Herman, your test gives a good indication that cold hardiness in fig trees varies. And I too believe that it is cultivar related.....not just weather or climate relatled.

I grow all of my fig trees in the ground and do not protect them (except Black Celeste which is very sensitive to cold). Even way down here in South Louisiana, fig trees can be severely damaged by winter frosts and freezes. Some varieties are definitely more cold hardy than others as some die to the ground or get badly damaged each year.....while others do not have any damage at all. I had several nice sized trees killed to the ground this past winter.....which was colder than normal for my area.

FYI.....it has been my general observation that the fig trees that lose their leaves FIRST in the fall are the MOST cold tolerant cultivars. This year I will do a better job of documenting this observation. Some regular Celeste trees will drop all their leaves by September....months before some other cultivars drop their leaves and go dormant. I had only one little branch of White Triana make it through the winter. Black Triana, St. Jerome, and my Col De Dame White died all the way to the ground. Other cultivars growing right next to them had no damage at all. Maybe some died because they had late season figs on them......which withdrew too much energy out of the tree. I do know they were not fertilized or watered too late into the season. I will watch them much closer this year to see if a pattern emerges.

I am very pleased with how my Black Mission made it this year. Growing it as a "BUSH" form rather than as a "TREE" form ensures a few branches makes it through the winter.
I only lost a few branches this winter and am hoping for a larger crop of those great tasting figs.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

I have much less fig growing experience than Herman and Dan, but I too have observed that not all fig varieties are equally cold hardy. Of the figs that I grow I have observed Black Mission and LSU Purple to be my least cold hardy.

Joe

To me its been obvious a long time that all fig types are not same cold hardy as each other.
For i have observed this over the years in storage in garage sitting right next to each other, some get easily damage some no with many same age and in same size containers .
One plant last season did not even like the fig shuffle as well that i do each year and lost a whole seasons growth with it.
Martin

I agree. I even noticed from waking up from dormancy. The Chicago hardy get up early and bloom lots of leaves even teh weather in March is still cold. On the other hand the Italian and Black mission wokes up very late. But they bloom good after waking up. I don't have experience about dying trees from freezing weather because all my trees are grounded in winter not allowed out. However I had a beautiful Mango tree which I lost to freezing weather. Although this is not on the subject here, trees such as Mango Guava and Banana has no resistance to cold weather and it is waste of time and money to have them in the North east. I learned that the hard way.

Ditto. All fig cultivars are NOT the same. Two years a go, I had 2 2yr old 1 foot Black Mission trees planted side by side in the ground. Both grew about 2 foot a year. At the end of the first year, without no protection, both died to ground and came back the next year. Right beside those 2 BMs I have a 2yr old Ronde de Bourdeaux about 3 feet tall. Without protection, the RdB had no damage year one in the ground and the same was true for last year. Last year, I did protect my 2 in ground BMs with very thin burlap. I uncovered them in January and this time they did not die to ground and doing fine. They have not leafed out yet but will in late April. My RdB is starting to leaf out now! So, all cultivars are not the same.

Moreover, I have 2 2yr old Black Maderia that produced some excellent figs last year. They grew 2 feet last year but I noticed something in July...both had too many figs on them for their size; only half ripened. Plus the trees started growing at an angle due to the weight of the figs. In October, and at the same time, both trees just dried up and every leaf died on the tree but the figs were still on the tree. I ended up removing all the figs. Over winter, I left both outside in their containers heavily mulched with bark. I know the trees are not dead. I just uncovered them both, beat them down to their root ball and soaked them completely in super thrive for 5 minutes. The trees are still green, so I repotted them with Fafard Pro Mix and trimmed them down to the ground and set it in the shade. Last year this time these 2 tree leafed out before any inside my garage and this year they completely shutdown before the season was over for my area.

Hi Vasile, Have you tasted the Martini Fig yet? If yes, what is your opinion?
Stay Well,
Anthony

Antonio:Yes I tasted the Martini,but it is young and it could have superficial flavor and taste at this age.
It was very similar to Hardy Chicago,at this point,but I think this is not all it can be.

