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Encanto Farms Nursery > Topics > Winter Protection in colder areas - please post your photos
 
 


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Flax

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Posted Reply with quote  #1 

I'm posting new fotos from my garden located in USDA Zone 6a in Czech Republic. I start to winterize me in ground figs with protection made from straw. This is first winter for my figs so I was very careful. I spray entire plant and his environment with special fungicide Pervicur to avoid fungus in wrap. Please if you are from cold area too, post pictures of you protection techniques.

This is my Violetta Bayerfeige, some braches was outside of cage so I must protect it with cocoa matting mounted with steel wire.

Here is my pruned and tied Hardy Chicago

Here you can look at my English Brown Turkey

and Marseiles

Here is set of my in ground figs with cages.

And here you can see final protection with palstic on top of entire construction to avoid moisture transmission from melting snow etc.

pitangadiego

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Posted Reply with quote  #2 

That looks like some very serious and very nice protection. If you check http://figs4fun.com/basics.html and scroll down to section 8, you will see the pix of the protection that one fellow used for his tree, and which he was kind enough to send to me. I was glad I was in California, where we don't need sure measures.
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fortisi876

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Posted Reply with quote  #3 
If anyone ever finds a good source for that type of fence please do list it here. Looks like the perfect type for our use.

The closest I've come to finding is what they call 'hardware cloth' at the HD and Lowes but the squares are about 1/2" if that.
Bass

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Posted Reply with quote  #4 
You did some nice work and spent a lot of time wrapping these twigs. With the size of trees you have, I would have bent them to the ground and covered them with mulch. 
When they get older you might want to consider a different method. Here's what I do http://treesofjoy.com/blog/?p=34
Fortisi, that fence is available at Home depot, I used it for fencing my chicken. 
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pitangadiego

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Posted Reply with quote  #5 
Great pix. Hopefully others with contribute to the shares knowledge as well.

As for the fencing, you might check some commercial ag supply sources, and may poultry or small farm animal type supply sources. I know when I grew up, we have fencing with rectangular hole, but the horizontal wires were very close together at the bottom, to guard against smaller rodents, and the were larger at the top. Have never seen anything like it in the last 40 years. Sometimes the original reasons for things die out, and the corresponding technologies and products die with them.
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saxonfig

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Posted Reply with quote  #6 
Nice work Flax. I'd say that will do the trick!

As for the fencing material, I agree with noss. That is some type of hardware cloth. May not be the same as what we get here @ HD or Lowes ,etc. but I'm sure 1/2" hardware cloth would work just fine too.

If you'd like more options for that type of material & much more....I used to get supplies like that from a company called Valentine Inc. I don't think they go by the same name anymore but here is their old phone # as of May 2004: 630-243-8881.
And I think this may be who they are now:

Valentine Equipment Co.
7510 S. Madison St.
Hinsdale, IL 60522
708-323-7070

"Poultry supplies, grooming supplies, fencing and caging materials, plus more."

It's worth a shot! 
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Bill - SW KY. Zone 6b. 36.5N 
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saxonfig

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Posted Reply with quote  #7 
If that info I gave above is not correct, I did find the website of the company I used to do business with: http://www.valentineinc.com/HdweCloth.html
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Bill - SW KY. Zone 6b. 36.5N 
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crazy4figs

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Posted Reply with quote  #8 
I found these fig trees in a nearby neighborhood this fall and just went back to see if they were protected for the winter. I couldn't believe my eyes. The adjacent garden is meticulously kept so the owners must spend a lot of time caring for their figs and other plants. I hope to talk with them some day to find what goes inside the fig shacks. nearby figs.JPG 



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PeterC

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Posted Reply with quote  #9 
wow! that is a lot of work!
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Growing: Sal's Corleone, Brooklyn Unknown, Peters Honey, White Kadoda, Brown Turkey, Black Mission,  Deanna, Green Irchia, Hollier, Sals E

Wanted: A very cold hardy fig, Hardy Chicago or Celeste

Zone 7  Long Island
saxonfig

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Posted Reply with quote  #10 
Those are some folks who love their figs!

Would be nice to know the story on the varieties and where they originate from.

