I've never had to worry about cold weather harming my potted fig trees until today. I moved all but 5 trees into the garage. I have a LSU purple, a few VDB, and Celeste outside in air pots. Should I be worried about 27 degree weather for a night? All are 2nd year trees. Thanks in advance...
Brandon

There should be no damage to your trees at 27F, taking them into the garage is more than enough.
Our cold spell is currently -4 degrees Fahrenheit (-20C)... Most of my potted figs are 1 year old and in an unheated shed. I am afraid they will be severely damaged or killed :(

Thanks for the reply.. I wish you luck and hope that your trees are okay!!

Dear friend, I am in Zone 8B area, It was very wet and then cold this year, Last year, Someone gave me potted LSU purple, it killed by mild winter not even below 34F,  I got another LSU purple in 5G pot and put them in unheated shed with other potted figs are 1 year old, Recently, our cold spell is -10C = 20F for 2 week,  I checked with them 2 days ago,  most of them are buds/tips damaged, There are still 2 more months to go with cold winter, I am worry that they will be severely damaged.

3 hrs North of Houston on Louisiana Border

17f ambient
43f in greenhouse 1.5gal last night).....GOOD investment

Next week highs in 70's welcome to the wild wacky weather of Texas.

Edit - Temps at 6am CST, High today 39f

If your potted trees are first leaf, you might get some losses. I've seen 18 degrees at night in North Austin and damage was restricted to branches. My potted trees are near a wall or a fence and protected from open wind, that helps.
The in ground ones are usually covered with mulch and despite winter damage, so far come back every year.
Since the low temperatures occur mainly during the night and don't last, I found that the wind is more damaging than just the low temperature by itself, especially that it always warm up during the day.
A sheltered location is important, when trees are young.

Not concerned, as stated, greenhouse is 43f.  Heater set for 42f-60f, working well.  Only trees exposed are 4-5 yrs old and protected from wind, they saw 15f 3 yrs ago, no damage.

It got down to 28f this morning here, but my outdoor figs still have bright green tips. They seem to do okay here as long as they are along a wall.

It ended up getting down to 21 here last night... Aghhh

I'll let you know in a couple of week....

I have all my smallest trees in a small greenhouse that is keeping the temps around 50 degrees. But I left all my more mature trees outside and unprotected. I thought that those temps for a few short hours would not hurt the actual trees or branches. New leaves and green buds will go, of course. My trees have not moved into the dormant stage at all yet, so I was hoping the low temps would help. So, we will see if I had anymore damage than expected in a few weeks.

CliffH

My nephew lives in Kady, which is north of Houston. It got down to 11 degrees last night there. That's colder than my location, Charlotte, and we are further North! Go Figure! The Houston area being 10 degrees colder than Charlotte baffles me! I have weather locations connected on my phone, San Deigo, Seatlle, Houston, Camp Junction, Naple, and Charlotte. We are considering moving in a 5 years and we are considering moving to a warmer climate and Houston WAS on our list......not anymore!

Coldest I can remember it. I'm about 5 miles from Katy. There was a year a couple years ago that it only got to 32 for a few hours. Thats when I was on the warmer side of houston but still. That was the low for an entire winter.

I really wasn't expecting it to be THIS cold (10 degrees less than predicted), and lasting for two days. So, I am hoping that I do not have too much damage. I did move more of, but not all, my potted figs into the GH yesterday. Wishing I had moved everything. Live and learn, as the saying goes.

Snaglpus - It might be cold for a day or two. But the high for Tuesday is 75, and 80 degrees on Wednesday. Go figure.... This might just be our whole winter. We would love to have you down here. I lived in Rock Hill (just barely south of you) for a while before we moving back to Houston the last time.

CliffH

Cliff,
Danny emailed me and gave me some living tips in Texas. I'm checking out Google Maps now around the San Antonio area. I like the idea being near a military base to take advantage of my retirement benefits.

I can grow a lot of figs in that climate!

Dennis, I lived in Merritt Island fla for 4 years.
I got tired of the same humid weather all day every day.

And the gaters beside the roadway.

I do not miss florida.
Kinda have to decide your comfort level
and what zone you live in to grow whatever you want.
Im not criticizing florida, it was just not for me.

Doug

Dennis,

Other options near Katy are closer to the coast, try Clear Lake, Friendswood, Texas City, Kemah.  

Great weather, great temps. Freezing temps rarely penetrate the 9B coastal breeze climate and when they do, it's usually- usually in the mid 20's.  I can remember a while back, maybe 25 years ago, the cold came in so hard it killed a bunch of the speckled trout in the bay.  but, that was very unusual. great environment for figs and many, many other plants.

 1 night should be fine i had some out few weeks back at 27F no problem 

Dennis - San Antonio was our first choice on where we wanted to settle long term in Texas. But my job connections, and the better money, was in Houston. So here we are. Again. Sent 12 years living here before.

Where ever you settle in Texas I am sure you will enjoy it. Much better weather and climate for growing figs, and fignuts in both cities or close by.

Looking at the map.....Texas City looks real nice!

I'm from that side of town... if you have any questions about the area let me know!!

Dennis, sent you a PM.

You move to Texas City and the next thing you know you'll be obsessed with growing a bunch of oranges, lemons, or limes right next to your figs. Or maybe avocados, or mangoes, or papayas, or ...... Really good growing climate there. 

That's when you're not fishing for flounder right off the Texas City dike. Or maybe for bull redfish, speckled sea trout, sheepheads, or something else. The TC dike attracts fisherman from all over the state.

All you have to worry about are the hurricanes.....  ;-)

I'm in Matagorda Tx, on the coast 90 miles southwest of Houston. Lows on Friday night of 22.1F and Sat. 23.7F. Over the Christmas break, I planted in 23 new fig trees in the ground. Trees were one year old trees, so they had some size to them. I think they will be ok.
This is the coldest since about 1999-2000 winter. Most years I barely get anything under 30-32F.

yeah cliff, 

that's the biggest downside of coastal living-  so much to do and i get distracted easily.  

you're makin me homesick.