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["Alan Haigh" <alandhaigh@gmail.com>]

I used to wrap fig trees with tarps after surrounding them with fencing and stuffing fencing with leaves but I found sometimes, probably due to warm spells the plants would rot under the plastic.  Here in Z.6 I found it was adequate just to tie the branches together, fence and cover with leaves. which I did for a few years until I decided my varieties were inadequately productive.  Use oak leaves or something that resists getting soggy.

 

I  now manage my LSU Purple and Chicago Hardy by growing them in potting soil in 18" root control bags planted in the ground.  In the winter I store them in my well house after a few freezes (no breba crop, but those airy figs suck anyway).  The grow bags restrict growth well enough to make it easy to pop plants out of the ground and digging them up annually is conveniently dwarfing. 

 

If you grow your figs in large pots, I recommend that you plant the pots in the ground at least a few inches and let the roots spread into the soil. Dig them out in the fall and place in a very cool place where the temps stay above about 20 degrees F.  This way you can maintain a much larger tree in a smaller pot without restricting fruitfulness.  Root pruning is the traditional method of keeping plants small and fruitful.  Also with this method you can leave the trees for a month without watering if the ground is well mulched.