Martin,

You have my admiration, raising figs in such difficult conditions! I'm sure that when they ripen, they will be that much sweeter for the effort.

What was the coldest that they gotr in your shed this winter, and for how long?

Daniel

Daniel thanks,
but the trees deserve more credit as there the ones shivering there limbs im just there care taker ; )
It was sometime around January 15 we had some cold temperatures outside days were 11 below 18 below and coldest day was 21 or 23 below as i remember it was only few degree's off from the record of 27 below.During our coldest day the high temperature for daytime was around 3 below thats when garage temps were around 9 above and dropped as low as 7 above for about 3 to 4 days then for a combined total of 14 days or so it stayed in the 12 to 14 degree area. Its those 2 weeks i was kind of lucky as the overhead door was closed most of those days as my wife drives every 3rd week in her car pool or maybe the garage temperatures might have been little cooler. That was the coldest part the tree's went through this winter. Also first year of watching garage temperatures but i think its the coldest winter they have been thru, oh and each tree did have old bedsheet thrown over top of them cause when the door does open if wind is coming the right way they dont get that cold breeze.
Martin

Martin,
Were those the temps in your garage this winter? Wow, if that's the case and your garage is totally unheated I'm amazed!! 9 to 7 above ....WOW!! Maybe I don't have to heat my greenhouse at all.

Thanks,
Little John

Little John,
yes those were the garage temps in January our coldest month this past winter. Trees have gotten some dieback in past years but each season less, this spring season is still a little early to tell but they look real good as this was probably there coldest winter they went thru. Please dont go turning off greenhouse heater cause of me this is just how i grow mine im hardeheaded and dont want to spend the money to have lighbulb or heater for them in a garage.
Martin

wildforager,
If you have a cool garage (min winter temps 15-20*F):
You can pot figs in a minimum 5 gal bucket with drainage
holes on the very bottom VERTICAL sides. Bury ~1/4 in your
backyard, enjoy the fruit, and winter store in that garage.
P.S. I only use my little GH to winter some of my
newly rooted fig (or ones with some problem).
Grafting figs is not one of my favorite subjects; you know what I mean.

Now thats what I call hardening off a fig tree. Did I read that right 7 degrees above zero in your garage? Sirlampsalot

Sirlampsalot,
yes you read that right, although i did not post pictures of that temp on gauge in garage i did post some near christmas when slight warmer, i found them for you to see.
Gosh im glad we are over the hump now.

Posted by dieseler CHG z5 (My Page) on Mon, Dec 22, 08 at 9:55

Here are some pictures of fig tree's stored in my garage also a outdoor pictures that daughter took .
she took this one of my vehicle bumper, the windshied had a good half inch thick sheet of ice, i had a good scraper and had to actually chop at it after car was warmed for 30 minutes, when i tried just scraping i partially broke the scraper and it was a good scraper darn it.
Few tree's in garage resting

i never thought to take temps in garage always new it was cold though but somehow when i look at the gauge it seems colder now than before when i did not have gauge.

I put some of those here from Dec 22 for you

{{gwi:749050}}

{{gwi:759251}}

{{gwi:759252}}

also 1 month later it was colder but did not take picture when gauge was at 7 but this is around the time we hit 21 below zeron outside and i posted some of those cold temps for you under last picture.
Glad its over now!

Posted by dieseler CHG z5 (My Page) on
Thu, Jan 15, 09 at 10:53

The current temp outdoors is 13 below zero at 9:47am Thursday,todays high will be 2 to 3 below zero not sure what the low was last night, garage temp is 9 above with my tree's against the walls, first year gageing temp in garage but i dont remember it this cold outdoors since growing figs last 6 years and storeing them in garage. I think they will be fine though maybe a little dieback this year as they are my bigger tree's in nice size containers, a warmup soon next week in 20s they say maybe hit 30.
Current conditions:
Mostly Sunny
Select temperature units:

Fahrenheit Celcius
Mostly Sunny-13 ° feels like
-32 ° -2 High

-12 Low

Precipitation

0 % Relative Humidity 65%
Barometer 30.59atm
Dew Point -20 °
Visibility 10.00 Miles
UV Index 1 Low
Wind Speed W 12 mph Today
Bitterly cold. Sunny. Dangerous wind chills as low as -30F. High -3F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph.

