I have one last spot in my garden for an inground fig, and Salce is one of a group I was considering because it starts fruiting fairly early. Does anyone have experience with it in ground and know how hardy it is?

Hi Ed,

I remember reading about Salce years ago and wondered the same thing. I actually got my Salce from you 3-4 years ago! I think I'm going to try it in the ground is year as well. We will have to compare notes if you decide to put it in the ground.

Bill (saxonfig) wrote the following about it via Mario's trial ( the source of the Salce fig), and they are in Kentucky zone 6b:

"Well, here's the scoop on that:
The person this one comes from originally (mario), grows it outside here in KY. It tends to die back to the ground in winter but rebounds to produce fruit on the new growth. He also grows it in his unheated greenhouse and it doesn't die back at all in there.

So, not cold hardy but with a little effort will produce well in time.

Mine is potted and I have it stored under a pile of mulch at this time. I'll uncover it along about late March pot it up, and set the bottom of the pot below the soil line in my garden."

  Ed, both of my trees died back to the ground this winter. and are just starting to push up new growth.  (And that's in zone 9b)  It may have been their inability to withstand sap from flowing with our mild winter days, only to be followed by a couple of days just below freezing; or, the breezy 29* temps were just too much for the young wood...

I'm no help but mine never died back and is growing nicely. It's a really good fig.

Thanks for feedback guys.  I guess not a lot of people are growing this one in ground, at least in cold areas.  Brian, I had just a few figs 2y ago and maybe 20 last year from mine in a 5g SIP, and they were good but not outstanding.  Maybe inground they will be better.

I am doing some figs as a trial trained to a low cordon - now I am trying to figure out if I could bend the trunk of this one to add it to this trial, or if it is too rigid already.  It is 3 years old now (sister to the one I gave you, Bill).  Or just put it in the ground and try to protect it for the winter.  I tend to over think things sometimes - gives me something to do besides work  :)

Correct - it is a good fig, not outstanding. My tree is in a pot with roots grown into ground. No winter protection, had die backs to their tips, rather normal here. In my situation (more so in my zone), I am inclined to go for earlyness, reliability, good taste & productivity. Hence I have a selection where these picked variants gets to grow into ground like RdB, Florea, Faliciano, Desert King, Salem Dark, Granthams Royal, Italian Honey, Barbillone, Osborne Prolific. These variants gives me thousands of figs. Other potential ground candidates under trials are LSU O'rourke, LSU Improved Celeste 'Not', Lamperia, Deleon.

For me, last season, my Salce started ripening main crop figs just 10 days after RdB - both in containers.  RdB started on 8/11 for me.  So I see Salce as worthy for an in ground trial.
Paully, thanks for your input.  My plants need winter protection in ground - we have colder winters here.  I have just added 10 in the ground to the 7 I already had planted in the past 2 years, and have another 6 ready to plant.  It will be a lot of work covering these and protecting them well, but I think it will be worth it to increase my harvest.  These include Sal's(EL), Chicago Hardy, Adriatic(JH), Bryant Dark, Salem White, MBvs x2, Malta Black, Black Bethlehem, Red Sicilian(MN), LSU Purple, LSU Tiger, Nero 600m, Jason's Unknown Black Ischia(probably Negretta), Florea, Improved Celeste(ICON), Unknown Chios Dark, RdB, Salem Dark, Niagara Dark, another one or 2 I cant think of at the moment, and one open space for probably Salce.  Several of the above are in or going into a low-cordon planting as a trial.  

Breba producers here are not likely to produce well in ground.

Just wanted to clarify I was talking about Acciano as I got them mixed up lol