My question is, why is it necessary for figs to go dormant?  Fig trees in warm climates grow all year around.  If I bring my trees indoors, wouldn't that simulate a warm climate?

What are the advantages of fig dormancy and any benefits for keeping them indoor?

I am not 100% sure but i think a dormant time is required not only to start hardening off wood but to switch from main crop fruiting stage to starting the breba embreos on thier way.

just my 2 cents

with that said I do grow many plants indoors over winter around 1000 give or take a few. and two cuttings that i rooted last winter needed babied so they are potted in 4 gal pots sitting in a sunny window. the only problem with this is the risk of fungus gnats. growing as many plants over winter that i do i will and already have had gnats. nothing bad, gnatrol is a organic bti thats cheep on ebay and will keep gnats away. i would also sugest that you feed it a weak water based plant food MG is fine if you want to go organic then super thrive is a good product and i would use it even if you do use MG as well.

Ok understandable. I'm sorry did you say 1000??? That's awesome!

I'm gonna give it a shot and bring a couple indoors. Reason being is that I've received some trees that were dug up and had some roots attached about a week ago. They're potted with container mix and I'd like them to root but afraid they won't with the cold coming.

Thanks for the reply.

You can grow them indoors fine, as long as there is enough light.  Usually unless you have a grow light setup there isn't really enough light for a fig tree.  They need direct sunlight to thrive.  So there's no advantage to bringing a tree indoors typically.

I don't know how big the trees are that were dug up, but if they were large, as soon as you bring them inside they are going to "wake up" and start pushing a bunch of new growth.  This new growth will acclimate to the light level indoors.  It will not be able to do enough photosynthesis to make it worthwhile, or to produce fruit.  Then, come spring, the leaves that have been indoors all winter will have a difficult time adjusting to the outdoor environment.  They may get sunburned and fall off.

So maybe bring one or two small ones indoors, but if it's a big tree, I would recommend you put it in a pot in your garage.  Then in the spring it will be ready to go. 

On the other hand, if you have enough space and some grow lights, you can put it under the lights with a timer to get 16 hours of light per day.  Still might get too large to contain indoors, depending on size, vigor, etc.  Grow lights are only effective if the leaves are very close.  So if you have a fig tree with branches that are growing 3 or 4 feet high, it is difficult to get enough light to all the leaves.

Thanks Rob, I may just keep them in an insulated enclosure I'm building outside. My concern really was getting them to root before it's time to put them away. I'll bring one in the house to try it out and make sure it's near a bright window.

Branches varied in size from 1 1/4" - 1/4". Taller branches I cut down to 3'.

Only some trees in nature are "Evergreen" type. Others drop their leaves, go dormant and rest to start all over again in spring to continue the cycle. This happens irrespective of hot or cold climatic locations.

Figs are not like apple trees.  Apple trees need a certain number of chill hours where temps are below a certain point for a certain number of hours, or they will not fruit.  Figs either don't need this, or if they do, it is a very small number of hours.

However, even in fairly warm climates like California, it is my understanding that the figs will still lose their leaves once per year.  Maybe I'm wrong. 

Many trees that are considered "evergreen" actually drop their leaves once per year, or with some frequency.  Pine trees do it, they just put new ones on right away.  Same with Live Oak trees in Florida.  My arbor vitae even just dropped a bunch of leaves but is still green.

i read somthing somewhere regarding chill hours and figs. but if memory serves the longs fig kind requierd somthing like 100 chill hours, not very long. it may have been on the forum that read it. or uc davis site, cant remember for the life of me. point being it doesnt seem like they need very much. i think the winter serves for hardening wood and root growth.

I Air Layered a Chicago Hardy Fig tree and started 7 fig trees and I have them growing in my house along with 7 Fig cuttings. I have 2 Grow Lights that are on 16 hours a day. The window they are in front of gets a lot of direct sunlight. Since I started all of my Propagating in August, the trees are not big. The Air Layered ones are as tall as 4 feet but the cuttings are less than a foot tall. They are all in different size pots. I have been reading a lot on Figs to see if they need to go dormant and I don't think they do. Dormancy may produce bigger fruit. The roots are not well developed to survive dormancy I don't believe. I treat mine like house plants. I have room from them in this room with me.

The question of dormancy seems to come up every year.  The most common, and correct, answer to chill hour questions is that figs DO NOT REQUIRE CHILL HOURS.  In tropical zones, figs grow year round and typically are everbearing.  I have kept trees for three years through the winter under lights, 12 hrs on/off and they have not lost leaves, these lights are not grow lights but old fashioned florescent shop lights.  The key is to keep the lights as close to the leaves as possible and I normally move them under the lights before they start turning their leaves.  I keep the temp at 75-80f.  They don't break dormancy, the never go dormant.  If you don't have a greenhouse or a "grow" room it is less successful.  A closet works very well as a "grow" room.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/P4kotw][img]https://c5.staticflickr.com/6/5693/30886500316_faf605255c_z.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/P4kotw]IMG_20161111_163409[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/124210111@N08/]Doug B[/url], on Flickr

nov 11

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Psgvmp][img]https://c4.staticflickr.com/6/5478/31146022411_53cf9183d9_k.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/Psgvmp]IMG_20161126_174826[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/124210111@N08/]Doug B[/url], on Flickr

today

and plumeria cutting sending flower buds

[url=https://flic.kr/p/PtDnhh][img]https://c5.staticflickr.com/1/262/31161604220_fbd070b677_k.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/PtDnhh]IMG_20161209_121153[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/124210111@N08/]Doug B[/url], on Flickr

Just home made lighting.
top photo shows date taken, the pic under it is the growth since then.
These will go directly to the orchard in march.
Winter fun, in a closet.
It is the extended daylight hours that brings them out of dormancy.
I run 12 on 12 off.
Doug

I noticed minimum growth during the winter months even if the fig plants are indoors. It seems like there's a hidden code in their DNA that tells them when to start growing. Environmental conditions are the most important trigger for going into dormancy and coming out of dormancy. Regardless of whether dormant or not, most plants need a rest period.

