Hi, Lesuko:

My fig tree was indoor for several years before I moved it to the ground this July. I live in Ontario, Canada.
The winter here is harsh with quite a lot of wind.
Since I am new to grow fig in the ground, I can only tell you my experience of growing fig indoor.

My fig tree is almost 4' feet tall and had
a large root system. It is not fun to move it
in and out with a large pot filled with soil.
During transplanting,I wanted to keep the pot the tree was it, but had to break it with an axe as the roots of the tree were like-hugging the pot.

How tall is your tree?
I would not put the tree into the ground in
this time of the year, it is not summertime!
(if you live in a much hotter area,
that`s another story)
I could be wrong on this!

I am sure there is a lot of experts of fig growers
here in this forum, hope you will receive useful
feedback soon!

fignewbies

Hi, Lesuko:

Before you get tired of my advice,
here is one website that maybe of
interest to you:

http://figs4fun.com/basics.html

There is a lot to learn and so much reading.....
from this website!

fignewbies

It would be a major gamble to plant any fig in the ground in zone 5 even if it is a cold hardy variety. Your best bet is to grow it in a container outdoors during the warm months and then keep it in an unheated (or slightly heated) garage so that it doesn't dip very far below freezing for long periods of time but still gets cool enough to maintain dormancy. Note that during the summer you can partially bury the container and allow the figs roots to come out holes in the pot to enhance growth/productivity of the tree. At the web address fignewbies provided there is a tutorial from Bill's Figs (New Jersey) on growing figs in containers.

Tapla surely know about many aspects growing plants. Hopefully he will chime in. I also live in Zone 5a and growing figs so I will respond based on my limited experience, MY input is listed (bracketed) next to your question:

----------------------------

1. Is it better to plant in a plastic pot or in the ground in general?
(I practiced in ground (with the Chicago Hardy)but could not keep it safe from the Ottawa winter. I know extra more elaborate insulation technisque may work but I do not believe I may be willing to do that kind of work every fall. Zone 5a is just too cold for medium effort insulation techniques).

2. Given that it's mid oct and the ground could freeze mid november, should it go in a pot now and get planted in the spring? Or is there enough time for the roots to settle?
(It is always better to plant bare-root fig as soon possible unless you have storage area with techniques that nurseries use, stable temp etc. Then you can decide later what to do with the plant).

2.b I don't know if the pot or ground will be more troublesome. Our basement is below ground and would have to haul the tree down and up the stairs.
(in Zome 5 the ground will be troublesome for the obvious readon of providing extreme insulation. Also, I don't think figs in pots are troublesome to those who really like them. It becomes like a love affair).

3. I have a spot in our west facing front yard that gets hot afternoon sun for at least 6 hrs. It is not protected so it will have to battle the winds. The eaves on the house cast too much of a shadow so it would probably only get about 4hrs of sun if it was right up against the house. Though the brick does generate heat.
(Good enough for potted fig and the pots can be moved around if need be to a better sunny warm location if required)

4. Our soil is clay. We've amended spots where we've planted peach and apple trees which seemed to grow since the spring but since they were planted this year, I can't say for sure if they will survive the winter- though they should. Many people have them in our area.

This just means we probably won't be able to bend the tree to the ground and cover with dirt/trench it. It will be too hard to dig this. I've ready people protect it upright with either plastic or with some leaves. I've heard pros and cons for both. Do you know which is more successful? Here, the plastic may cook the tree if we get our usually blue bird sunny winter days- very sunny in the winter. But, I have no idea if the leaves will breakdown quickly and just blow everywhere. Though it's sunny, the ground is still frozen.
(More reason for growing in pot)

5. We would like to keep it small- we live in an urban area so our yard is very small. I've read that you can cut this guy back to 30" every spring/fall but don't understand what that means. Cut each branch to 30" long? Cut the trunk to 30" high and only keep the branches that are lower than that, or cut them all off? Up to 5-6ft is fine in height but I've also read that the Chicago fruits heavier with regular pruning.
(Chicago Hardy fruit grows on current year wood so pruning for size and shapping the potted plant should not cause any detrimental problem.
There are many ways to prune. One waay is to cut the main trunk to 30"~36" tall. The limbs can be cut to two or three nodes. These nodes on the libs.stems will branch out in spring and bear fruit. When these branches start growing, pinch each branch after 6 leaves. This helps in fruit embryo formation. Any sub-branch on these neew branches can be pruned after 6 leaves).

6.A chicago hardy can die back and send up new shoots the following spring from its roots that is supposed to produce fruit. Some have said it took 3 years of die back to get fruit. Does anyone have experience with die back?

(- - -)

I called the nursery and surprisingly they can only tell me what it says on their site.

I would greatly appreciate any advice you can give- or anyone that has experience with a Chicago hardy. Please provide details.

Thanks so much!
-------------------------

I hope it helps somewhat (no time for spellcheck)

Lesuko, I have had 2 Chicago Hardy trees for 3 or 4 years now. I have brought them into an unheated space every winter and they have died back every winter. They would absolutely not survive outside.

I have not actually recorded the low temperatures in my garage, but my sense is that it cannot be lower than outside in the snow and wind. I have decided to give them more care this winter and hopefully figure out a way to keep them from dying to the roots.

I admit that I have not been good about watering them in the winter, so it may be just that I need to make sure to water at least once a month. While I have gotten some figs to form they are not nearly ripe by the time it frosts. I believe that if I could keep the above-ground growth to survive the winter I would have a good chance to harvest some figs. As it has been, it takes nearly to June or July for them to sprout from the roots and there is no time to ripen a crop in that short of time.

Your other alternative would be to bring it inside this winter and then take it out in the spring. I think I will try one of mine indoors and the other in the garage and see how they fair.

Sorry if I disappointed you. I'm not giving up yet that's for sure. Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes. I'm open to other suggestions too.

Thank you all for your advice! Since I'm worried that it is too late, we will put it in a pot and keep it in our basement. Our only worry is that it may think it's spring since we see nodes (?) growing/sprouting. But maybe that's just a sign that it's alive.

I'm not sure about next year but this gives us time to research it more. I like rewhton's idea of planting it in the pot and letting the roots grow through. I read about that too and we may try that first.

I can't believe we're the same zone as Ottawa and Ontario! It must be our night-time temps. I forgot to mention I've only been here for 2 years so I'm not familiar at all what survives and what doesn't.

Thanks for the link. The chicago hardy seems like an amazing tree. It grows from the roots so it can fully die back and sprout new growth in the spring. The trick, I imagine, is getting it outside early enough to actually be able to harvest, right.

Milehighgirl, let us know which senario worked. I'll stop back to post how our fig is doing.

Thanks again!