I am in Harrisburg. I have an 8 year old Brown Turkey that I have successfully layred by bending some basal suckers to the ground and covering with soil. The next year I sever the bent stem from the main plant and dig up a nicely rooted plant. Also have a 5 year old potted Black Jack. Jim

I know this is super old, but I'm a fig n grower in VA and would love to connect with others. I'm in the Richmond area. I have Celeste; Verte; LSU Purple; and an unknown large, green honey fig that fruited this year. I also have a little Chicago Hardy and a containerized Marseilles. The rain really messed up flavors this year, but the best flavor and most consistent performer in this wet weather has been Celeste. Verte is second. Usually petite negri is amazing, but not nearly as wonderful with this rain. LSU was horrid for the first half of the harvest then started tasting great. I almost chopped it down. My mystery fig rots terribly easily in rain. It also drops figlets early on. Fortunately, it tastes good a little . I wouldn't dare plant a fig tree unprotected here anymore. Those days are gone. Wrap with twine, mulch high, and wrap in burlap.

Tapla surely know about many aspects growing plants. Hopefully he will chime in. I also live in Zone 5a and growing figs so I will respond based on my limited experience, MY input is listed (bracketed) next to your question: ---------------------------- 1. Is it better to plant in a plastic pot or in the ground in general? (I practiced in ground (with the Chicago Hardy)but could not keep it safe from the Ottawa winter. I know extra more elaborate insulation technisque may work but I do not believe I may be willing to do that kind of work every fall. Zone 5a is just too cold for medium effort insulation techniques). 2. Given that it's mid oct and the ground could freeze mid november, should it go in a pot now and get planted in the spring? Or is there enough time for the roots to settle? (It is always better to plant bare-root fig as soon possible unless you have storage area with techniques that nurseries use, stable temp etc. Then you can decide later what to do with the plant). 2.b I don't know if the pot or ground will be more troublesome. Our basement is below ground and would have to haul the tree down and up the stairs. (in Zome 5 the ground will be troublesome for the obvious readon of providing extreme insulation. Also, I don't think figs in pots are troublesome to those who really like them. It becomes like a love affair). 3. I have a spot in our west facing front yard that gets hot afternoon sun for at least 6 hrs. It is not protected so it will have to battle the winds. The eaves on the house cast too much of a shadow so it would probably only get about 4hrs of sun if it was right up against the house. Though the brick does generate heat. (Good enough for potted fig and the pots can be moved around if need be to a better sunny warm location if required) 4. Our soil is clay. We've amended spots where we've planted peach and apple trees which seemed to grow since the spring but since they were planted this year, I can't say for sure if they will survive the winter- though they should. Many people have them in our area. This just means we probably won't be able to bend the tree to the ground and cover with dirt/trench it. It will be too hard to dig this. I've ready people protect it upright with either plastic or with some leaves. I've heard pros and cons for both. Do you know which is more successful? Here, the plastic may cook the tree if we get our usually blue bird sunny winter days- very sunny in the winter. But, I have no idea if the leaves will breakdown quickly and just blow everywhere. Though it's sunny, the ground is still frozen. (More reason for growing in pot) 5. We would like to keep it small- we live in an urban area so our yard is very small. I've read that you can cut this guy back to 30" every spring/fall but don't understand what that means. Cut each branch to 30" long? Cut the trunk to 30" high and only keep the branches that are lower than that, or cut them all off? Up to 5-6ft is fine in height but I've also read that the Chicago fruits heavier with regular pruning. (Chicago Hardy fruit grows on current year wood so pruning for size and shapping the potted plant should not cause any detrimental problem. There are many ways to prune. One waay is to cut the main trunk to 30"~36" tall. The limbs can be cut to two or three nodes. These nodes on the libs.stems will branch out in spring and bear fruit. When these branches start growing, pinch each branch after 6 leaves. This helps in fruit embryo formation. Any sub-branch on these neew branches can be pruned after 6 leaves). 6.A chicago hardy can die back and send up new shoots the following spring from its roots that is supposed to produce fruit. Some have said it took 3 years of die back to get fruit. Does anyone have experience with die back? (- - -) I called the nursery and surprisingly they can only tell me what it says on their site. I would greatly appreciate any advice you can give- or anyone that has experience with a Chicago hardy. Please provide details. Thanks so much! ------------------------- I hope it helps somewhat (no time for spellcheck)

Hey Guys, it is so good to read again from all the old timers, that I have learned so much from in the past years. I come here hardly ever anymore, missing the old timers and the old friendly forum. Our garden does not look very good as well these days. Many tropicals have hard time surviving the weather we have been having lately. Most of my time and effort is taken by homeschooling my son (we just started this school year, after a not that good experience in magnet school last year) and chess tournaments (new passion of my son :-) I do wish everybody a great New Year, especially to those who deal with hardships. I would be up for a plant swap. Just to see everybody would be great! Maybe it is the motivation that I am lacking to kick me into the gardening mode again. Veronika J"s new passions: turtles and chess :-)