Keep us posted. You're surely not removing it this early, so when you finally remove it for the spring I 'll be interested in hearing what your dieback looks like and I'm glad to hear you're also getting pineapple guava to live there as well.

Is your wrap like a cone (with an opening at the top) or more of a hemisphere? What are you using for stability?

~Chills

Chills, yes its not getting removed any time soon. I was out patching it last weekend and at that point all the wood was good that I saw. But, this winter is so mild that its not a big test.

I have so far put no opening at the top, for the reason that it would cause some heat to escape. If there is a reason to leave an opening I would like to know. The Italian-American method always seems to include a hole in the top with a bucket over it, so I did think about that issue but could see no reason. There is no rotting to worry about because it stays dry underneath. Also there will still be a little air coming in through the bottom on a windy day. I have some heavy patio bricks leaned up against some parts of the bottom to keep it from blowing away. That was not in the initial design but it blew off several times. I initially had only some ropes over it, but that doesnt keep it from blowing off to one side.

My figs are planted in a closely spaced row (two rows actually), and so the covers are shaped like an elongated pup tent: there is a seam running along the top all along the 10' or so long "tent". Its more like an upside-down U than the upside-down V of a pup tent, because the figs are wide bushes. My figs were pruned to about 3-4' tall and thats how tall the tent is at the top seam. I'm not sure what I am going to do as they get bigger; I may try to make a taller tent or I may keep them as low-pruned bushes with renewal pruning: prune out some of the older canes at the base and let new ones come out the base. I read about that fig pruning method somewhere.

I sealed the top seam with insulating tape at first, but that did not hold through the winds. So it is now simply stapled along the top seam, one staple every inch or two. That is holding well so far. The ends are simply stapled together as well. I can post some pictures if its not so clear from the description.

Scott

I think the opening is to allow for overheating to have an escape (on those unusual 60+ degree January days).

So far this winter I'm seeing warmer than usual temperatures as well. The coldest night we've had is 8 degrees. So far there have only been 3 nights where the temperatures have dropped into the single digits. It has also been a drier than normal winter, we've seen very little snow (5 inches on Thanksgiving day is the most we've had at one time).

I've got a fig that I planted late last summer behind my house. I've got it packed by paper leaf bags, tied tightly around the fig, and the whole thing is covered by a tarp. I placed pipe insulation around the main stem of the fig, but I have recieved an email from one of the posters here saying that his attempt to do the same was a failure. I wasn't about to unwrap the whole thing in December to remove the pipe insulation, though.

~Chills

That makes sense that the opening is to prevent overheating. I have noticed that the aluminum reflects enough sun that it actually cools the figs on hot days compared to the ambient temperature. I have not been paying a lot of attention to what it was doing when it was hot but I will pay a bit more attention. .. hmm, I just remembered that my gauge also remembers the max temperature, and checking it now it was 57F outside today as the high, and 46F was the high under the cover so there is not only no warming, but a pretty major inversion. So I don't think there is any need for a vent to cool it. In fact, it may be better to build a window of clear bubble wrap into the tent to heat it up to something like the outside temp during the day, giving a bit more heat to carry into the night.

Re: your pipe insulation, if its covered by the tarp its probably not going to have much effect, good or bad. The leaves and the tarp on the other hand can be very helpful if they are trapping ground heat.

Scott