Winter protection advice

A

AntonioFiggy

Active member
OK so last winter was devastating for me it killed all of my trees. I had all of my trees in a cheap plastic shed that was on top of a wooden platform. It dropped down to about 12°F for about four nights at its lowest. So then it nearly spring I bought dozens of cuttings some air layers and some established trees. I was able to grow them out pretty nicely. In order to protect my figs I bought a polycarbonate greenhouse from Amazon and a greenhouse heater with the thermometer and a tarp to cover it all. I have my thermometer set to turn on once it drops to 31° and turn off at 35. All of the leaves dropped and the trees still had a little bit of sap flowing, but it got down to 20° here a couple nights ago so I placed everything in the greenhouse. I watered them very well. Added a little bit of slow release fertilizer and cover them with straw mulch from our Halloween decorations. My question is from all the fig experts is this enough will my trees survive the winter? Also, I noticed a lot of the trees had green growth. What is the best technique to help them turn into wood?IMG_3980.jpegIMG_3981.jpeg
 
If you keep the temps up they should be fine.
Though....you don't really want to fertilize them...they will have stored energy once dormancy was triggered by the cooling weather.
You also don't want them to be soaked...it could possibly promote root rot.
I watered mine only 2 times last winter...though it depends on the temps.
Just check them every couple weeks.
Keep those temps from dipping down and you should be okay.
 
ktrain said:
If you keep the temps up they should be fine.
Though....you don't really want to fertilize them...they will have stored energy once dormancy was triggered by the cooling weather.
You also don't want them to be soaked...it could possibly promote root rot.
I watered mine only 2 times last winter...though it depends on the temps.
Just check them every couple weeks.
Keep those temps from dipping down and you should be okay.
Click to expand...
Ok since I watered them already I’ll just keep an eye on them and check moisture
 
12F is no good. 31F is fine, but it may not be possible for a space heater to keep it there, even if set (probably only good for 15F difference, but it depends on a lot of factors).

I'd be super careful with space heaters and all that straw/flammables.
 
PapaFig said:
12F is no good. 31F is fine, but it may not be possible for a space heater to keep it there, even if set (probably only good for 15F difference, but it depends on a lot of factors).

I'd be super careful with space heaters and all that straw/flammables.
Click to expand...
That’s the first thing I thought about myself was heater and straw being flammable.
 
PapaFig said:
12F is no good. 31F is fine, but it may not be possible for a space heater to keep it there, even if set (probably only good for 15F difference, but it depends on a lot of factors).

I'd be super careful with space heaters and all that straw/flammables.
Click to expand...

@AntonioFiggy
Omg, yes, please be careful. Perhaps a cheapy $20 camera (probably even cheaper on Black Friday) might be a good idea?
 
I don't know your zones lows but there are a few greenhouse btu calculators to calculate how many btu's you need like https://www.acfgreenhouses.com/greenhouse-heater-size-calculator.aspx.

You have just be able to lie the pot's on the floor insulate them and cover with a tarp like a concrete curing tarp(an insulated tarp). Im in zone 5 and store in a wood box 4'x12' x29" covered with a concrete curing blanket. Screenshot_20230709-070225_Chrome.jpg
 
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