Just found this forum and already got obsessed with planting figs.

Only tasted figs so far and would love to try to root some cuttings.

Please advise which varieties for a newbie in zone 6A ( hudson valley, NY) and appreciate any cutting . I do plan to try both in pots and in ground and see which works for me!

Plenty of people here from up north can give better advise than me. But Ronde de Bordeaux, any Mount Etna (like Hardy Chicago), Brooklyn White, Green Ischia, or English Brown Turkey would be good choices.

Also, getting people "obsessed with planting figs" seems to be the primary result of reading this forum....! Welcome to the madness (I also just became "obsessed" within the last year, and yes it started with finding this forum).

CliffH

Welcome to the forum, Xiaojing!

Thanks for the advice. I will try to search for these varieties and try them out. I regretted I didn't find this forum sooner! With spring around the corner( hopefully), I am excited and ready to try!

How do you know my name? :) What a surprise! @tsparozi, I just realized I didn't mention my name in my post...

With some searching you will find great advice.  This question has been asked and answered many times before.

Meanwhile, Cliff gave good advice.  I'm in Z6B.  My suggestions for varieties that are cold tolerant and early ripening, in order, would be (1) Ronde de Bordeaux, (2) any "Mt Etna" type but maybe specifically Marseilles Black, (3) either Improved Celeste or Florea.  Start with those three then come back if you need more.

yxj002, you put your name in your profile.

Welcome to the forum and I have heard that Adams Farms in Newburgh sell very nice fig trees in the Spring at reasonable prices. Perhaps call them and check availability. The varieties they sell would do well in mid hudson area.Good luck and welcome.

Adams does indeed sell nice fig trees at reasonable prices; you do have to watch the labels as I have seen named white figs mislabeled with dark fig pictures and vice a versa; they appear to carry fig plants from 2 different sources and one looks solid, the other one seems to be from a bulk or commodity supplier and that is the one I noticed had mislabeled plants....

Thanks for the many tips! I got a good start now. Will study more on the terms/varieties mentioned above( including check registered names for different IDs, still not sure.. hehe), and put my enthusiasm into growing fig trees:).

I want to see pictures of these cold tolerant RdBs! Great for a container but hardly productive at all compared to an Etna type when planted in the ground.

Welcome to the forum Xiaojing. Hoosierbanana is right, you'll be better off growing them in pots. There are many successful Fig growers in NYC and as far as I know you get really hot summers . So the key is to wake them up early with the help of a greenhouse and gradually acclimatise it outdoors. Danny from NYC Figs got a tree in ground and it's called Sweet Diana . If you hook up with him, he might send you free cuttings for postage , well maybe next season.

What I mean is he should be planting an Etna type in ground above any of the other suggestions here. Not sure how "you need a greenhouse" came out of that.

Just to put the comments above in perspective, this is one of two air layers takes from the in-ground plant in question.

 

Any variety can survive winters with protection Joe, but how am I to protect all of my 5 year old 8'x14' tree? Compared to other varieties, RdB has been very frost sensitive (may not be an issue if growing in a sheltered location), and shy to set figs after heavy pruning/cold damage. They also tend to be watery and split when planted in ground.

<< Any variety can survive winters with protection >>

banana -- Depending one what you mean by protection, this statement is either untrue or misleading.  When I say "protection" I do not mean artificial heating; I mean only covering that blocks wind, blocks sun, and perhaps also provides some minimal insulation.  With that caveat, it is not true that any variety can survive with protection.  I wish it were that easy!

Consider: When the air temp is -7F at night here, the temperature inside my (unheated) protection is probably no warmer than 0-10F.  The only relative warmth comes from the ground, which would be frozen solid.  I don't think that "any variety" can survive those conditions.  At any rate, LOTS of growers have lost lots of trees due to winter cold, despite protection.  

Note that I wasn't trying to help you protect your 14' trees.  I was trying to help Xiaojing pick varieties.

Xiaojing -- I'm sorry that it was not clear from earlier posts within this thread (but should be made clear now) -- It is not advisable to try to grow figs in ground in Z6A without winter protection.  The almost inevitable result would be extensive damage to the tree, maybe death.  The most likely scenario in the typical Z6A winter (-10F lows) would be dieback to the soil line.  Some varieties (e.g., the Mt Etnas) can suffer such dieback and still regrow and ripen a few figs.  But with protection, even a relatively small tree can produce 100-200 ripe figs or more. 

The nature of the required protection is widely discussed elsewhere.   

Joe, the problem is that the level of protection for RdB must be much higher, and it is such a vigorous grower that it becomes impossible without a heroic effort. In a frost prone area they will most likely need temporary frost protection in the fall (something that is not discussed often) and then more or less total winter protection after that because major branch damage leads to vigorous and unproductive growths next season. Whereas with Etnas, partial protection of the trunks and low growths with a pile of leaves will result in a good harvest, and here some winters are mild enough for upper branches to survive without any protection.

Side by side with RdB, Etna types are much hardier, both for frost and low temperatures, but even Etna types will be killed to the ground by the first frost if they are actively growing. In that case no level of winter protection can save them. The relative level of cold hardiness of any variety depends on the tree's current growth, any variety can survive single digits if it is in a hardy state, and any variety can be damaged by a light freeze if soft and green. Hope that helps.