Gorgi mentioned a cool garage (15-20*F min winter temps) figs could be stored in a min of 5 gal containers. Why such a big bucket is it because of dessication possibilities in a smaller pot?

Hey gorgi,

Yea, I'm obsessed with grafting. My grafts haven't leafed out yet but the terminal buds are still green and tender. Same goes for the rest of the cuttings that I got. The days are getting warmer and so is my greenhouse. I'll keep you posted as to when I see some change. The bucket thing sounds like a good idea. I may try that.

Thanks,
Little John

Fignewby,
i cant tell you Gorgi thoughts as he is more knowledgeable when it comes to figs than i. But you brought up a excellent question i hoope he answers.

Little John,
im curious as your winter conditions are similar to mine,do you grow all year in your greenhouse the plants and cover plants for the winter in there and also if you dont mine please do they grow in the ground in greenhouse i ask as im not at all familar with growing in greenhouse and im just curious as usual.
Martin

fignewby,

I actually first pot up newly rooted figs in a 1-2 gallon regular pot.

Then into a 5 gallon bucket. I find that the
5 gallon is a good balance for weight/volume.
Weight to carry; volume for the roots/water. Note that
when the bucket is buried, roots do come out of the drain
holes. In the fall, these roots are severed and the
bucket goes into the garage. I also think that the 5 gal
bucket has enough "thermal" mass that (somewhat)
buffers sudden temp changes.

Some people use smaller pot; others use bigger ones.
Some occasional root pruning may also be required
(I have not done any yet).

Hey Martin,
My big fig tree is about 9 yrs old. For the last 2 seasons I've just left it in the greenhouse in the pot that it resides. Previously, around early Nov., I'd bring (more like drag) it into my basement where the door to the GH is. My GH is attached to the side of my house and is accessible from the basement. In my basement is my woodstove and in the past the ambient heat in the basement would bring the tree out of dormancy within a month or so. This wasn't what I was wanting because with the lack of light down there it was getting kinda leggy. Now its nice that I've run an extra heat pipe through the wall and into the GH. I have 2 dampers in that pipe and can even cap the end if I need to to restrict the amount of heat in the GH. Its nice, in January I can go visit my figs in my underwear and not freeze my butt off!! Don't worry the polycarbonate panels arn't clear enough for my nutty neighbor to see me...maybe I'm the nutty one? Haha.

Peace,
Little John

Thats great Gorgi,Wildforager.

now i learn a little more. See i cannot have my smaller plants that i currently have in small pots and put into big containers like a few of the others i have they just cannot all fit in garage for my situation. But after reading the last couple of post here it will be easier to fit them once that time comes a few years from now.
Wild, i like your setup very nice for you, also not hard to imagine the part about neighbor seeing you, i sang to mine this past winter in garage, cursed another when i root pruned and it put big scratch and family looked at me during dinner time and asked " what in the world happened to you today" I think about how woman ask each other to the washroom to powder there face or do what comes naturally in the fliud form together what we do for our figs is probably normal.... ; )
Martin

I must just add:

This idea was a long time ago first introduced here on
this GW/FF by my-NJ-fig-friend-Herman
(I have seen his fig trial run-row).

The "thing" about doing drain holes on the "vertical"
bottom of bucket has something to do with being "easy" to
severe old "feeding" roots in the fall. Believe me, I have
done both and one will not like severing roots from the
flat-horizontal part (a lot of huffing and puffing).

Gorgi,
last season i gave next door neighbor 2 year old Sals growing in a large container he had it near front fence inside yard on patch of sparse growing grass. When i said Dennis its time now to put them away he went to move it and could not, just then his son who is my age was walking into yard (he live down the block) his son is large man and he yank and pulled on pot and it broke loose with roots hanging out the bottom holes and i was a bit surprised when i saw that as i always have mine on patio or lanscape type rocks and never seen this before.
My point is im learning more and more. For me i wont do this as its to much for me and those large pots , but maybe a 5 gallong bucket would be a lot easier to yank for me if i dont put them on rocks or patio to supply a lot of heat to them to help in our season as my others have done well in past but sometimes new idea's is good to try.So maybe who knows.
Martin