This will be my first winter with fig trees.
As the leaves begin to turn color and drop i know that special care will be needed to protect my young trees as winter will soon be upon us.
i live in Massachusetts and winters can be harsh at times.
i have a detached unheated garage constructed of concrete cinder blocks and a concrete slab. in the winter i do notice that the temps in the garage are warmer than the temps outside, by how much i don't know. what precautions should i take to make sure that my fig trees will survive the winter? should i keep the pots off the cement slab? the pot sizes vary from 1gal up to 25gals (not sure if pot sizes are even a factor).

Thanx
Stevin

Pick up some pallets. Get the pots off the ground. You can get tarps and blankets to cover. Most important thing is keeping root zone ( pot) warm. Size of pots do matter-it helps the larger it is to keep root zone warmer. If you want, put the 1 gallons in 3 gallon pots and get loose insulation to stuff loosely in the space between the two. Get an outdoor digital thermometer from Home Depot. Stick the remote in the garage. This way you can monitor the temps from the garage in your house.  If you have an outlet get a cheap oscillating heater to keep temps above freezing. Set at 45 and it should keep the air inside above freezing.  Get one or 2 smoke detectors and set in 2 of farthest sections of Garage just in case of any problems. Still check once a day.

I have an attached garage so I get ambient heat from house and it keeps the garage for storage from going below 32. I don't have to worry this much but if i did, these are the options I would look at.  Remember to water once a month so roots don't dry out. About 1/2 cup to 2 cups a month works for me, but others will suggest more. I have not lost any yet in various sizes in the last 3 winters using this watering schedule.

I guess I don't see the point of getting the pots off the concrete floor.  The temperature of the concrete should not be less than the ambient air, correct?  If anything it should be higher because of geothermal heat.  (On second thought if the concrete slab extends to the outdoors it is possible that it could conduct heat from the garage to the outdoors and in that case pallets or a layer of styrofoam between the pots and the floor might make sense.)  I have a gravel floor in my detached garage so my approach will be to set my fig pots directly on the "floor" of the garage and surround them with tarp tent (loosely so as to not touch the branches).  The idea is to trap any geothermal heat radiating from the ground and lessen the effect of cold drafts.

Steve

In MA there is code for 4 feet frost support, so there may not be much in the way of thermal heat radiating through footings and flooring. I believe you have to go at least 10 ft down to reach constant temps around 50. That is why I suggested it.  I don't do it but I know exactly what's under my garage floor.  But my garage never goes below freezing so I know only what works for me. Usually the top 6 to 8 inches freeze solid.

Dominick,
i really like the idea of placing the 1 gal pots into slightly larger pots and stuffing the gap with insulation. i will definitely do that.
as far as covering the trees, should i also stuff them with insulation also and then wrap them with a blanket? or is just a blanket enough?
i will most likely not provide any supplemental heating in the garage unless the temps will be dropping into record lows. but i will monitor the temps in the garage and try to avoid the temps dropping below freezing.

Steve
the slab does not extend beyond the 4 walls. the walls sit on a footing so many feet down. the slab sits on a base of proccessed gravel and sits maybe a few inches above grade. like i mentioned earlier, the temps in the garage is always a few degrees warmer than the outside. some days it's a huge noticable difference. i'm sure alot of it has to do with the outside temps, the sun warming the cinder block walls all day and whatever sunlight that comes in thru the garage door windows and the south facing window.

any other advice will be greatly appreciated....

Thanx again
Stevin

Some air circulation is important. First year I covered them and a few tips molded from excess humidity.   But I did that with Black trash bags, covering the pots as well. Humidity and warm air just got trapped at the top. Keep them as warm as possible with blankets but if it warms up now or beginning of spring, let them breath. Insulation is doable, just don't them full of too much. There are some who cover their in ground trees with insulation but then leave a space at the top to allow warm air to escape. They then put a bucket up top to protect the tips. Quick warm ups are probably more problematic than cold winters. You get growth and the cold just kills it all again. You can always start with blankets and add insulation later if you feel its still too cool.  I'm inland but in a micro-climate so it acts like I'm more along the cape, so I can get crazy temperature variations.

I have an unattached garage where I keep my potted trees. I set the pots on either boards or a couple layers of cardboard. I made a frame out of 2x2's and attached cardboard for walls. For heat I use a 40 watt incandescent light bulb which I only turn on when it's going to be really cold. It's placed in the center about 1 foot from the bottom. It makes enough heat to keep the trees from freezing. One thing that I will change this year is the bottom and the first section of the walls (about 18 inches) is going to be plywood. Last year was the first time I had rodent troubles which nearly destroyed every tree I had. With that said, make sure you use lots of mice traps, de-con and whatever other repellents you can to protect your trees. Put them on the outside and inside of your enclosure. It's not a pretty picture to look inside and see everything chewed up. Also don't forget to make one side open so you can water them and check on things.

I read mothballs in little containers( Baby food microwave bowls with holes on top) are good deterrents. As long as no pets around, scattering them on the floor would work too.

good tips on the rodent control!!!!!!

i also like the idea of making a winterizing enclosure. unfortunately i don't think i have the room.
the chick brooder takes up some room in the garage. too bad....
just out of curiosity, could the encloser be constructed or rigid insulation?
also, are the trees wrapped with anything when in the enclosure?

Stevin,

The guy across the street from me built his out of blue insulation board attached to a timber framework. I believe he screws it together and it can be taken apart for storage. This is for a large in-ground tree in their yard, but there is no reason you couldn't do it in the garage. He doesn't wrap the tree, just ties up the branches and prunes it to keep it small enough to fit in the box.

If you make an enclosure and keep it in the garage then there is no need to wrap the trees too. You could keep it raised up and have the brooder underneath if room is limited.