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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Protecting fig trees in winter

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  • From: mIEKAL aND <qazingulaza@gmail.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Protecting fig trees in winter
  • Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:14:46 -0500

Well, it gets 25 to 35 below every year here.  The only way I can keep them alive is to put them all in a basement.  I have about 100 trees in 5-7 gallon containers & it fills the whole basement of one of our houses.  Someday the heated greenhouse will make life a lot simpler..

~mIEKAL


On Oct 17, 2008, at 10:00 AM, Bassem Samaan wrote:

Container grown fig trees can be stored in a cool greenhouse, or in the garage. I normally keep the trees that are smaller than 1 gallon in my cool greenhouse where the coolest temperature is 40degree.  Fig trees grown in anything over 1 gallon containers are moved into an attached garage. I move the trees after the frost which allows the trees to go dormant first. 
Fig trees that are in the ground must be protected in areas where temperatures go below 15F. There are many methods for protecting fig trees. Timing is important, if it's wrapped too early in season and kept too late, it will run the risk of molding. for my area I wrap the tree around thanksgiving, and uncover it by ending of March.
I personally  bend the fig tree to the ground when it's less than 3 ft tall, and place an old carpet over it and a coat of mulch. Larger fig trees should be pruned down to around 6 ft, tied with a rope, and wrapped with insulating material. Don't wrap with clear plastic, that will cause the heat to build up and kill the tree. I use an old carpet and building insulation, then I use a tarp in top of it.
This is based on my experience here in zone 6, in colder areas just pray for a mild winter.
I hope that helps.


Thanks,

Bass Samaan
http://www.TreesofJoy.com



----- Original Message -----
From: "mIEKAL aND" <qazingulaza@gmail.com>
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] fig varieties photo
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2008 08:45:21 -0500

Where do you store all of your container figs in the winter? 

If your Brooklyns get large enough to propagate I'd love to get a couple cuttings.  But if you have 80 varieties, I probably don't have anything to trade with you tho... :)

~mIEKAL


On Oct 17, 2008, at 8:40 AM, Bassem Samaan wrote:

I grow over 80 varieties of figs here. Most of them are in containers, but I have around 10 fig trees in ground.
The Brooklyn varieties are 2 cuttings were selected from an old Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn. Those figs were there for at least 30 years, from what the neighbors their are telling me. They have never been wrapped or protected in winter. So I named them Brooklyn White, and Brooklyn Dark to tell them apart.  Brooklyn White has a nice honey like flavor, and the size is pretty large.
Too much rain will spoil the figs for sure. Some fig varieties will split immediatly after a rain fall , some are somwhat resistance.
I have discriptions to the varieties I have on my website.



Thanks,

Bass Samaan
http://www.TreesofJoy.com



----- Original Message -----
From: "mIEKAL aND" <qazingulaza@gmail.com>
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] fig varieties photo
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2008 07:15:40 -0500


Are your trees in the ground or in containers? Where did you get the
Brooklyn varieties from? I've never heard of them.

I have 10 or so varieties that produced this year (in containers) in
Wisconsin but we had kind of a cold wet summer so it'll be a challenge
to ripen them before the cold sets in here. Conadria is still my
favorite...

~mIEKAL


On Oct 17, 2008, at 7:01 AM, Bassem Samaan wrote:

> We had a warm week in October here in Pa. My fig trees enjoyed iy
> and yesterday I picked a nice crop.
> Here's a photo of some of the figs I picked with the name of the
> varieties.
>
> http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b172/Bassgarden/Bass%20Garden/PA170428.jpg
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Bass Samaan
> Bethlehem, pa
> zone 6
> http://www.TreesofJoy.com



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