Check your okra and tomato plants too, nematodes love those roots more than fig roots...... If I had nematodes present in my yard like some do in the sandy soils of Florida, I still would try to grow a few fig trees in the ground....near a concrete slab or building. Fig trees perform much better and are more forgiving when grown in the ground than in containers. I read an article sometime back where LSU recommends thermally heating the ground to lower nematode populations in infected soils before planting a new tree.....I can't find that article at the moment for posting. Alternately, I would remove some soil from a site where I planned to plant a fig tree and build a fire in that pit.....replace sandy soil with a high clay content soil (called black jack or gumbo soil in Louisiana) if you have it. Nematodes do not do very well in high clay content soils. Layer the new soil with limestone....limestone is an anti-nematode agent. Build another fire on top of the ground after filling in the pit. Then cover the area with BLACK tar paper or BLACK plastic to capture the sun and heat up the soil.....heat the soil with a black covering for one year. Later plant the fig tree in that thermally heated site again mulching with limestone. Keep the area near the tree also mulched with leaves, hay, pine straw, etc. to help keep moisture in the ground. Nematodes harm trees by making it harder for the tree to absorb nutrients and moisture. Make sure to water and fertilize your tree regularly and prune to keep growth in balance with the functioning roots. If these steps are taken, it is my understanding that a fig tree can grow in that infected soil. Dan 45 miles from the LSU campus.......

Vladimir, all depends on the size of the tree. Rick, Claire is right. planting it now would encourage the tree to put on some new growth which most likely will not harden off by the time the cold weather arrives. i would store your trees this winter just like you have in the past and then get them in the ground once they break dormancy in the spring as long as there is no longer a threat of frost. All my trees are in 20 gallon pots with maybe 1 or 2 going into the ground possibly next year. all my trees are 4yrs old started from cuttings. as for fertilizer, i give them spring application right around the time they are starting to wake up using Joe Morles recipe. then roughly a month after that i start feeding them every other week with a liquid fish fertilizer called Organic Gem. I stop feeding them mid august just so that they don't put on much new growth. i also sprinkle a handful of garden lime 1-2 times during the season into each pot. once frost hits and all the fig leaves fall off i usually leave the tree outside to get a couple more light frosts to help harden off the new wood. once majority of the new green wood has turned brown, i bring them into my detached garage where they will stay all winter. i dont cover them nor do i provide any heat for them. matter of fact every time it snows its my sons job to place 2-3 grapefruit sized snowballs on each pot to assure that the soil never goes dry. it typically take up to a week for the snowballs to completely melt. sorry for the rambling....

im growing Meyer lemon and Armstrong Satsuma in ground here in bixby ok. 7a. My technique is similar and based off of the guy Dave mentioned above. 25 C9 lights come on at 38F. I added a small heater that I only use when outside is below 15. The lights can maintain about 15 degrees above outside on their own. So far we have had several nights below 10. Covering is 2 layers of white frost cloth when its below 38 but above 20. Below 20 I add 1 plastic tarp and one green frost cloth. Water bottles are there to just help buffer the temps and add a little heat. Meyer is in full bloom right now. I plan to graft Miho and Dekopon/Sumo to the armstrong. mike

There are areas around here that are stunningly beautiful and look like a postcard with rolling farm hills and red barns. It's about 10 minutes from where I am. There are also lots and lots of orchards up higher toward the mountains. You can also go way up to Mt Spokane and ski in winter. The town is divided somehow into 4 places. There's West where the AFB is and its mostly plains areas, the South area is up on a rocky hill and it has great views and horrible driving in winter, the North side is more crowded, smaller lots, poorer area unless you get way out North toward Deer Park and its just really really beautiful. Farms everywhere and red barns and rolling hills and roads that wind up into the hills. So way out of town about half an hour after you break traffic it gets really pretty. We live in the Eastern part of town which is called the Valley. It's huge. There is East Valley, West Valley, Central Valley and Greenacres which is where we are. We are 10 minutes or less from Idaho border. This area, this little strip on one side of Appleway (named for the apple orchards) is like in another dimension. It feels like the 1950's, there's lots of people working on older cars, there's horses around behind my house, the lots are huge. I mean really really huge. And they're uneven, so one house might have an entire acre behind it, and the next one further into town might have 2/3 of an acre so it's split up oddly, but the lots are more like acreage. There's no small lots unless you run into those awful communities that so many people love that I can't stand where all the houses look alike, they tell you the color to paint your house, and you have to get permission to plant stuff. Just not my style. There are locked communities just outside town on all 3 sides for people who live in mansions I suppose, just not my style. I've always loved farmhouses, we've rented lots of them, fixed them up, moved into other farm houses, fixed them up, and then I finally got this one one such a nice lot. It's double fenced because of the horses. Horse people do not like your dogs running back and forth along the fence barking when they're working their horses, so we fenced halfway back where the forest of trees are, and shut out the back pasture, which has only 1 tree and its open. That's the one that really needs development with landscaping and it has to fit into this area. So nothing modern, stuff like grapes along the fencing, it's cattle fencing with old posts back there that are likely 100 years old. I'm growing food gardens back there now, but I want a golden curls willow back there, and somehow a Queen Anne Cherry tree starting growing on the North leftside. I consider myself and our family really lucky even though the houses are small. They were mostly built 1920's or after. Ours was the first one, they're all small 2 bedroom 1 bathroom with mother in law setups out back and then pasture land. The taxes are through the roof, it's the black soil, and the schools. It's really high, and its all worth it to me. Plus the whole street is treed out front over the street, so this street itself is just gorgeous. People walk their dogs and sometimes horses down the street. We are indeed lucky. Lots of people have chickens, everyone has dogs, some have up to 5 dogs, cats are everywhere because of the barns, and horses. Also, apparently there are porcupines and skunks. My neighbor said "they really love your jungle over there". funny