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/info/plant-dormancy.htm

Sas,, the top picture was taken nov 11. Would you call that slow growth compared
to the same trees in the lower picture?
I have grown many figs through winter and put them in ground first of spring.
They grow fine during the winter and really take off when
they hit the dirt.
It is daylight hours that "trigger" plants.
Just my experience so far.

Doug

Doug,

I would be very interested to know about fruiting of those trees that grew inside during the winter.
I've done that too, but those indoor trees went a full cycle without any fruit. The ones that go dormant outside appear to be more in sync with their natural cycle when it comes to fruiting.

Most grown like this put fruit on in their first year.
Remember these are young trees that you do not
want to let it fruit.
I let the tree concentrate on its root system.
It will sync with nature, and the provided daylight hours outside.
Doug

I currently have a whole bunch of figs on some of my trees outside and despite the cold temperatures this week those trees still have leaves as of today .
They have slowed down over a month ago or perhaps more when temperatures were still relatively warm and I was in short sleeves, but the fruit stopped growing and is still the same size.
This indicated to me that dormancy could take many forms depending on external conditions.

Q. Why do fig need to go dormant?
A. for fig collectors to keep their sanity..lol

Ficus Carica are deciduous trees/shrubs and so their normal cycle is to lose their leaves, have some dormancy period and then repeat their lifecycle.

But given that the species is now present in most climatic zones and people are reporting that they are growing figs year round we will find out how this works long term  once we get some reports back from S.E. Asia and other places. 

My limited experience is that I can grow figs year round and get ripe figs at odd times.  This year my Black Madeira produced a nice main crop fig in August, then it grew a couple of other figlets that didn't ripen.  It looked like it need to rest.

 

Ok, so why are your figs not growing like they do with long daylight hours of summer?
As daylight hours get shorter the plant knows its time to save its energy in the root system.

In areas that have longer daylight hours and do not get cold, the figs never go dormant.

Try to take a dormant fig and give it 8 hours a day of lighting.
Even inside they stay dormant.
Increase lighting hours and they come alive.

I have tried it.

Doug

The ones that refused to ripen were a second crop and are in containers. Since the weather was still hot and where I am located, they easily get 8 hours of day light, my theory is that the trees ran out of energy and needed some rest. Perhaps when the trees get larger then they might have more energy to ripen a second main crop. Not sure if it works in a container.

I have figs still hanging on too, but the leaves have dropped long ago.
The question was asked if figs needed to go dormant.
I say no.
That is one way to explain fall.
The trees are tired.
Doug

For optimum production and growth 8 hrs light, natural or artificial, is not enough, whether they are in ground or in pots.  Doug is absolutely correct in his assessments.  My cuttings in cups under lights totally out perform cuttings in cups that are not lighted.  I believe you gain a whole season of growth by using lights.  I also have found that the mortality rate of smaller cuttings is much lower than those grown without lights, Winter or Summer.

I grow trees to sell and a tree that is 3 seasons old is worth more money than a tree that has been growing 2 seasons.


Not debating, only stating the results I have had.

Thanks Danny, that is my thoughts exactly.
And what I learned by doing it.

Doug

Talking about dormant trees.
Last Thanksgiving I took dormant peach- 2 varieties, a nectarine, and a plum cutting.
Then I grafted those onto a peach tree grown from seed.
It has been in the closet, it looks like leaf buds are swelling!

Doug

I believe it's a light thing. As in the lack of light causes them to reach out and go all leggy.  This for instance as provided by mjbaransky 

https://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/pruning-suggestions-for-verrrry-leggy-fig-8097615?highlight=leggy&pid=1292173158

 

I'm guessing this is an extreme case but here are two of my trees that just broke dormancy too early:

 

I would think in areas where it stays so warm that they don't go dormant...they also continue to get lots of light....I would think.

I keep my potted figs in the cold (40F) and dark during winter.  Every year when the temps start to go up in March the figs start pushing out elongated growth and yellow leaves.  Forcing me to start the fig shuffle.
Not sure how the daylight hours could cause this since they are in the dark?
Is the increase in temperature to 50F waking them up? 
Maybe the figs have some kind of internal clock..lol?

I think it is primarily temperature and not daylight hours that triggers spring growth.   For years I would overwinter my potted fig (zone6) by wrapping it thoroughly in an old  comforter and moving it to my unheated garage.  In  March I would pull back the comforter to check it and find growth starting.  There is no way any material amount of light came thru the comforter, but the temperature in my unheated garage did change  with the seasons.

Then why do dormant figs without leaves start growing as soon as they are under LED lights?


Doug

This would be an interesting experiment. To take two similar dormant trees...Introduce light to one and heat to the other but not both. Then see what happens.

Those two trees I pictured above came out of my friends basement last spring. (A cold concrete cellar under his shop - Not heated at all) It was very much dark but the temps were jumping up and down in early spring. He said he hadn't watered them at all to try and keep them down but still there was about 6 inches of new growth that was yellowish-white and very translucent. Kind of creepy looking. That weird growth eventually hardened off and kept growing but the trees remained all lanky and sparse like this for the rest of the season. I should have trimmed it back early on.

Pino - I wonder if that's what going on here? That you're getting just enough heat during the day to kick-off some (unusual) growth.....But not enough light or heat to start them growing properly?

What's the "fig shuffle"?