Winter-hardy Chinese Figs

14 years ago

StevenZhang1974 posted the following in another thread:

"My hometown is in WeiHai City, Shandong Province. The temperature in winter normally is not lower than -10degree Celsius.It is cold but not the coldest place in China. It snows and freezes as well.

There are two or three fig trees in my backyard. And nearly each family has some around his house. It is a kind green figs. We do not protect them in winter at all. They all survive and grow fruits next year. We nearly do not take care of them. Just pick up the fruits in July and September. "

As someone who lives in an area where the temperatures rarely go below -10 F, I am both fascinated and envious of anyone with figs that can survive such brutal temperatures AND produce 2 crops!

Do your figs require pollination (by a bug or other means)or are they self-fertile?

What kind of soil do you have?

Do you use any kind of fertilizer?

And now for the big questoin:

Is it possible to export cuttings?????

For those of you who haven't seen the photo of Steven's figs, here is the url:

http://images.google.cn/imglanding?imgurl=http://www.sharechn.com/SharechnPhoto/Other/10/4/3/6443x4.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sharechn.com/zone/weihai_5_13_4311_Info.html&usg=__SHnYrIRF40CN9KYijeupPpMVi44%3D&h=426&w=400&sz=22&hl=zh-CN&tbnid=7ae5UalpBon6FM:&tbnh=126&tbnw=118&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%25E6%25B8%25AF%25E8%25A5%25BF%25E6%2597%25A0%25E8%258A%25B1%25E6%259E%259C%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Dzh-CN%26newwindow%3D1&q=%E6%B8%AF%E8%A5%BF%E6%97%A0%E8%8A%B1%E6%9E%9C&gbv=2&newwindow=1&start=1#start=6

C.J.

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Comments (8)

herman2_gw
14 years ago
-10*C=14*F
I have figs that are growing just fine,here in New Jersey,where, +8*F(-13*C),is normal Temperature in Jan.
Record here,is -10*F(-23*C).
Of course My figs did not make it trough,-23C,because that record was sett in 1928,but I had -4F,about 6 yrs ago,and a couple of my figs made it trough just fine.
H
jenia
Original Author
14 years ago
Herman,

Do you protect your figs? What varieties to you leave in the ground?

Technically, I am in zone 5b, but because of the altitude (1,000 ft.) I am in a microclimate and we have had winter temps down to -18. My temperatures are usually 5-10 degrees cooler than those just 2 miles away where the altitude is only 350 ft. The lowest last winter was -11 which was a shock after 5 consecutive mild winters. Single digit temperatures are common here n January.

I've been searching the threads looking at everyone's winterizing strategies. You can never start planning too early. ;-)

