Your figs may survive, but I wouldn't count on them producing many figs unless you give them some protection and/or have a very warm, sunny and sheltered location to plant them.

Don't know about Mission but I think the ability of Brown Turkey to produce figs on new growth is overrated if you're talking about it producing figs after being killed to the ground. I have Brown Turkey and it died back every winter, a little bit less each time, for the first 3 years while it was getting established. (Note that I'm in zone 7!) In those years I got very, very few figs because while it WILL produce figs on new growth, they form so late that very few ripen before cold weather comes. I was lucky to get 2 or 3 ripe figs in September. Now that it's been in the ground several years I've had virtually no winter dieback. I find that new growth produced on last year's wood produces the heaviest crop of figs, because they will start forming almost immediately once growth begins in the spring; my first figs start ripening in early to mid August and continue well into September.

Nothing to add but, agree with John.

Do you wrap or give any protection at all John?

I have a celeste that I wrapped last year but still had significant die back, it grew a lot this season, and I see a lot of hardened wood.I was thinking of letting it stay open this winter......

Personally, I just let the plants fend for themselves, if they can hack it and are consistent producers of _quality_ fruits in the 3rd through 6th year then they are allowed to stick around, otherwise they get will ripped out and replaced. I have too little time to spend wrapping and unwrapping a dozen (or more) trees every year. This goes even more for the 2 dozen trees I planted at my church.

Allenwrench,
where i live in zone 5 if you let tree unprotected in winter we lose tree, and maybe just maybe in early summer you might see some tiny growth coming from ground otherwise dead. Aslo that tiny growth does not produce anything.I see your in zone 6 not sure how much warmer your winters are, if it were me i would not try leaving unprotected. Years ago i gave a neighbor a 4 year old healthy brown turkey nice size trunk and he put it in his shed the following spring it was dead complete.Even if tree in ground survives and comes back from ground it has to put on new growth in a kinda cold area (slower growth) than in a warmer area (faster growth) my experince with fig trees is there very strong tree but they have there limits as well. Here in zone 5 also in winter the ground can freeze like cement.Only option for us is to bring in garage or wrap and bury tree several feet with plwood on top of it and then cover with leaves and dirt like a fresh grave.
Tree in a cold zone that has to grow back from ground i would think in a COLDER type zone would bear very little if any at all.
Martin

Depending on where you are you can get down to 0 to -10. I wouldn't expect most figs to survive that. Even wrapped I can't imagine it surviving 20 degrees for a week without dying to the ground. Chicago Hardy can survive the ground freezing but can a Celeste or Brown Turkey? I'm not an expert, but I wouldn't think so. Experts?

Chicago Hardy cannot survive ground freeze here in zone 5,nor anyother fig tree that i know off in zone 5 Unprotected.
It gets colder than 0 as well we can go through cold spells were the daily high is only 5 or so for days.

Not an expert, but ... my unkown survived without any die-back in northern NJ. We usually have a week(s) that are in the single digits or teens. I built a cage and filled with leaves then covered with plastic. Worked like a charm.

Here in South East Pennsylvania, we wrapped our fig tree for the first 2 winters in staw and plastic drop cloths, then let it fend for itself. It has been producing figs for about the last 5 years,a large number for the last 4 years and never more than this summer.Ripened Aug 20th.
Posted on another thread trying to find what type they are.
We cut back dead wood in winter, and it grows back each spring, with lots of delicious figs. They are purplish/yellow/brown, ruby red inside, very sweet, smell spicy when cooked.
Thanks for any help.
mark

Thanks for ALL the help.

I'm in the Ohio Valley.

Last winter was not too bad, but sometimes it gets down to minus degrees.

This is my first year with figs. Besides the 5 potted figs I was thinking about putting in the ground and let die off. (which you convinced me not to do) I planted a Celeste and Chicago hardy in ground, with some shelter and plan to protect with the wire and leaf idea you suggested. The other 5 figs will go in my garden shed to overwinter.

At what temps do you put your potted figs inside for the winter?

And when you wrap your outdoor fig trees, do you prune them to make a smaller package to wrap? If so, how much to do cut away?

BTW, was impressed with the CH tree. Grows fast and it got big in no time. From 1 foot it is now 4 feet tall.

I wait for mine to go dormant, cut the branches for cuttings (This year I'm taking some now) and let it come back from the ground. We always have ground freeze here and my Chi Hardy always comes back. This year figs stopped developing in June and despite weeks of 90 degree weather, never developed further in size or color. Watering was at least 1/wk in heavy clay soil with peat mulch. Leaves never drooped. No fertilizer after june 1.

I am letting mine grow large in the ground so it is more of a tree than a bush. When leaves are falling, I thin out the branches leaving the larger stronger ones. These that I leave, I cut back half of the year's growth. Right now my 3 year old is 7ft tall and about 6 ft wide but I have been pinching since July to ripen my first crop (still waiting). I plan to wrap it this year but not with the leaves and cage because it is too large. I'm thinking burlap first, insulating blankets next, plastic covering all.