40° is cold enough for fig dormancy. As far as watering, it will not require much watering at all. If the tree in a large pot, just water it when you store it away, usually after a hard frost. when fully dormant, potted figs can take temperatures down to -25° as long as the wood is not soft.

Bass

Hi Bass

Why can potted figs take temps. to -25 when the in ground plants would die?

Al

Z6 NJ

It rarely gets 40 degrees here, and my fig still goes dormant. 50 is as low as it goes (with the exception of 40 every 9 years), and the figs, palms, grapes, dates, citrus and olives all thrive.

The ideal over-wintering temperature range is from 32* to 42*.

It's best not to think in terms of what your trees will tolerate, because roots don't all die at the same temperatures. The more lignified the root, the greater it's cold-hardiness; so, while the organism as a whole might tolerate root temperatures in the low 20s, it's a sure bet that a significant fraction of the roots will be lost along the way. Even here in Mid-MI, 6" soil temperatures on agricultural acreage (no cover - bare earth) almost NEVER drop below 25*, no matter how cold the winter or prolonged the cold spell. If they did, a significant number of our in situ trees would be affected.

Al

Thank you all. First time for me to raise Figs. I will keep the temperature at 40 or little below. It may range from 35-40. As you know it is very difficult to keep specific temperature in unheated Garage.

It is hard to control. Several seasons back we had a good ole fashion winter .
Garage temper hovered 6 to 8 degree's then in the low to mid teens for a couple weeks.
Martin