<< In a frost prone area [RdB] will most likely need temporary frost protection in the fall . . . >>

<< Side by side with RdB, Etna types are much hardier >>

Well, that's just not consistent with my experience.  We are certainly frost-prone here, beginning in October.  I provide NO fall frost protection.  I manage the trees as if adapting to progressively colder temperatures is a necessary part of the tree's process of preparing for winter.  

Meanwhile, I treat my in-ground RdB exactly the same as my two in-ground Mt Etnas, Hardy Chicago and Marseilles Black.  For example, this fall I covered all of them in early December after many days in the low 30's and some into the mid/high 20's.  Roughly the same the prior two winters.  And RdB and MB performed comparably -- zero damage either year.  HC suffered roughly 30% top damage last winter but more like 10% the year before.

But I did protect them.  I have no data or opinion on relative performance stark naked.

I agree with your comments on vulnerability of trees when actively growing.  In the fall, my trees are not actively growing (and I am careful not to fertilizer after mid-summer); so growth then has never been an issue.  [I do suspect, however, that slow transition to dormancy could sometimes be an issue for some other varieties.  But even my potted plants, including tender varieties such as Smith, endured multiple frosts before I put them in the garage this year, and they all seem just fine.]  Then in the spring, my protection has been adequate to discourage growth until I remove that protection in early/mid April.  The plants don't actually leaf out until ~May 1.  In four years, I've never had damage to growing plants in spring.

I would also agree with a thought that is perhaps implicit in your comments -- poor protection is a risk.  In particular, if the "protection" actually warms the trees (e.g., by creating a mini-greenhouse) it could encourage early emergence and increase vulnerability to subsequent cold.  But so far, I don't seem to have that problem.

It is possible that RdB is slightly quicker to emerge from dormancy / quiescence than the Mt Etnas and therefore may be more susceptible to the whipsaw of warm / cold cycles in early spring.  So RdB may be more sensitive to the quality of protection.  I just haven't observed a difference here.

Common sense is the best approach for growing figs.
Just because a main crop can sometimes be harvested in zone 6
does not mean it will produce or survive winters like in zone 8.
Growing up on a farm, it was only common sense used for
what would return a profit and would thrive in the zone we lived in.
I would never have planted my orchard in any colder zone than I'm in now.
I wouldn't recommend anybody put figs in ground in less than a 7b-8 growing zone.
I read of all the problems it is for those in cold zones and for me it would be
a waste of my time trying. Figs are good, but not my favorite grown fruit.
In my zone, I plant it , water it for first 2 weeks then pretty much forget it.
I just let nature take it's course.
Just my 2 cents, take it or leave it.

Doug

<< I wouldn't recommend anybody put figs in ground in less than a 7b-8 growing zone.

I read of all the problems it is for those in cold zones and for me it would be a waste of my time trying. >>

It's a tough decision, for sure.  Most people in Z5-6 seem too get get most of their figs from potted plants.  That's a lot of work too, not least the watering.  

But if I can get 200 figs from a single, smallish, in-ground tree, and all I really have to do is (a) prune it hard once a year, and (b) cover/uncover it once a year (no watering, no spraying), I'll gladly pay that price.  The decision is less clear is I have to keep squirrels, possums, and raccoons from making off with all the ripe fruit; but even that problem is manageable.

Joe, frost prone areas are open fields and low areas where cold air drains, it can be 5-10 degrees colder than nearby areas. My trees are all planted in river valleys, so unless there is a structure very close by or they are fully dormant they might take frost damage depending on how cold it gets. Container trees naturally go dormant sooner than inground trees because their roots are above ground and cool faster. I never fertilize any inground trees, but they will often grow until frost anyway because the soil here is rich, and if they suffered winter damage the prior year their growth will be vigorous and continue late into the season. I have never used conventional protection methods such as wrapping, my trees are pinned to the ground and covered when young and flexible or heavily mulched with a pile of leaves when larger, or left on their own. 

I met a guy last summer who has been growing figs for decades and got to see his trees, he wraps them in burlap and then tarps and all were killed to the ground during the 2 polar vortex winters. His location is well protected so I don't think frost was an issue. In my mind that sort of protection is poor since it does not trap heat from the ground. My trees which were pinned to the ground and covered did survive without damage. 

I made the mistake of setting out my container trees too early last year and they were hit with low 20s in April, most trees with swollen buds were damaged. The Etna types did fair the best, I am not sure whether their buds were just not as far along or they are actually hardier though. 

if a person has a small number of fig trees, surly there are ways to protect it over winter.
I don't want to discourage anyone from trying.
I kinda just over did it when I started planting in ground,
but only because it is such a care free fruit to grow here.

At least try it.
I'll have extra cuttings next fall if you would like to select which variety I have
that might work for in ground for you.
You need varieties with short ripening season.
Doug

Interesting topic on the worthiness of in-ground RdB vs Mt Etna varieties in the northern zones. But I think it is getting a little off topic from welcoming a new member and recommending varieties that he start with. There is some good info here for him on helping to choose container growing or in-ground. But let's try get back to the original topic of helping the new fig fanatic in NY, or maybe move this discussion to a different thread.


Thanks,
CliffH.