North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Ernest Plutko" <ernestplutko@wiktel.com>]

Trees don't produce heat so it does no good to try to insulate a tree.
However, if the tree or plant is close to the ground it helps to use
insulation to trap the ground heat which could be more than the air
temp.

---- Original Message ----
From: lreich@hvc.rr.com
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Wrapping Figs
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2010 15:15:49 -0500

>Around here, where winters reliably drop to minus 10 or below, fig
>roots often survive winter, depending on the depth of mulch. The
>problem is that new sprouts on varieties that bear fruit on current
>season's wood do not necessarily have enough time to ripen fruit. My
>Chicago Hardy, on the south side of my brick house, died to the
>ground and grew almost 10 feet high by season's end without ripening
>even one fig. One year I put a fence around it, filled it with wood
>shavings, and capped it with plastic; for some reason, it still died
>back, to within a couple of feet of the ground. Still no ripe fruit.
>
>So getting roots to survive winter isn't that difficult. What is
>important in harvesting ripe figs is how far back the stems die and
>how long (and hot) a season new shoots have to grow.
>
>Lee Reich, PhD
>http://www.leereich.com/
>http://leereich.com/blog.html.
>
>Books by Lee Reich:
>A Northeast Gardener's Year
>The Pruning Book
>Weedless Gardening
>Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden
>Landscaping with Fruit
>
>
>
>
>
>
>On Dec 8, 2010, at 2:53 PM, Richard Moyer wrote:
>
>> Michele,
>> Chicago Hardy is notable because it bears on one year wood, and is
>a
>> vigorous grower.  So can freeze to the ground every year and as
>long
>> as the roots are well insulated, can regrow and bear fruit same
>year,
>> on current growth.  Most other figs don't have this habit.  In the
>> southern Appalachian highlands of NE TN, we've fruited it for about
>15
>> years, fruit every year, planted in the ground and never moved
>inside.
>> Survived through multiple winters below zero, coldest -14F.
>> 
>> Wrapping did not work for me, as in the spring it would break
>dormancy
>> in the wrapping and then freeze, or above ground buds would
>dessicate,
>> and we'd have live limbs with mostly dead leaf and fruit buds.  Per
>> the cover shot on Organic Gardening, we buried it one winter in a
>> trench, put a door on it, and resurrected it on Easter.  But
>depending
>> on when Easter falls, we still got freeze.  I finally came to the
>> conclusion that with fruit every year on new wood, even when the
>plant
>> freezes to the ground, why bother covering?
>> 
>> In partial shade, but in a heat sink near driveway and house, we
>get
>> first ripe fruit ranging from early Aug to early Sept, then fruit
>> continues to ripen til hard frost.  Again, tree in partial shade,
>and
>> in NE TN we rarely have high temps in the lower 90s, mostly the
>upper
>> 80s.  So you should have enough heat in you area of Ohio to ripen
>> fruit.  Oiling helps bring them in, but that's another topic that
>has
>> been written up in Pomona and on this list archives.
>> 
>> Fig naming is notoriously confused and sloppy, so make sure you
>have
>> the genuine Chicago Hardy, or at least a fig that sets fruit on one
>> year wood.  Ours came from Fred Born, who received the original
>> material from Italians while he lived in Chicago.  I've shared that
>> material with Hidden Springs and Edible Landscaping nurseries.
>> 
>> The 'Everbearing' figs I grew up with do not bear on one year wood,
>> but there are a number figs with that name out there.  Fellow
>> Nafexers Ray Givan and AJ Bullard have written in pomona about
>their
>> fig experiences, and here is Rays info online:
>> http://www.raysfiginfo.com/
>> 
>> BTW, I have a Fig from Long Island? by way of Ray, named 'Sal's
>Fig',
>> that has wood quite a bit more cold hardy than Chicago Hardy.  Ray
>may
>> know who sells it, but it's main trunk is several years old,
>surviving
>> single digits beside a large fir tree and along the driveway.  I
>don't
>> have a recording temp probe at the tree, just know that it is not
>> killed to the ground when Chicago Hardy is year after year.
>> 
>> In summary, I would leave your Hardy Chicago planted in place,
>mulch
>> it very well, and not worry about wrapping it.  If you've not had
>too
>> much weather below 10F, you can take cuttings from limbs and root
>> those now, or keep in refrig and root in the spring.  Roots very
>> easily.  Then have an extra to put in and some to share.
>> 
>> Richard Moyer
>> Out to enjoy the sun in my new hoophouse; eating Lee Sharp's 7F
>> kumquats and considering starting one in the greenhouse.
>> 
>> 
>> On Wed, Dec 8, 2010 at 10:15 AM, Michele Stanton <6ducks@gmail.com>
>wrote:
>>> Hi Scott,
>>> 
>>> How are you wrapping your fig?
>>> 
>>> I have a Chicago Hardy fig which I planted out this summer?it?s
>getting too
>>> big to keeping lugging back and forth.? An arboretum about 30
>minutes south
>>> of me has figs on the south side of a building that are protected
>by straw
>>> bales, which works, but? I would love to try something less bulky
>to protect
>>> it with.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Michele in SW Ohio zone 6a
>>> 
>> From: mIEKAL aND <qazingulaza@gmail.com>
>> To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
>> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] wrapping fig
>> Message-ID:
>>      
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>> 
>> Michele, you might also want to consider putting Everbearing in,
>which
>> according to what others have said is root hardy to zone 6, dies
>back
>> to the ground in the winter but bears fruit on the first year's
>> growth. Kinda a fig shrub.  I tried it here in zone 4 but I could
>keep
>> the ground warm enough ...
>> 
>> ~mIEKAL
>> Michele,
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