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Encanto Farms Nursery > Topics > Your smallest SIP that survived a winter in a garage?
 
 


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luigiwu

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Posted Reply with quote  #1 

I need to pot up my fig twigs that I rooted starting this April in 18oz SOLO cup SIP. I don't know a lot about how fast and big fig twigs grow. I think I read that they are good in a 5-gallon bucket for their first 5 years? 

I was hoping to start with 1 gallon grow bags for the first year but am apprehensive about how to store them for the winter in my garage if they are in grow bags (I get the ones called Root Pouch.)

I am in zone 7, NYC so yeah it still gets cold in the winter. Do they need any water while in storage? Will the small size of the container/soil possibly not provide enough cold-protection?

[18349593399_a6c31c20dd_o_d] 


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collitchboy

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Posted Reply with quote  #2 
I would be interested in knowing this as well. I purchased four figs from Wellspring and they are in 1 gallon grow bags right now and appear to be wicking water from the bottom (first attempt at SIP). I'm worried about storage in zone 6b/7a.
Rewton

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Posted Reply with quote  #3 
Looks like they are ready to pot up!  I typically move mine into 1 gallon containers as soon as I see significant roots and leaves.  I don't like to overwinter containers of less than 2-3 gallons.  If I have 1 gallons I typically put them inside of a larger  container and surround the smaller container with mulch.  I would be wary about overwintering in growbags (especially 1 gallon) because I would worry the soil would tend to dry out quickly.  If you use them then monitor often to make sure the soil isn't totally dry.  As far as SIPs, the smallest I have overwintered is 3 gallons.  I drain the water out of the reservior and then add a small amount of water every 2-3 weeks to keep the soil from getting too dry like I do with conventional containers.
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jdsfrance

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Posted Reply with quote  #4 
hi,
Last winter was mild here, lets say the coldest we reached was -10°C .
I had a test started: 3 pots of 1 gallon inside the garden-house at the garden - sink or swim.
They all broke bud with almost no die-back at this season start - I was surprised.
The root balls got hard (frozen) several times, several days - I though ... Damned they're toasted ! But no !
I gave them two cups of snow when we had some, and one watering. Two have figlets for the maincrop; I'm due to pot them up to 5 gallon pots but I'll have
to wait two more weeks to have the time to do it - to see if they ripen those figs... Yet, another test :) .
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luigiwu

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Posted Reply with quote  #5 
Jdsfrance,
How cold does it get inside your garden-house? are you saying it was -10 in there too? Did you do anything special like put insulation/wrap the 1gallon pots?
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jdsfrance

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Posted Reply with quote  #6 
Hi luigiwu,
My garden-house has many holes all around and is not insulated ( there is a void in between the top of the walls and the roof for instance). So the temp is the same inside and outside.
The only difference is the wind-chill as most of the wind is cut by the walls (plain iron sheets) .
The pots inside were root-suckers, that I just couldn't care less for. But, I decided to be a bit fair and to put them inside - for testing purposes as well and
 as they were already in the garden, I had no effort for trying that ( and no mess in the car  to bring them to the home-basement ) .
During the whole winter, the pots were on the floor of the garden house and that is just dirt - so no protection at all.
On a normal winter, it is not uncommon to reach -20°C/-4°F - but this last winter we just went for -10°C/14°F .
I kept the pots on the dry side and that might have helped - in the garden house and our winters being humid, they can absorb water from the air.
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Climate from -25°C to + 35°C
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