usually die back to the ground every winter.  Depending on the type of winter we have....I usually have figs.  My Negronne is, so far, my largest and most dependable producer of figs every year.  That may be due to it being my oldest fig tree....time will tell.  I have had it in the ground for 5 years.