Vasile, You will taste Carmelitana also, If this is ok with you I will send you rooted cutting when I uncover tree.
Anthony

my figs where stored in my deteched garage and covered with
evy gage clear plastic.THE figs where uncovered about ten days ago ,and I decided to move them outside.To my surprise only four figs look heavely damaged by the cold ,we had minus 7 and 8 many times this year.Negronne ,Stella,Carrapipe Black and one more look dead.Last night and the night before our temperature dropped to 14f,my figs are outside covered with plastic,
as this morning they look fine,we will have two more cold nigths coming hoping my figs will make it.Ciao,
Giuseppe

Ciao Peppino!! Sorry to hear, if your Negronne is indeed dead, please send me email. I would be happy to help you. I do not have the other cultivar you had mentioned(morto) Ciao Ciao!

Hi Antonio:If you think Carmelitana is good for our area,then send me some cuttings,I would like to trial it here!
!!!!Please comment,or send me a private Email,about what you think I said about Martini,and if you found it different?
have no problem if you think I am wrong!

Maggie,
thank you so much for your offering you are always very kind.Anyway not sure my Negronne is completely dead,but thank you again.Ciao,
Giuseppe

Words as absolutely "same", "equal", etc. have no sense in this imperfect (and for so perfect) world where no one thing is equal to one other.
It is phisically impossible that in nature a thing is equal to another.
I live in Italy, in Mediterranean sea rim, the cradle of the figs. But I live in the north of the Mediterranean, the coldest, and most importantly I live on the sea, but at the base of the mountains, where climbing these, figs are becoming increasingly rare, and only certain varieties are present.
It's something that is self-explanatory, no need to understand.
Furthermore I'm curious (scholar) on figs and go looking for them further north, and here there is a strange thing, (or maybe not), north of the mountain there is the largest Italian plain, fertile, rich of water, but cold, here the figs were missing on the mountain top of my back, return, but they are rare, very rare, and do not give good results.
What is the strange thing? Still farther North begin the great mountains of the Alps, and on dry, sunny slopes of the Alps figs return, numerous.
I collect on my own on those mountains far to the north (200 miles) cuttings, of varieties that I consider "cold".
It 's the same kind that says, because where I go, (and usually in Italy) no one will ever show any kind of protection for a fig tree.
E 'is also evident that the figs (variety) living in my region and those in the north are not the ones that gather in the far south of Italy.
It is not just a matter of cold, it's also a matter of "time available" the Tuscan Brogiotto is rather late, and tends to be in growth, the to ripen fruits ...when frost would begin in South Carolina ... would like him to resist?.
One more thing: where I live, near the sea figs have leaves up to the end of November. Well? No, wrong.
When it's cold the branches are still juicy, the tips of branches are herbaceous, and some damage seen at 32 � F.
When I went to the north of the Alps, in a sunny meadow north of Domodossola, where in winter the temperature drops to below 0 � F, there was a huge fig tree with branches like the hard "bone". No one important damage.

My considerations also apply to what was said by our friend in the South, in this discussion, and Martin and others.
Certainly there are varieties of figs that are more resistant to cold and less, there are figs that ripen early and others who remain in growth and mature figs later.
There are fig trees that have leaves, bark and fruits more robust, are obviously not the most delicate in flavor, but are more resistant.

This I look for on the mountains

There is one item (However) that I have already discussed with Martin, Joe, Leon and others: you can not cheat the fig tree, when he has to get the winter is necessary that the fig tree "understand" that winter comes, how? With the closure (in time) of fertilizer, and the cold felt on the skin. "
Feeling the cold he slows down, gets dehydrated, it loses texture herbaceous, and if he has got so much sun in summer will be full of starch antifreeze.
If doped with protection, water and fertilizer to the end, the winter will arrive on his back like a boulder.
Also for this reason I always say: limited irrigation and fertilizer in end of summer, place in the ground the fig tree in a dry place: In areas with little water the plants are more resistant to frost.
The enormous influence of this last point create confusion in valutation of hardiness.

