Winter Fig Protection video

ChesapeakeFigs

ChesapeakeFigs

Well-known member
Winter Fig Protection

I made a Youtube video showing most of my winter protection methods for in ground trees and potted trees.
I got done protecting most of them just in time for the snow and sleet storm we got today. These work for me in zone 7b

The whole next week our overnight lows will range from 7F to 13F, which is cold, but should be fine.
The snow and sleet we just got should help protect all of those roots :)

I usually hold off on doing most of the winter protecting of the in ground trees until there are some forecasted lows of 12F or below....
This year was one of the latest I waited, and I thought I might not even have to do it this time....

Hope you are all staying safe in the storm, and that you all don't get too much ice!

-Kevin
 
ChesapeakeFigs said:
Winter Fig Protection

I made a Youtube video showing most of my winter protection methods for in ground trees and potted trees.
I got done protecting most of them just in time for the snow and sleet storm we got today. These work for me in zone 7b

The whole next week our overnight lows will range from 7F to 13F, which is cold, but should be fine.
The snow and sleet we just got should help protect all of those roots :)

I usually hold off on doing most of the winter protecting of the in ground trees until there are some forecasted lows of 12F or below....
This year was one of the latest I waited, and I thought I might not even have to do it this time....

Hope you are all staying safe in the storm, and that you all don't get too much ice!

-Kevin
Click to expand...
Do you think potted planta will survive a week inside unheated greenhouse with temps in the teens and 20s mostly 5 and 15gal
 
figpumper said:
Do you think potted planta will survive a week inside unheated greenhouse with temps in the teens and 20s mostly 5 and 15gal
Click to expand...
Without heat, probably, as long as they are fully dormant ( not definitely). The issue with storing in a regular greenhouse is dormancy. If that greenhouse was recently getting up into the 70s when the sun hits it, those plants might not be dormant....that might be an issue at temperatures in the teens
 
No, it doesn't get that hot in there, the highest it my get is in the 50s but it has the be a good day, woth the location of the sun this time of year it doesn't come quite high enough to get full exposure and heat it up. With out low night temps and cold winter it usually is in the 30s 40s but this week is been so brutal it was down to 20 and high teens for a day or 2
 
@ChesapeakeFigs, I know the video was about the figs, but curious to see how your feijoa fare and what varieties they are. How cold have they gotten and survived? I had five 3 year old potted feijoa trees that froze through/died along with all my fig trees when my PODS container got delayed during a winter storm in UT.
 
figpumper said:
No, it doesn't get that hot in there, the highest it my get is in the 50s but it has the be a good day, woth the location of the sun this time of year it doesn't come quite high enough to get full exposure and heat it up. With out low night temps and cold winter it usually is in the 30s 40s but this week is been so brutal it was down to 20 and high teens for a day or 2
Click to expand...
That sounds similar to mine. I try to not let it fet much over 50f. Packing them in tight together helps, and the walls definitely give you some protection by blocking all of the wind. I only worry about freezing with very newly rooted cuttings.
 
IAK said:
@ChesapeakeFigs, I know the video was about the figs, but curious to see how your feijoa fare and what varieties they are. How cold have they gotten and survived? I had five 3 year old potted feijoa trees that froze through/died along with all my fig trees when my PODS container got delayed during a winter storm in UT.
Click to expand...
They have been out in the low 20s with no problem this year and last year. I just put them in the greenhouse when the forecast is in the teens or less. I would love to put a few of them in ground, but haven't yet. I may try it with 1 or 2 of them this year.
 
ChesapeakeFigs said:
That sounds similar to mine. I try to not let it fet much over 50f. Packing them in tight together helps, and the walls definitely give you some protection by blocking all of the wind. I only worry about freezing with very newly rooted cuttings.
Click to expand...
Yes, I have them packed, and stacked lol. This year I also put 2"foam insulation on the floor to try stopping some of the cold coming off the floor, and the bottom 36" of the greenhouses are insulated as well, then the top uver the polycarbonate i draped plastic over each greenhouse to give them a little added protection, against possible drafts.
 
ChesapeakeFigs said:
They have been out in the low 20s with no problem this year and last year. I just put them in the greenhouse when the forecast is in the teens or less. I would love to put a few of them in ground, but haven't yet. I may try it with 1 or 2 of them this year.
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You dont have any in ground? Didnt you just make a video of inground trees?, yes im going to try a few in ground this year also, what varieties do you think you will try
 
TorontoJoe said:
@ChesapeakeFigs

Great video. I'm wondering what the strategy is (for both protection and pruning) as the trees get really mature and the trunks become huge?
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Thanks Joe, My 3 yr in ground and older trees get pruned to mostly around 3-4ft tall, maintaining a single main trunk in almost all of them. I try to keep it so that they can spread out a bit as they get older, but I can still mow and mulch/weed around them. I also just like the way the single trunk looks. I leave some of the larger branches, but cut them all back so they are no more than 3 or 4ft wide so I can still get a metal cage around them and at the very least fill it with some leaves and wrap it. I have less than 25 inground trees that are in that age range, so at some point I will have to adjust. I live in essentially a forest, but at some point I will run out of leaves when all the younger ones get larger. This year I experimented with doing more of my larger trees like a few at the end of the video where there are some branches sticking out of the protection. Hopefully it all goes well, and I can do more of that in the future. It is always a trade off between pruning it too much to fit a normal size enclosure, or pruning it less and having it be less protected
 
figpumper said:
You dont have any in ground? Didnt you just make a video of inground trees?, yes im going to try a few in ground this year also, what varieties do you think you will try
Click to expand...
@figpumper I have a ton of inground fig trees... that was just a response to @IAK when he asked about the the Pineapple Guava (feijoa) that were in the greenhouse. I don't have any of the feijoa in ground yet
 
ChesapeakeFigs said:
@figpumper I have a ton of inground fig trees... that was just a response to @IAK when he asked about the the Pineapple Guava (feijoa) that were in the greenhouse. I don't have any of the feijoa in ground yet
Click to expand...
Oh ok, my bad. We were also messaging so I saw that and thought it was meant for me, and I was thinking, I just watched a video of all his inground trees lol, and for a min I thought is this a different person. 😂
 
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