After careful re-checking, we've basically worked out that it's Brown Turkey. Tricky things to identify, but we've cross-referenced it with what we bought, where we got it from (i.e. what varieties they were selling at the time), and other telling photos on the internet, especially in our country Australia! It's definitely Brown Turkey... but at anytime, anyone with further thoughts will always be appreciated :).

A key learning here is that; whenever an outside fig tree has come out of dormancy too soon and is threatened by a brief cold spell,......damage can be avoided by the use of a tent and adding some radiant heat under the tent. Like Jose says.......radiant heat...heats the tree and not the air. Not all heat is the same. Damage to exposed fig leaves occurs thru radiation heat loss thru the unprotected leaves of a tree. A 300 watt quartz bulb provides quiet a bit of this type heat and can protect a tree from a late cold spell. I have given a more detailed technical explanation for leaf damage by this phenomenon in another thread as follows: "This is FYI only and for those other forum members who might want to know some "WHY's" behind potential leaf damage............it is not just about AIR TEMPERATURE. It is also about wind, leaf temperature, and air humidity level. On a windy night with clear or cloudy skies LEAF temperature will be nearly the same as AIR temperature. However, on a cold, clear night with little to no air movement.....leaf temperature can easily drop 3 to 4 degrees lower than the ambient air temperature. (It can drop as much as 8 degrees in my area.) This is because of the radiation heat loss of the fig leaves. The rate of heat loss of those leaves is a function of the air's humidity level. At higher humidity levels often frost will form on those leaves. So, while the ambient AIR temperature might only be 35 degrees F......the actual LEAF temperature might well be 31 to 32 degrees F. That temperature could affect tender new growth. In my area it is not uncommon for us to see frost form whenever the ambient air temperature is at 40 degrees F or below. This means that the actual leaf temperature reached 32 degrees F or below which froze the dew that condensed on the leaves as the dew point of the humid air was reached during the night. Late Spring frosts can kill fig trees in South Louisiana......especially if the outside air temperature has been cycling through several periods of warmth and cold. Yes, in my area, damaging frosts can form on fig leaves with ambient temperature as high as 40 degrees!! Ask me how I know and what I fear most at this time of year. It is really about leaf temperature and that is a bit harder to measure." Dan

Let it go dormant outside not in the basement,and after going dormant you put it there.As for pruning better done in spring(End of March)than now.Then,Take it out of pot and cut off all the encircling roots ,for next spring ,also thin abot a third of tree and cut it about three foot tall in the Spring.Change the poting soil,when out,take all the cuttings and put it in a new pot and try to grow new trees as insurance if the old dyes.Hope this will help!!!!

I bought a Hydrofarm FLCDG125D Fluorowing Compact Fluorescent System to supplement the light. I will go reading on the artificial light board, but if anyone has any advice for position and duration of using the light while the plant is in a slow growing period would be very much appreciated. I don't necessarily want to disrupt the plants yearly cycle or fool it into thinking this is spring or summer. I just want to make sure it can make plenty of food for itself. I've got all the ingredients for gritty mix on the way. I'm not re-potting the fig yet as I said, but I desperately need to re-pot the yucca and two snake plants so they will be my first gritty mix experiments. I love feeling like a mad scientist. I've got Zoo Med Reptile Bark Fir Bedding coming for the pine fines, will get a bag of napa floor-dry tomorrow, and have some #2 cherry stone coming in the mail. (Is this OK?) I read Al Tapla recommend either grani-grit or #2 cherrystone as 1 part of the gritty mix and I hope I ordered something that works. I've also got some dyna-gro foliage pro on the way. Not going to fertilize the fig until I know that I can properly drain the soil, but will start using it on the plants that I re-pot this week. The one very badly shriveled and browned leaf on the fig (the one with the burned looking edge pictured above) dropped today. It was much smaller than the rest of the leaves, a little yellow, and near the interior of the plant. I guess I won't be concerned unless the plant starts dropping more healthy looking leaves. I turned it a full 90 degrees a few days ago. The foliage is very unbalanced. Looks like the previous owner never rotated it so the leaves on one side are noticeably smaller and paler than the other side. I think I will leave it like that for a couple of weeks and then start doing 1/4 turns every week or two. Should I be concerned about more leaf drop from turning it like this? I'm worried that the side that's used to getting more light will protest. When I flush the soil, should I stuff a wick very deeply into the soil from the new drainage hole, or does it just need to be in contact with the soil at the bottom? Thank you so much for your time if you've read this far!