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Potted fig trees are about to wake up

I put all my potted fig trees in my garage since early Dec while outside temperate was around -1C without any snow. Now I found 95% of all my potted fig trees are about to wake up with some figlets. What should I do with those figlets ? Should I remove them all ?

Based on my last year experience, I found all figlets and new grow branches were useless once I removed all potted fig trees to outdoor in early March while temperature was only 5C in the day time or -1C at night. Can someone give me some advice when is good time to move all potted fig trees to outdoor, so that all new branches can be survived etc. Any recommendation is appreciated

  • ricky
  • · Edited

I have this problem last year as well, I have some potted fig trees in unheated shed, some wake up now, I ordered 2 100W LED light,  I will use them with timer to turn on/off it, till early April, then I will put them outdoor.

Do you think that it is sun burn problem?, you may  try to put your fig tree to 1/2 shaded area for few day then you can put them for full sun area.


Since my garage is unheated with no LED light but will have day light through the windows, I find the new branches of each potted fig tress do not do well outside right after you move them outside meaning they are not harden enough and need to be removed. Those new branches formed outside will be harden and able to grow and survive. This year I might move them out in mid April when it is not cold outside to see what happen.

It really depends on how much they grew inside with very low light as to whether or not they can be transitioned to the sun, starting with full shade if they were in a dark garage.
If you have foot long or more shoots that look like blanched asparagus with paper thin white, yellow leaves..they don't stand a chance.   If you are proactive about doing something before they get out of hand, such as doing some shuffling outside during nice weather spells, then they should be fine and you won't have to set your trees back by removing the first flush of growth and the brebas.

This also is dependent on how many trees are we talking about here? If you have 40 or more trees and many are large, then maybe you need to figure out something different or a way to modify your storage to keep them dormant longer for future seasons. If you have 1-15 trees, then just deal with it and shuffle them.

I don't know that you can turn back now. I think you may need to keep them growing.....but really slowly. a friend had a couple with those white shoots last year in his cold cellar. He didn't put them under lights or warm them up. He kept them down and growth to a minimum by holding off entirely on the water and kept them cold and dark. Use very cold water if any. In spring the shoots that started hardened off and started growing normally once outside.

The bigger question is why are they waking up? They should stay dormant if the temps keep the roots below 8C. Have you had sustained warm temps out west? My attached garage here in Toronto has been as high as 6 or 7C over January but the potted figgies are still fast asleep.

If they're getting a lot of light I'd cover them up.

To add a little more. New tender growth will freeze and die if temps get too low. For me, the magic number is 38F or 3.3C.  Sometimes, even though the temperature is above freezing such as 36F (32F is freezing) it will still frost and damage tender growth which sets the tree back. So if it is supposed to be 38F or higher they are fine, any lower and I shuffle them. As far as the figs, I would leave them if they are brebas on a tree which is large enough to support them, and if they are on a variety which is able to bring brebas to ripeness. Some trees make brebas which grow for a bit, but eventually abort them. To me that is wasted resources for your tree, so those I remove. Hardy Chicago is a good example, my tree makes lots of breba but they all drop eventually, so I just remove them every spring.

Thanks to all for your comments and I really appreciate it very much.

My attached garage is facing to the west side and temperature in Dec/Jan could be around 2C - 5C while outside could be -5C. Outside temperature has been very cold this time of the year in West coast compared to last winter. 

I have about 16 fig trees potted in 5 gal container and this is their second year for most. I have no idea what to do with the new figlets but will give them a chance to grow to get experience. 

One of mine started leafing out yesterday. I moved it to my warm part of the basement under lights. I have 40+ trees so I think I will buy shade cloth for transitioning this spring. No figlets on it though, just 20 or so leaf buds. Be sure to fertilize for nitrogen in spring and phosphorus while fruit is developing.

I have couple potted fig trees and one in ground fig tree having tiny figlets, I think that you should check what type of fig trees are they, I have Coll de Dama tree with figlets, It will drop all breba, so I removed all of them.

Calvin is right that you should really watch out of magic number of 38F/3.3C, I bought "Desert king" tree with figlets/young leaves at March last year, Although temps got above 50F/10C day, Temps got too low at right 38F/3.3C, fig tree was shriveling and dropped all leaves and figs, cold shocked fig tree, It took 2 months for it to recover. This year, I bought a big/cheap simple Dial Temperature meter,  I install it outdoor and I can see it inside my window,  I will pay more attention for those cold night this year.

For my in ground fig tree, It is about 15FT X15Ft, I covered its ground with plastic sheet to heat up ground with Sun, Hoping that it can tolerance cold night.

Quote:
Originally Posted by pacifica
Thanks to all for your comments and I really appreciate it very much.

My attached garage is facing to the west side and temperature in Dec/Jan could be around 2C - 5C while outside could be -5C. Outside temperature has been very cold this time of the year in West coast compared to last winter. 

I have about 16 fig trees potted in 5 gal container and this is their second year for most. I have no idea what to do with the new figlets but will give them a chance to grow to get experience. 


This is a bit of a mystery to me. I can't imagine why a tree would ever come out of dormancy if temps have not exceeded 2C. 

I realize much of your inquiry was about what to do with the figlets....But I think long-term.... You need to find out why they're waking up to begin with...I'd be very curious to know....


  • ricky
  • · Edited

It was quite warm/wet at November then It was really cold here at December down to 14F/-10C here, At January then weather warm up to near 50F/10C at day and up 40F/4C at night plus bright SUN at day time,  Due to this warm weather/ and strong SUN, and some fig trees are not fully Dormancy, branches are still green, and  quick easy to wake up.






Quote:
Originally Posted by TorontoJoe


This is a bit of a mystery to me. I can't imagine why a tree would ever come out of dormancy if temps have not exceeded 2C. 

I realize much of your inquiry was about what to do with the figlets....But I think long-term.... You need to find out why they're waking up to begin with...I'd be very curious to know....




I agree totally with this.  I think you need to monitor temps in the garage on warmish, sunny winter days.  It may be getting much warmer inside than you think.

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