interesting idea herman I dont own my land though so cant dig. It does look much better today after two days of watering it. and it is in potting soil not topsoil so it does dry out and I wasnt watering it everyday like fruitnut said.

Rat snap traps with peanut butter/crunchy will get rid of your squirrels with out poisoning fox, coyote, birds of pray, wolverines, and etc. It works really well for me. One snap and they never come back. The traps are not powerful enough to kill them and the squirrels don't won't suffer from poisoning. They will smart for a week or 2.

I noticed spider mites on the fig. Sprayed it with insecticidal soap and then sprayed in the shower. We did get quite a few yummy figs. It has stopped growing and is dropping leaves. Looks like it may be going dormant even though it is inside the house now. The spider mites came because it was near heat and dryer air. I have moved it and spray with water often. No more signs of mites.

I undertook a similar experiment this past winter here in southeast Connecticut, where the temperature dipped as low as -12°C. My much-beleaguered fig survived well, but had the weather been like the previous year with 2 consecutive nights of -22°C, colder than I'd ever seen here, it might not have pulled through. I've posted about this elsewhere, but I planted the fig a little deeply, near a south-facing garage wall, wrapped the little tree in plastic, filled that space with a combination of dry peat moss, sprinkled with crushed red pepper to keep out vermin. A tarp was laid over this, secured with rope, tucked in at the bottom and weighted at the edges with soil. I've seriously considered using a warming cable, and glad to hear it worked for you! I had thought about making a good cutting of this fig, and in the course of unwrapping it, a dormant, live 2" twig was knocked off. I wrapped it in moist paper towel, almost up to the terminal bud, sealed it in a plastic ziplock bcag, and placed it in moderate light. A month later, it's developed a few small leaves, and while there are no roots yet, it has 'nubs' developing near the cut end, which hopefully will develop roots! it has a small shock of leaves too. Ken, let's keep each other posted of our ongoing results!