In simple on mountains one-two varieties only are present, BUT, (BUT) if you go in a floaded, deep, rich, windy (and cold) site, NO one is found. If you go for few hundreds of yards in protected dry poor slope you find the figs.

Excuse me: " � " means degrees .

Hi Vasile, Yes this fig I started cuttings in 2007 and grew in a pot 2008, and 2009.The figs were very tasty and rated an 8 or 9 with a special kind of flavor.In 2010 I planted in the ground and even though the figs were good,they weren't special flavored like when grown in a pot.They weren't as purple either.As far as cold hardy; that it is!! It has been grown here in northern NJ with no protection for over 40 years.I don't know how cold hardy the carmelitana is because it came from my mom's home town of Salerno, Italy but it is very very tasty.

Anthony

Well:Antonio:If it had a special flavor while in pot,and then lost that flavor while first year in ground,that is because the tree was not established ,and did not have enough large roots to produce maximum flavor.
I have no doubt it will become much better tasting after about 4 years in ground,and if it comes out of winter without a lot of die back,then it will get very strong and have much better flavor.
I also have a Martini in pot and one in ground,and am keeping both at this point.Thanks again for the cuttings.
Best Regards

Sorry if I speak in the discourse Antony.
The difference is normal, and still teaches what is fig.
The fig is a semi-desert plant that grows also in poor soil.
If you plant them in rich soil, and abundant (and also with plenty of water) "he" must choose between growing more, or make fruit
He chooses to grow, because the stimulation of growth is too strong, and it is also right, because this is an investment for the future. You'll see by his appearance, the rights and vigorous branches, the internodes sparse, large leaves, but with little quantity of figs ... and bigger, and that mature with many difficulty.
No one can work miracles, not even a fig tree, and if resources are diverted into convulsive growth.
Fortunately, even the soil is not infinite and when it reaches the deep soil, more compact and hard, not fertilized will stop growing, especially if you can avoid the excesses of fertilization and irrigation, and then redo the figs, with one difference: a production more if the soil is not too humid and not too high quantity of manure.

Technically it is especially nitrogen, which promotes growth, while phosphorus and potassium encourage fruiting.

sergnic, what you say makes great sense. A tree primary purpose is to grow and then once it's grown it can concentrate on making fruit. So a tree in a pot that feels like it has reach it's maximum growth will put on better figs. Perhaps nothing explains better why our LSU Purple has to grow for 4 or 5 seasons before it makes great tasting fig. Before that it's growing vigorously and the figs are not so good.

Thanks for the lesson.
"gene"

Gene, Without wanting to criticize the "American way", I notice that in general Americans, especially those who live in the cold, consider the fig tree as a child sensitive to overfed.
The fig tree instead is a plant of the desert or near; after a reasonable amount of time devoted to growth, and when resources begin to be not so abundant (in nature, when the roots reach the rock, or soil aggregate) are beginning to bear fruits.
However, when resources are still so abundant stimulus to growth is too strong, too strong as the urge to gorge themselves with water.
It is not just for poor fruit production, but also for the bad quality of these, and the delay in ripening.
For the (secondary) subject of debate, however, is also important that the tree do not continues to produce wood growth so grassy, and for so not very resistant to cold.
In fact, the difference between varieties may also be attributed to differences in the ability of the variety to not fall into that error, they were still able to strengthen enough the wood when it's cold.
Perhaps it may also be the ability to raise potassium, starch and phosphorus, excellent anti-freeze.
I note however that even in the cold hardy variety, when grown with excess nitrogen, and water, in the soil too rich, they are easily damaged by temperatures of 28-30 F degrees.
Damages al my hy home, (where temp. do not drop under 28 F) are when a really warm sweet and wet December is followed by a cold and dry January.

hardy chicago fig��I want to buy a branch, can?