Excellent to be a part of this forum!  There are so many ways to grow figs and so many schools of thought on the matter.  I need some general information about growing figs in my zone.  One issue I have been pondering is the idea of using protection during the winter for my trees.  I have planted a number of trees and this will be their first winter in the ground.  I am growing Southern Brown Turkey and Celeste for now until I can get some Hardy Chicago or something similar in hardiness. I read where these trees can literally grow from the roots up.  I read one post up here where a guy was worried about his tree because it died to the roots but by August he gave an update that his tree was regrown, at seven foot and loaded with figs.  I need to know from people in my area if this is normal.  If so then I may not go through the hard efforts of protecting every tree in the future.  This year I may or may not protect the trees I have planted but I want to base that decision off of the advice of those growing in my zone who have at least some experience.  My thoughts for protection if I must or if it seems to be advantageous is basically a wire cage filled with leaves and protected with a trash bag.  I am uncertain what is best.  I have also read the testimony of some growers who cut their figs before winter but I have never read the overall results.  Anyhow, I need advice on all levels for this project, it is a very large undertaking and I want to do it right but without overburdening myself and making things too complicated.  Please help!  

A few years ago I planted several new fig trees in the ground.  I didn't protect any of them.  They all die back to the roots every year but come back in the spring and usually grow to 5'-6' tall with multiple trunks.  I still get a nice crop of figs in September.  So for me, it's not worth the trouble of protecting them.  I can't offer much advice on that part.  I also store several potted trees in the garage for the winter so I do have a backup in the event a tree completely dies.

Hi,
I'm in Zone7 and protecting the trees does wonders !
If I don't protect the trees, there is a risk of losing the tree or the trees wake up later.
Here shifting the growing season of two weeks is enough to have success or witness failure.
I remember, one year, losing all the main crop for a matter of 10 days or two weeks ... Figs were almost ripe but not there ... That almost got me mad after
my trees and I started thinking of trashing all my fig trees.
Since then, the winters have been milder, and with the protections I get less or no die-back.
I have a post on the forum about the 80 liters trashcan technique.
I used to protect with plastic sheets but had problems with wind taring the protections apart at the worst timing. In the winter we get good wind blasts and as snow hangs on to the protections, the protections will be unsealed and thrown away.
With the trashcans, I no longer have that problem. On some trees, I fill halfway the trashcan with dirt from the nurseries. This is the system of the radiant heaters.
It might seem to be light to make any difference, but it really does !
Here is a link to my old post: http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/winter-protection-6910093?pid=1284196249

Looking at those old pics ... Wahou, my Dalmatie did really grow !
I need to protect her this year too, but as she grew, I'm not sure that she will fit in the 2 trashcans (side by side). I can at least protect half of her, that is always better than nothing !
Half of my trees are already protected and ready for this coming winter. I had to make some space in the garden house for the potted ones, and then I have to figure how I can fit the trashcans. Or I'll use a plastic bag from the dirt from the nurseries ( 80 liters bags) tare the bag open, attach it around the trunks at ground level (like a sleeve), and fill that container with the dirt.
Did I mention, that a moleskin showed up in the garden last weekend, and I need to dispose of it too ... I'm busy !

Check out this video!  This guy is in my zone, 7a he is near Asheville NC.

Alan I like the gravel mulch idea.  I have seriously considered it but I will probably wait to see what your experiment turns out like.  When you make progress please share pictures or at least updates.  Thanks for responding to my posts to by the way.  It can be hard to get noticed at times with so much going on up here.

Wow you are right Black Mountain is in 6b so it seems he had no problem protecting his figs with the leaf method and the fleece method.  That is great news maybe this will help some people who are protecting their trees this year in the 6b and higher zones.

Tennesseefig,

I too am in zone 7a. I have 6 inground figs:
Hardy Chicago
LSU gold
Italian Black
and 3 local unknowns

They have been planted 2-4 years. I have not done any serious protection, and each year have they have all died back to ground level. I've gotten decent growth and production out of them despite that, but this year I am going to protect them. Without protection the fruit is later and since it is effectively growing from a single below ground trunk, it limits the amount of fruiting wood that can develop.

My longer term goal in is to develop a 3-4 feet tall, muti-stemed scafolding with each trunk wrist-sized or larger at the base. Then each year the fruiting branches will grow off of this structure. I expect it will take 2 winters of protection to accomplish this.

The reason for this goal is I once read a research article that stated once a fig trunk or branch reached 3+ in diameter it was highly frost resistant. Also, I have seen this myself on figs in my area. Even on the coldest years, the wrist-sized wood lives just fine without protection.

If I can develop a solid structure of trunks and short branches this size, I should be able to forego winterization in the future and still have a good harvest.

Check out this thread: http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/first-tree-wrapped-a-new-way-7802612