Keep us posted. 
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Bill - SW KY. Zone 6b. 36.5N 
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GeneDaniels

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Posted Reply with quote  #11 
My camera is not working, but I will explain my protection this year. Zone 7b, last two winters hit about 5F; all trees died to ground. This was Hardy Chicago, LSU Gold, Southern Brown Turkey, Italian Black, and a local unk yellow. This year I have protected them as follows:

1) pruned to 3-5 trunks, 24-36 in tall
2) bundled together
3) wrapped in burlap
4) wire cage around wrap with 4-6 clearance all around
5) filled cage with mulch and leaves
6) covered top with bucket or trashcan.

My aim is to do this only two years until the trunks reach 2 1/2 or 3 in diameter. I see lots of older figs around here that the main structure survives the winter just fine. And they all seem to be 2-3 in diameter. So I want to use this kind of protection to develop such a main structure, then I plan to leave them uncovered. I will give a report in the spring about how well this worked.
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Zone 7b (Central Arkansas) Seven trees in the ground: Hardy Chicago, Celeste(?), LSU gold, Italian Black, Southern Brown Turkey(?), Strawberry Verte, and Unk yellow.  Trees in pots: VdB, CdD, and Sicilian?
Mario_1

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Posted Reply with quote  #12 
Gene that sounds good and reasonably simple. Your tough of cutting them back to 2 or 3 feet makes a lot of sense it siplefises the all thing
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Wallingford CT, USA zone 6a would be happy to meet and get together with other members near me Wish list; Any fig from any specific place anywhere in Italy
chucklikestofish

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Posted Reply with quote  #13 
12-01-2015 016.JPG  12-01-2015 016.JPG  12-01-2015 020.JPG  12-01-2015 019.JPG

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Posted Reply with quote  #14 
Quote:
Originally Posted by chucklikestofish
12-01-2015 016.JPG  12-01-2015 016.JPG  12-01-2015 020.JPG  12-01-2015 019.JPG
~in the big cans filled with wood chips and leaves and in the greenhouse 6 trees in ground in packed cans
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GeneDaniels

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Posted Reply with quote  #15 
Chuck, your system for inground figs looks great. Are those trashcans with the bottoms cut out?
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Zone 7b (Central Arkansas) Seven trees in the ground: Hardy Chicago, Celeste(?), LSU gold, Italian Black, Southern Brown Turkey(?), Strawberry Verte, and Unk yellow.  Trees in pots: VdB, CdD, and Sicilian?
chucklikestofish

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Posted Reply with quote  #16 
Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneDaniels
Chuck, your system for inground figs looks great. Are those trashcans with the bottoms cut out?
~ yes they are cut out,i really overdid it last year i wrapped my trees in 3.5" house ins. and then plastic tied tight,then packed barrels with straw tight then tarped tight,trees rotted 1/2 away so i went to cans wood chips and leaves they need to breath or they will surely rot~
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GeneDaniels

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Posted Reply with quote  #17 
Yeah, we have to really watch the rot issue here because of temperature swings. We had a low of 22F two weeks ago, but had 68F high yesterday. I am even a little worried about the cans I have covering mine, but they will breathe around the open mulch area at the bottom. So they should be OK. Let's compare notes next spring.
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Zone 7b (Central Arkansas) Seven trees in the ground: Hardy Chicago, Celeste(?), LSU gold, Italian Black, Southern Brown Turkey(?), Strawberry Verte, and Unk yellow.  Trees in pots: VdB, CdD, and Sicilian?
chucklikestofish

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Posted Reply with quote  #18 
Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneDaniels
Yeah, we have to really watch the rot issue here because of temperature swings. We had a low of 22F two weeks ago, but had 68F high yesterday. I am even a little worried about the cans I have covering mine, but they will breathe around the open mulch area at the bottom. So they should be OK. Let's compare notes next spring.
~ok~
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lifigs

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Posted Reply with quote  #19 
This is a link to how I did mine last year.  Worked well.  Plan on doing the same this year but waiting for it to get a bit colder.  It was 60F today.  Crazy for mid December around here.

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/tree-wrapping-2014-7785979?pid=1289796431
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Bill Long Island (Nassau) 7a,NY

Wish List: Sicilian Red, RdB, JH Adriatic, Sal's EL and any fig from Bari.
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