I have 6 figs that are growing in 3 gallon pots right now, i'd like to get them in the ground ASAP and I'd love any tips before i put them out. Also, are there any good books/ articles / websites to read up on growing figs in zone 5?

Here is my situation, I am in southern Maine, zone 5. I will be planting them in sandy soil on a very steep south facing slope, i was planning on little swales on on contour but not large enough to slow air drainage. I was considering a step-over espallier, but i'm worried about voles nibbling on the horizonal trunks over the winter.

I am still a Newbie...LOL   I would think that you have to think about the very cold winters. I would put them in bigger pots, but not so heavy that you can hurt your back. And when the winter comes bring them into the garage.....  It may be better to wait until they are bigger next year.  

Wow, zone 5 in ground.  I would think serious winterization would be necessary, even for "cold hardy" types and for trees of some age.  Any way you can take Armando's suggestion?  Give them another year to develop better roots, protect them in a heated garage or shed (20F min for safety), and plant next year?

If possible bury them deeper to help protect roots and develop more roots, but I don't know how much deeper you can plant a fig tree below its original soil line.

There are ways of dealing with rodents.  Some people use traps and others use mothballs at the base of the tree in a small container with holes in it.  But as others noted above you will need the most cold hardy varieties (Florea, Mt. Etna types, etc) and some serious protection.  The step-over approach would facilitate protecting them.  If I were you I would keep back-ups in containers in case you lose the in-ground trees.  Good luck.

infiniteohms-

Your enthusiasm is commendable.  Check out the thread called:  "The Big Kill....." posted on this forum.  How will you contend with the freezing cold, Zone-5 temps?  Voles will be the least of your problems.  In addition, serious damages have been reported by fig growers who have grown fig trees in their consistently warmer climates.  Many trees have been killed off, or badly damaged by the last winter, even in Zone-7b.

To your second point about articles, growing tips, etc.....  Nothing you'll do will keep your trees alive once they have frozen solid, planted in the ground, even with protection.  The only chance you'll have to keep your fig trees alive will be the precautions that you take to keep the root zone from freezing.  Die back will almost certainly be unavoidable, and each season, your trees will have to regrow tissue that has been killed by sub-zero temperatures.

In ground fig trees in Zone-5...I wish you the best of consistently good luck.  You might also want to read all postings by Robert Harper.  He is trialing certain varieties of figs in a similar climate, for hardiness.


Frank

thanks for the ideas everyone! I Should have also mentioned that I will be keeping a back-up of each type in 5-7 gallon pots and keeping them in my root celler over winter. Looks like i will re-pot everything i have in smaller pots and keep it all in the cellar this winter and try some stuff in the ground next year.

I read of a guy in Utah that was growing bananas and sensitive palms.  Each fall he assembled a styrofoam box/shack (maybe the size of an outhouse) and placed it over each plant and had a 60 watt bulb inside and they did very well over the winter.  The sell sheets of styrofoam for building construction.  I have no idea what he did about snow load the top.

And to think, I had some die-back this year in 9b.

Bob Harper on the forum grows in Connecticut, I think zone 5.

Here is what he sent to me regarding overwintering up there:
"Plant them at a 45 degree angle. That way you can step on them to bend
them to the ground and then cover them. I use unopened bags of potting
soil. I then cover that with aluminum bubble house insulation. Have
never lost a plant that was bent to the ground.

It will take 5 to 10 years for a fig tree in the north to get to the
point were you don't have to baby it. Can't be grown like a apple or
pear tree when they are young."

i like that idea! the slope where i am planting is about 45• so i i plant leaning into the slope they should be easily pinned to the ground for overwintering, i already do that with young banboo and it works great.

Aaron, another tip I was given from a member on this board was to plant a mint family ground cover around your plants to avoid vole damage.  Apparently they won't dig through the mint so it'll act like a moat.  I haven't tried this yet as my figs are still too young so I'm still bringing them in for our winters.  Having said that, I do have mint in several of my potted figs because I sank the pots in the ground too close to mint plants.  I guess that polyculture is ready to take off when I give them a permanent home :)  (also I somehow got Jerusalem artichoke in a couple of my potted figs...got to pull those out...chipmunks?)

I am in zone 5, upstate NY, and have been growing figs in ground for a few years. Here is a few pics of how I have been protecting them. I tie and wrap the trees in burlap, place bags of leaves around them, cover with old carpet and then a tarp. For me the in ground trees produce many more figs than when I keep them in pots. Also, the in ground trees do not require much care at all. No watering, fertilizing, only pinching of the tips to ripen the figs in time.

Great job there Paul! I want to try that here some day once I have a few that are large enough to go in-ground. Did you have to thin out those trees to get them wrapped that tightly or did all those branches bend into that burlap?

Tyler

Tyler, I pruned off some of the main trunks and left 3 trunks, and then tied and wrapped them in burlap. In hindsight it may have been better to leave all the trunks and prune the height instead. One of the main trunks died to the ground but the other two made it almost perfectly (on the Chicago Hardy Type Tree). The other tree (Celeste) did not do so well, I only left two trunks and both died to the ground. This past winter was unusually long and cold, down to -20F. Other winters the trees made it through with no die back at all.
If your trees are too small to make it trough the winter you could plant them now and dig them up in the fall after a frost and put them back in a pot for the winter. Maybe it's just me but my trees do so much better in the ground than in pots.