Nice wrapping Joe.  I found that inexpensive zip ties keep the tree nice and compact and are easy to clip come spring.  2-3 did most of my trees. 

This is great! Not very practical for tons of trees....But what a couple of trees so far north. Great work!

http://theitaliangardenproject.com/wrapping-a-fig-tree-savinell-style/

So much dedication and hard work. Much respect!

In re Post#3: "As much as I don't want to find out...I wonder what would happen if it broke dormancy in the dark all wrapped up like that. Or if it could in the dark....Hmmm"
Last winter my trees were overwintered in the basement.  They were young and hadn't branched out too much.  To keep them in the dark I used the cardboard rolls from empty aluminum foil containers (cling wrap, toilet tissue, whatever) to cover the branches to keep them in the dark.  For the longer branches I used brown wrapping paper that I had laying around to and made long tubes for the longer branches.  This kept the branches in the dark when I had the light on in the basement.
The trees started leafing out in March, some in April, even those that were totally covered.  The growth was very light green as you'd expect.  I think the air temperature as much as the daylight hours is what makes them come out of dormancy.  I plan to keep the basement colder in March/April than I did last year. 
On another note, looking at how they covered up the in-ground tree with bagged leaves I wonder if bagged paper shreddings would work as a substitute for the bagged leaves.  I completely missed getting bagged leaves this year.  Total bummer for me.  Sadly my raised beds are naked this year ;-(

In theory the trees shouldn't break dormancy (I'm told) as long as they remain under 8C (46F). The built in thermostat on the cable shuts off the power at 7C (45F) ...again only going back on when it drops below freezing....so my hope is that it never gets warm enough for this to be a problem.

This is also why I buried the thermostat inside with the tree. The idea being if it was outside it would never shut off.

If this works well my plan next year is to use this type of temperature controller to set it to come on and off even lower:  

https://wrap-on.com/product/heavy-duty-adjustable-thermostat/

With this one I can just set an array of cables on different trees to -5C (23F) and in theory it'll keep it that way...

This is the plan anyhow...Subscribe to this post and you can see the unveiling in spring....

Just an idea you can also use a  thermo pot as in here - just bury it in ground...

Joe --

Living in Z6 as I do (like you) and relying on protection too, it's troubling to me that your protection last year didn't work better.  

Trying to ferret out reasons:

1.  What is the variety?  Apologies if you said and I missed it.

2.  When did you cover the plants?

3.  What was the coldest weather before covering?

4.  When did you uncover the plants?

5.  At that point, what was the condition:
  a.  Dry and brittle?
  b.  Wet and moldy?
  c.  Apparently healthy, only to die later?

6.  What was the coldest weather after you removed the covering? 

Here we also had a mild winter 2015-16 but there was some unusually cold weather in early spring -- mid-April, as I recall.  I had damage on one protected tree that I believe happened because (a) the tree began to emerge from dormancy in early April while still under cover, (b) I uncovered it partially, intending only to provide better ventilation, then (c) cold weather and harsh north winds hit.   The damage occurred in a section of the tree most exposed to the north wind.

There's a possibility that your tree was warm enough through the depths of winter but too warm in early spring.  If that's what happened, more warmth in the winter won't help and may make things worse by encouraging early emergence from dormancy.

Not sure who has actually used heat tape.
Heat tape with a thermostat either is off or on.
When it is on it gets very warm. I just hope it does not cook your tree.

If I knew the maximum temperature the heat tape
runs at, that would be where I would start.

Plenty of insulation before wrapping heat tape might
help from excessive heat transmitted to the tree itsself.
just my thoughts. Hope it works for you.

Doug

edit
I would suggest leaving the burlap and driving
wood stakes 8-10" away from tree and wrap the heat tape around the stakes.
Then insulate over that.
That way no direct heat can harm your branches.

Hey Doug. No excessive heat problems here. I did indicate the specs above but this stuff is perfect. It doesn't get "warm" at all. Warmth it not the purpose of this tape. Rather just "not frozen". It has a built-in thermostat. It comes on at 0 C (32F) and shuts back off at 7C (45F). It has a self test and to the touch it doesn't even feel warm.

This tape doesn't so much "heat" as much as only take away the bitter cold edge on the days that temperatures really dip.

Good to know.
Was afraid it may dry it out, but sounds good.
Good luck

Doug

I'm not sure it's science but I'm very optimistic. Fingers crossed I'll be sharing some good results in spring....

OK folks, it's time! All winter I've been staring out the back window wondering how this tree was doing. So here we go. Step 1 - Go HERE and turn it up!

Electro-fig was uncovered today and here's what I found.... First I peeled back the covers

 

I was relieved that the insulation was dry

 

Peeling back to the heating cables my boy stepped in to ask, "What on earth IS that on the tree?"

 

Down to nothing more than the burlap now.... so nervous

 

And here is it! Perfect!

 

No die-back! It worked!

 

 

 

 

 

Now here's the thing I didn't mention before. This tree is on the south side of my house. On the north side is another CH that I bought and planted on the same say as this one. They were of the same batch and age at time of planting. That tree, I protected with building wrap, leaves and no heat cable. I uncovered that tree today as well.

 

On the outside all the same. Everything seems in place.

 

Here you go. The tree will do fine... But serious die-back on all the branches.

 

I know this is by no means scientific method... But I'm pretty confident the cables took enough of the edge off the cold to protect the tree.

I realize this is totally impractical if you have many in-ground trees to protect...But if you have a few, or maybe something really worth protecting......I'll probably ease off on more mature trees but for first year in the ground, I think this is a winning protection method. 

Thanks everyone!

Very well done Joe!! I hope you get a bunch of figs this year. Thanks for sharing!!

Congratulations on your success!

Amazing results.

Impressive!

Congratulations Joe! Very nice.