Hi all.  I am new to fig trees and have 5 different varieties right now.  The two biggest were dormant over the winter, i very very lightly watered them once a month or so.  A month ago, they started with their new shoots and looked great.  I started bring all the over-wintered plants outside with the nicer weather and went to watering as normal.  The figs shortly lost all their shoots after that and have not shown a sign of life since.  

Is it likely that I killed them from a full watering or did it just shock them a bit?  I can lift them out of the pots easily and see the soil is moist, but not wet, about an inch down to the bottom.  The very bottom is the same way, although slightly more moist.  Slightly, not wet.

These are one of my favorite fruits and it kills me that I may have killed them.  I bought them at the end of last season for a pittance and they are over two feet tall.  They both had 3-5 figs on them when purchased.  

Some background on me, I have been pretty successful with getting things to grow and produce fruit.  I am in zone 6/7 and have pineapples, passionfruit, dragon fruit, and just got a truly tiny banana plant.  It has become a passion of mine, especially to grow things that are not supposed to be grown in my area.  

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Do you have pictures? It's hard to say even with pictures. I have had some that I thought were dead for sure and next thing you know they are spitting leaves out. It's usually not a good sign when you start losing all the growth though.

It only dawned on me after I posted it that I should have included pics.  I am out and will do so as soon as I get back home.

Is it possible that a freeze got the leaves when outside? You might kill established trees by over watering but that seems unlikely unless the soil is very water retentive. But maybe they weren't that well established.

In spring the trees don't need much water until they get well leafed out.

No, I had only left them out for 5 or 6 hours and back indoors around 5 pm.  Never went below 50 degrees.

I just took a pic of the root ball and the top of one of the branches.  The broken limb is old and had no effect.  The trees had plenty of shoots a month ago.  Then I watered them fully and they all died days later.  A local grower thought that the strong watering caused the root hairs to die back some and may fully recover in time.  I've no idea if that is realistic or possible, so asking here.  

I do wish I found this forum a couple of years ago.  Figs are one of my favorite fruits.  
 

The top I can see is dead. The roots look better and the mix looks like it would drain well enough. I don't know why they would leaf out and then die. Seems pretty strange.

I scraped a little of the bark down low and it seems greenish in color.  Tough to tell since I have red/green deficiency in my eyes.  That is a Peter's Honey, too. :(

It looks like it's a a goner. Just to be sure though I'd leave it as it is for a few weeks and make sure nothing comes up from the bottom.

So, I just clipped the small branch that was sticking up on the left and this is the cross section.  I scraped a little of the bark on the lower part of the tree and someone said it looked green to them, too.  Could being in a south facing window all winter and then exposing it to 50 degree temperature suddenly 'shock' it somehow?

 

What did the young leaves look like when they fell off?  Did they leaf out inside first then get put outside?  If so then maybe the leaves got sunburned - they usually look a little crisped or sometimes whitish or gray where that happens.

I would just give them time and see what happens.  I do not think you overwatered them

They died right on the branch.  Pretty much in the exact way as you describe!  The highest point in the pic above was a bud and now it is a dried out crispy thing.  The leaves were only shoots, never got to the point of opening.  They turned beige, tan, and finally dark brown over several days.  I thought the sudden change might have had an effect, but became concerned with zero new visible grow anywhere.  I am pretty successful/lucky with growing things, although the figs have not exactly taken to me.  I purchased three plugs last year from Heirloom and there was not a spec of growth all summer/fall.  This early spring they have more than doubled in size and I can see changes every other day or two it seems.

My watering was only one day.  Since then, I have not really watered them.

Just as a follow up, the fig trees posted above look no different at all today two months later.  I scraped the bark in several spots from the base to the top of the taller branches and still green underneath.  The roots look the same, although it was suggested that I repot them since maybe they were root bound.  When I went to scrape the sides a bit, half the roots were so brittle they just broke clear through.

Is it possible to send them back into dormancy?

Its unlikely it went dormant.  A dormant fig tree "looks" healthy, just no leaves.  I would guess you've got some root rot going on and that's preventing uptake of water and nutrients to the plant, hence the wrinkled appearance.  Just a guess...

Thanks Mike.  Is there something I can do to help the plant or is it just an issue of time for it to resolve itself?

Well, in my experience, if the cutting is rotten below the soil line, there's nothing you can do.  You'll know that's what it is if you remove the soil and feel the sub-surface "bark", it'll feel all squishy. I've never had one recover from that.  

If that's not what it is, you could try re-potting it and pruning some of the roots to stimulate some growth but if everything above the soil is already dead, that also becomes a shot in the dark.

I did repot the plant about a week ago.  I scraped the bark an inch from the soil line, halfway up, and just below the top of the tallest limb and it was white and then green under that.  The branches do not seem brittle, either.