I think you are right about the lack of air flow causing the mold and rot.
It doesn't take much air flow but just enough to ventilate the moisture that can build up.
What I do is to wrap the tree in burlap then surround the tree with paper bags of fallen leaves, and tie them tight together around the tree. I then throw some old carpet on top and then a tarp to keep it all dry. I'm not sure yet how well it worked this year, it got down to 20 below. I will find out in the next few weeks when I start to uncover them.

Thanks, I suspect you are right. I was worried about my -2 and you got to -20! I look forward to hearing your outcome.

Upon further inspection, it appears that the limbs are all dead, but the main trunk is still green when I scratch the bark so it seems to be alive. THat brings on another question....should I just cut all the limbs off and leave one big stick/trunk? a few limbs may be alive close to the trunk. Should Just cut all limbs back to 3-4 inches? Any tips appreciated. thanks all.

It is hard to winterize a fig properly.
I had a similar problem with my fig last year.
The trickier part of winterize a fig is not letting it rot while keeping it warm at the same time!

I would wait until end of June or July before pruning any dead wood. By then you can easily tell what is dead. Sometimes you get surprised and a seemingly dead branch grows buds in June.
My bags of leaves method worked great last winter down to 15 below, and I'm hopeful for good results this year as well.
Here is a photo of the trees before pruning.
I will post each photo of the steps separately because it seems I can only post 1 pic per post.

This post was edited by pvc12 on Tue, Mar 25, 14 at 20:05

Here is a pic after pruning, wrapping with burlap, and tying together. I also placed moth balls at the base of the trees.

This pic shows the bags of leaves surrounding the trees and tied together. Then some old carpet on top for good measure. The bags of leaves are free for the taking on the sides of the road in the fall.

Here is the finished product with the tarp over the master piece. The tarp keeps everything dry, and should be weighed down around the edges so no wind gets underneath. It is important to use a tarp rather than poly plastic sheet. A tarp is a woven plastic and can "breathe".

Kevin,
I was thinking in your zone you might be able to even skip the bags of leaves and use Dr Fig's method to protect your fig trees. His method is similar to mine but he skips the bags of leaves and stuffs hay or straw between the branches, I'm thinking you could possibly use leaves as well as straw.
I attached his video below...

Good luck for next winter!
Paul

Here is a link that might be useful: Dr. Fig

YOu guys are great, thanks. And wow....I could not be more impressed with PVC12's winterization. I thought I did a lot of work, but yours is even more thoroughly protected. I will take the advice to hold off on pruning because I strongly suspect you may be right about me getting a pleasant surprise since I've already detected a little more life than I first thought.
Thanks for the video paul...going to watch it right now. I'm also wondering if you are right about me needing less protection than I first thought. I've read stories here of people in zone 6 leaving figs completely unprotected and them surviving. I'm zone 6b/7a and it rarely gets below 5 degrees (F) here, though this winter was an excpetion at around -3. Of course, after this winter's lows in much of the country -3 is nothing! Thanks again everyone. I just tasted my first fresh figs last summer and lost my mind when I discovered how wonderful they are. The last thing I wanted was to not be able to eat them again this year.

Here is how I did mine and it's still alive after having -10 to -20 for 3 months. The plywood on top gives it enough ventilation

Here it is on the inside, it doesn't sweat this way and if it gets hotter I can slide the plywood over a bit.

Rycooder, that's a unique approach. I like it a lot! You can even fill the tube with leaves for even greater protection. On a warm day you could take the plywood off and get some light it there. What material did you use to make the tube? Do you have any problems with it tipping over from the wind? It's mind boggling how many ways there is to protect plants during the winter.

Rycooder- That looks remarkably similar to my system except I set a 55 gallon drum on top of the bundle/roll, which was probably my mistake since it sealed it all up. What is the blue material you used? It looks similar to my rolled insulation product (I use the type of insulation that is used to insulate metal buildings and goes between a house and vinyl siding....but mine is silver. ANyway, I really enjoyed seeing your system and hearing that it worked definitely tells me that next year I will leave the 55 gallon drum off. thanks.

I just wanted to say that I am SO glad we don't have to deal with what you guys have to up north!!! I would have no idea how to protect my plants if we got temperatures like that!!

That blue stuff is from a body shop when they get new bumpers they are rapped in that stuffand the inside is a corigated plastic thats a 1/4 inch thick, I just basicly made a tube out of them because I have lots of the corrigated plastic sheets. I dug a trench so the tube is in the ground abit and I put a little dirt around it to keep the mice out.

This post was edited by rycooder on Wed, Mar 26, 14 at 21:45

I have a slightly different take on what may have been your problem. I am no expert, but I read on the internet that the tree needs to be completely dormant before it was wrapped and that you should not water the tree for a few days before wrapping because the water in the branches tends to freeze and destroy the limbs.

I would not count those Hardy Chicago's out just yet. I am in zone 7b and none of the figs in my area have budded out yet. Not mine, not the old ones around town. I would bet your HC will come alive once it really warms up.

I can't say about you, but it just isn't that warm here yet. Give the figs some time, they will come around -- or at least I hope so!

I had limited success overwintering with my hardy Chicago fig I planted last summer. Most of the fig died except for the fastest part of the trunk. Basically I have a stump that is about 1.5" in diameter and maybe a foot tall. I have been thinking that instead of wrapping the plant vertically it might be better to keep it close to the ground and cover it with mulch.
My question is how much of my fig can I cut back every year and still have it produce reliably? I want to encourage the fig to grow laterally main trunks just above the ground and cut off the new vertical growth after every season. Kind of like this
http://figs4fun.com/fpix/FP739-01.jpg
this way I can cover the tree in a deep pile of leaves and throw a tarp over it to winterize it. Do you think this will work and how much of the new growth should I leave?

I am in awe each time I see the lengths at which some of you in the northern climates go to grow things! I frequent the citrus forum and it's the same there but with potted citrus that folks bring in the house during the cold months. I have taken my fig tree largely for granted and thought it was such a chore to come up with a way to keep the birds off the figs when they get ripe. Hats off to y'all for doing the next-to-impossible :>)