Register  |   | 
 
Encanto Farms Nursery > Topics > Cold hardy zone 6 in ground suggestions (specifically honey type)
 
 


Reply
  Author   Comment  
mjbaransky

Registered:
Posts: 64
Posted Reply with quote  #1 
All of my figs are in pots. I'm looking to put 3in ground. I wanted to plant a dark fig (decided in Sals el). A green berry type (decided on bass's Makedonian white... Which I don't have yet). Supposedly similar to Stella and one of the Vasilika Sikas.

I am looking for suggestions for a honey fig. Cold hardy.

I have a white Marseilles and Persian white in pots. Not sure if you would consider these honey or not. Maybe a peters honey ?? Any other recommendations ?

I would intend on doing the necessary winter protection. Just looking to be able to have more sizable figs trees that a pot would not handle.
__________________
In Pots: Ronde De Bordeaux, Black Mission, JH Adriatic, Sals El Gene, Celeste (EL), Black Madeira, Sumacki, White Marseilles, Lebanese Red, Persian White, Genovese Nero

Zone 6 - Nazareth, Pennsylvania, USA.  (Lehigh Valley - Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton)
rcantor

Avatar / Picture

Registered:
Posts: 5,727
Posted Reply with quote  #2 
Good luck!  Be sure you have back up plants for any that you put in the ground.
__________________
Zone 6, MO

Wish list:
Galicia Negra, De La Reina - Pons, Genovese Nero - Rafed's, Sbayi, Souadi, Acciano, Any Rimada, Sodus Sicilian, any Bass, Pons or Axier fig, any great tasting fig.
brettjm

Avatar / Picture

Registered:
Posts: 215
Posted Reply with quote  #3 
I think LSU gold is supposed to be fairly cold hardy, though a bit lackluster in cooler weather.  That's the best I got.
__________________
In GA, Zone 7b/8a
 
Wish list:  more space to put in figs.
Paul

Registered:
Posts: 61
Posted Reply with quote  #4 
I have a big Garden, so i have all my Plant outside, but only the hardest grow good. So i help me with afghanisch and other Seedlings to make new very hard Variety, so as Kunduz:

Kunduzklein.jpg 

__________________
excuse my bad english - i am German and live by River Lahn Zone 7
jrdewhirst

Registered:
Posts: 92
Posted Reply with quote  #5 
Based on my few years of experience with in-ground figs -- (1) Dark: I can't argue with a Mt Etna choice, though RdB seems a great alternative.  Marseilles Black has been great for me, though I did plant Sal's this year just to compare.  (2) White Berry: I have Paradiso (Gene) and it is great, but late.  It demands pinching.  Supposedly it's the same as Battaglia Green, so you can judge.  Honey:  I planted Lattarula, which may be closely related to Marseilles White.  it has hasn't produced yet.  But Florea has done really well.  It may be viewed as more sugar than honey.

All of the varieties I mentioned (ex Sal's, which is new) have survived with modest damage here (Z6B) over the winter with protection.
__________________
Joe D
Rewton

Avatar / Picture

Registered:
Posts: 1,946
Posted Reply with quote  #6 
Joe, good job in getting Paradiso-Gene to fruit in-ground in zone 6B.  Here in zone 7a, I have maybe gotten one or two semi-ripened figs from mine after planting it in the ground during the Spring of 2013.  The first two winters I protected it very well but it still nearly froze to the ground.  Last winter it was looking really good and pushing out tiny brebas but then got hit with the early April freeze which killed the brebas and really set it back.  It doesn't seem to be able to come back and produce fruit in the same season after having a major winter set-back, at least for me anyway.
__________________
Steve MD zone 7a
ross

Registered:
Posts: 375
Posted Reply with quote  #7 
White Marseilles would be a fantastic choice for a honey fig. So would Brooklyn White.
__________________
Ross - Zone 6B/7A - Philadelphia
My Cultivar List / Pictures! / My YouTube
jrdewhirst

Registered:
Posts: 92
Posted Reply with quote  #8 
Steve --

Thanks.  I planted mine in the spring of 2012.  In three winters, including some very rough weather, I've had maybe 10-20% damage.  I'm sorry about your damage.  Maybe we should compare notes on method.

Re emergence and fruiting, one tentative conclusion from my observations is that it's best to leave the plant protected and dormant as long as necessary to ensure that it doesn't experience any shock from the cold.  In past years, I didn't take the protection off until early April with bud break late April/very early May.  But as I mentioned on another thread, this year in March I opened the protection to help ventilation.  The covers are like a tunnel or Quonset hut; I opened a relatively small ~6" hole in the north end.  I think this was a mistake.  Pretty much all of my plants showed retarded emergence on the north side, which I attribute to exposure to the cold wind.  I have no other explanation.  If I'm right, a fairly small difference in microclimate in early spring can make a big difference.

I have a friend who co-manages a nursery father north, probably borderline 6A/5B.  She has hundreds of figs in pots.  She keeps them in an unheated garage.  This year, I noticed that she took them out of storage in late April.  I bought a few plants, which I either re-potted or planted in-ground in the second week of May.  Comparing similar varieties (eg., my already in-ground MBvs and HC vs. the new in-ground Sal's or potted Takoma Violet), I can't see anything to suggest that the plants brought out of storage in very late April suffered any delay. 

So in the future, I plan to leave on the protection a couple weeks longer.

All that said, I think you need to pinch Paradiso and prune excess growth to get ripe a good harvest of main crop figs here.  It may also help to remove brebas.  The way I prune now, there're very few anyway.  It helps that Paradiso seems to be able to ripen figs well into fall.  Last year, I was still picking in early November.

FWIW, my wife thinks Paradiso is the best-tasty fig I have.
__________________
Joe D
Previous Topic | Next Topic
Print
Reply