I'm trying to figure out what to do with my figs for the winter and I'm a bit confused about winter storage and dormancy.  My garage is heated to about 50 degrees in winter.  Is it a bad idea to winter my figs there?  Somewhere, I got the message that this was not good but I don't remember where.

There is nothing wrong in storing your dormant fig plants in a heated garage as long as you can protect them from prolonged exposure to temperatures below 20F  when you open garage during the coldest months of the year. Also it will be better to keep the temperature under 45F (ideally 32F to 40F) and save some $$ on the heating bill as well as keep the figs happily dormant.

Hi everyone

I have a few smaller trees, I plan on placing them in the unfinished basement. 

The location/place is not important as long as the plants do not see higher temperatures to wake up the plants earlier then the right time in spring and also as long as they are safe from very low temperatures below freezing that will kill the plants.
The temperatures can go down a few degrees below freezing at the lower end and a few degrees above 40F but ideally it should be kept, if possible, between 32F and 40F.
I keep mine in a basement cold storage where temperature stays between 43F and 48F and it has worked fine for me. The basement/cellar storage avoids the extreme colds in January and February.

I'll be storing my trees in a cold cellar, too.  Temps run between 32*F and 45*F.  But my question is when do you bring your trees into storage?  Here, leaves on maples and ash, etc., fall from mid September and are all off by late October.  The temps at that time will drop down below freezing at night, but will get into the mid 50s F in the day.  Can I wait until just before daytime temps are below freezing and then store my trees in the cellar?

Andrew, I will describe what I do.
As soon as I know the leaves have started falling because of the fall normal conditions and there is minimum chance of fruit ripening any more, I get ready for the winter routine. Each tree start dropping leaves at different times, some earlier than other either because of stress or the variety type. I start digging my buried potted trees, first those with leafs in the dropping process or dropped. First frost is another sure indicator to start this process even though I hate to see those big green hard figs wasted. I bring the dug out trees to the garage and they stay there till the night temperature dip below 24F for more than a few hours. As the dormancy progresses, dormant plants may be able to tolerate 20F. When all the leafs are fallen (or plucked if in the process of drying/yellowing up) and when the night temperatures start dipping frequently to 20F or if I know the plants are well dormant then it is time to move them to the cellar making sure that the pot soil is moist (because my plants never need watering during the cellar over the winter).

That is my routine and I have not lost any plant with this routine so far. Others may caution about the temperature limits to be on the safer side.

Thanks Ottawan, that's exactly what I needed to know.  I have plenty of temporary storage in my tractor shed until the temps reach a cold 20F.  It'll be November, near Thanksgiving, for the temps to get that low.  Then I'll move them into the cellar.

I remember my grandfather and my dad wrapping the trees with tar paper and topping with a metal pail, in Brooklyn NY, but that was zone 6 or warmer.  Once or twice a tree died back to ground level, but always grew back from the roots. 

Andrew
That was nice when they were satisfied with one two or three trees that could be wrapped any which way for insulation. We, like  dieseler, always find room for one more and then we realized that we have 50+ trees and more in the plans that we see on the Internet forums and in on-line nurseries. So our solution has to be different for storing and growing.

Hi Ottawan,
I am wondering about your in ground potted plants, when you dig them up I suppose  that some roots will get pruned in the process, do you also prune the branches at this time to balance roots and canopy, or do you leave that till spring before dormancy breaks?
thanks,
Grant
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hblta
I do both but preferably in spring. Also, my plants are not more than three or four years old and will require pruning the first time which I may do at leasure in the basement during the winter on a few plants as an experiment (compared to doing in fall or spring).

Cassandra,

Over the last few years I have lost many Many MANY fig trees during the Winters. Storage was always the issue.
I tried Hay and blankets and plastic as I stored them in the backyard shed but with complete disappointment.

But I also kept the larger ones in the attached garage and they survived.

Last Winter I put everything I had in the attached garage and placed a blanket wrap over them just to keep the wind from hitting them when the door was open.
Each and everyone of them made it. Was I excited.

So from my own personnel experience I say go ahead and placed them all in the attached garage.

I placed the largest against the wall and the medium ones in front then placed the smaller pots over on top. My father gave them very little water once every two to three weeks to keep the roots from drying.

Cassandra
You just have to have more blankets in your Zone 5 compared to Rafed's Zone 6 and watch for extreme low temperature durations because if the temperatures go as down as they do in Zone 5 then the temperature under the blankets may eventually reach close to outside (minus wind effect) possibly damaging the plants unless there is some heat source for extreme cold days (in some coldest years at least).
Also, fig plants that survive extreme colds recovers very slow from dormancy. I tried a few in the garage this past winter and the LSU Purple took forever to start shoot (mid July if you believe) but it show that it survived. The cellar stored started growing normally at the same time as did the maple trees in the neighbourhood..

I only had two figs last winter and stored them in the garage.  My concern is that it is too warm.  They never dropped their leaves.  Does this impede fruit production?  But then I wonder about figs in warmer climates and think that maybe 50 degrees is ok.  I don't know. 

I know that upper 30's/low 40's would be ideal but would have to go to great lengths to arrange a winter living space for my figs.  Our cellar is too hot because of the huge old furnace.

Rafed - what was the average temp of your garage?  Did your leaves fall?  I'm glad you told me about the lost ones because I was considering putting them in a unheated outbuilding... guess I won't be doing that.

Hi Cassandra,
i also live in illinois north of you .
When i stored a few plants many years ago in outdoor shed they died.
I store in unheated attached garage , when i have first season ones they usually get damage ive even lost a few here and there. My 3 and up year olds i dont worry about very little tip damage if at all , the older ones no damage.

Now i did not have anyplants younger than 3 i think when this happened below.
Lowest temps they seen 6 to 8 above for a few days and in the teens for several weeks couple years back during that cold winter we had.
No damage but those plants were older. I did get shaken a little when temps outdoors hit 23 below zero near a record and had bed sheets thrown over them.

Personally i think 25 to about 40 is good storage temp . But older ones can take colder temps and mine have .
If they stay at 50 i doubt they go into a deep dormancy and may not peform at there best following season.

But and i say But i never had my figs stored at that 50 temp and cannot honestly say how they would react following season. They have figs in tropical areas but perhaps they are more adapted somehow .

thanks Ottawan,
Grant

Hey Akram what would you sugest for storage for a person who lives in a condo and has 80+ plants.

I'll come up with something... whether that be to decrease the temp in the garage or put them somewhere else. 

Either way, I'm definitely keeping the little guys in the warm garage.  Hmmmm... I just remembered that there is a large closet in the garage under the steps.  It's very likely that it stays colder in that closet than in the main part of the garage.  If you open a closet in the winter that is on an outside wall, it is always colder than room temp.  That may be my solution.

Does total darkness matter?  

Martin,
thanks for the clarification on the fertilizing issue.


__________________
Grant

oops wrong thread
Grant