C.J.
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Hi, Gorgi: I absolutely agree with what you said. Fig has a perfect taste just after pickup from trees. I eat a lot at home. But pitifully there is no figs for sale here. WuHan is a city between shenzhen and weihai. A hot city. The speciment you got is quite different from those grown in my hometown which are completely green skin and red flowers inside. Hopefully you can see it by the link below. http://images.google.cn/imglanding?imgurl=http://www.sharechn.com/SharechnPhoto/Other/10/4/3/6443x4.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sharechn.com/zone/weihai_5_13_4311_Info.html&usg=__SHnYrIRF40CN9KYijeupPpMVi44%3D&h=426&w=400&sz=22&hl=zh-CN&tbnid=7ae5UalpBon6FM:&tbnh=126&tbnw=118&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%25E6%25B8%25AF%25E8%25A5%25BF%25E6%2597%25A0%25E8%258A%25B1%25E6%259E%259C%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Dzh-CN%26newwindow%3D1&q=%E6%B8%AF%E8%A5%BF%E6%97%A0%E8%8A%B1%E6%9E%9C&gbv=2&newwindow=1&start=1#start=5
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PL, It's a good idea to protect your tree. Hardy is a relative term. Your tree roots might survive unprotected, but the top will die back. You don't say what variety your fig is. Some figs will grow back from the roots and produce a crop, others won't. The problem in Zone 5 is that even if your fig is able to produce after dieback, it will probably start so late in the spring that the fruit won't have time to ripen. A late start is one of the disadvantages of inground figs in cold climates. It's a good idea to pick a site that warms up quickly in the spring and help it along with heat trapping techniques. There are many ways to protect figs (and strong opinions to go with all of them, LOL). In my opinion the goal is not to keep the tree warm - nature has provided the protection of dormancy which is triggered by keeping the tree cold. You are keeping the temperature from fluctuating wildly. One of the toughest parts of the protection problem is in the spring when the sun starts getting warm and your shelter heats up. Heat at this point can cause as many problems as cold. Any moisture inside will encourage mildew. My preference for winter protection is a vapor barrier over the ground around the tree, insulation, and a reflective covering. The vapor barrier and insulation can be achieved by filling large garbage bags with dry leaves and stacking them around the tree once it has been wrapped with fabric (rug, burlap, etc.). Don't let any plastic touch the tree. I usually don't cut back, but many do (to make the wrapping easier and to get cuttings that otherwise might winter-kill). The whole pile can be covered by reflective material(scottsmith used aluminum bubble wrap - a search will bring up his results)or a reflective tarp which will keep the temperature inside warmer in the winter and cooler in the spring. The bucket method was to cover a hole that was left in the top of a waterproof tarp covering the tree and its insulation. The hole was to let the structure breathe when it heated up in the spring. The bucket was to keep rain from going in the hole. As I mentioned the above method is only one way to go about winter protection - a search will provide others. Good luck and many figs next year!
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There is a radio garden program from California, Farmer Fred. He has a blog and web site and radio program as I mentioned. Why I mention him to you Ukulele Lady is that he has had a program on fruit tasting recently ANd figs in particular I didn't know there where so many figs in existence. If you put Farmer Fred on your internet yu might be able to find the program Was interesting reading and his show is very good. Did you pick your name, by chance form a Bette Middler song called Ukulele lady. Is one of my favourite songs. I am in Ontario as well Barrie. ANd have an unheated garage I do keep my chrysanthemums in there and some other things that will overwinter Some things do make it in there and others do not Dahlias and Canna lily for sure do not I always plan every fall to put the big pots in there and make an enclosure within the garage to maybe give a few more degrees of warmth but never get around to doing so.
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I believe this is the 4 th summer for the in ground fig and one fig in a 30 is 3 years, the other 4 in 30's are 2 years old and all the 5 gallon figs are in their 1st year. The first 2 winters the fig trees survived the winter of 10F and 9F. The 3rd winter I got 3 nights of -6F, one -5F and several just below zero. They were killed to the ground. The 4th winter I spread the larger limbs to the ground and covered the figs up with 2 feet of shredded leaves. This left a wagon wheel spokes of limbs the tree grew from in spring. Our low was -12F and the fig tree survived. My figs are just barely larger than a quarter. You must be doing something they really like. Last year I lost most of my fig to squirrels but doing better this year with a loss of 0 figs,
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frozbig
14 years ago
In Vancouver Canada the temperatures drop to -10c and most of the hardy fig trees survive.
herman2_gw
14 years ago
I do Protect some young,or un tested figs,but I have about 3 varieties I do not protect anymore.
Those are the ones I am talking about.
Of course in zone 5,no tree will make it outside unprotected,so you need to do the best you can,and cover them.
It is not only the minimum Temp.,that kills the tree it is also ,the duration,and wind chill.
H
nhardy
14 years ago
Jenia, You sound like you are near me. We have the same temps. I'm in StL Co. Mobot recommended to pot my fig. I'll put it in the basement for the winter. Unheated garage is good too. I got a very nice Violette De Bordeaux with figs this year!
jenia
Original Author
14 years ago
I'm in the Catskill region of NY. I overwintered 6 figs (Violette de Bordeaus, English Brown Turkey, Petit Negri, very small Chicago Hardy, LSU Purple and Celeste) in my unheated basement. I killed a Celeste and Brown Turkey in my barn a few years ago. I'm not sure if they were too cold, too dry, or both.

I acquired these most recent trees from EL during their '08 Fall sale. THe VDB and PN have only just begun forming fruit.

I have been going through old threads on over-wintering and I have decided to put a couple of trees in the ground this year and try to protect them this winter. Anyone have recommendations?

C.J.
nhardy
14 years ago
I would recommend a new post to get the fig regulars to jump in.
jenia
Original Author
14 years ago
nhardy,

Thanks for the suggestion. Just posted a new thread "Need recommendations for zone 5 figs".

Jenia

Winter-hardy Chinese Figs

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