Anyone growing Chicago Hardy Fig in wintery climates?

I have a question about Chicago Hardy Figs in wintery climes. I want to plant enough of these for a decent harvest and I am sure they will die back each winter here. If they die back does the spring regrowth maintain a consistent size year to year or should I expect an increase ?

I have ordered mine and I live in zone 6. I don't know what to expect either.

Where I grew up in southern MI, some neighbors had a couple of fig trees that they would bury every winter. They grew them on a mound at one end of a trench and would sort of half-dig them up and tip them into the trench and cover them up, not sure whether it was with soil or just mulch, but it was a zone 5-6 climate and got to -20 once. In the spring they'd uncover them, stand them up tied to a stake, and away they'd grow....

I picked up my Chicago Hardy Fig last fall as a closeout from a big box store. We overwintered it indoors with some hairy vetch and it leafed out beautifully this Spring. I am going to plant it near some large boulders in our yard for some heat regulation and hope for the best.

The Italian immigrants that worked with my father grew figs here. They would dig up 1/2 the root ball, then lay the trees on their side and cover them with leaves for the winter. In the Spring, they would stand the trees back up and grow delicious figs. I sure hope my fig makes it ok as I have no intention of doing all that work!

I also look forward to hearing other's experience with figs in cold climates.

I have kept them in Ky why bringing them into a unheated sun room in the winter. The ones I have are just two flat big to move around. I am going to try to over winter them in a hoop house this coming winter. I have planted the largest on in the ground (in the hoop house) I have 19 gal. feed tubs filled with water for a thermal battery. This winter I'm going to pack fall leaves all around them.

mine are in the garden with no special protection, last year (their 2nd year) they grew about 3 feet and had a good crop of figs. this year they don't look so good but are just getting buds so i hope they will do as well this year. It has been a cold spring.

I have a Desert King fig and an unknown variety I got from my father. I will check eith my nrother to see if he knows anything. I have successfully propagated the one from my dad and now have three little trres. I will yry the same with the DK soon. So far as all are in pots I have nroight them in the house for the winters. The DK went out too early and got covered in ice. Full of baby figs as I type this.

I have a Desert King fig and an unknown variety I got from my father. I will check eith my nrother to see if he knows anything. I have successfully propagated the one from my dad and now have three little trres. I will yry the same with the DK soon. So far as all are in pots I have nroight them in the house for the winters. The DK went out too early and got covered in ice. Full of baby figs as I type this.

It's about time this Chicago Hardy Fig thread got revived!

I am also in zone 6b (Rhode Island, USA) and have overwintered my Chicago Hardy Figs outdoors for 2 winters. I planted one in a pot and the other in the warmest corner of my yard, which is wind-sheltered against a south facing fence. The potted one gets moved around and has stayed relatively small and takes a long time to get going in the spring. The one in the ground gets full sun in the winter and partial shade (from a tree that overhangs it a bit) in the summer. It is probably 10 feet tall at the moment and seems to grow between 4 and 6 feet per year. I have consistently cut it back so that it won't get too tall for me to harvest. It loses some branches to freezing but has never died back to the roots. Chicago Hardy Figs are root hardy so, even if they die back, you can still get a fall harvest - assuming your last frost isn't until the end of September or so.

Before the first winter, I wrapped both trees in a big pile of straw and they did just fine, but the spring crop was only a few figs. So last winter I decided to leave them alone. The one in the ground bounced back quickly but, again, didn't have much of a spring crop. Right now it is producing half a dozen figs every day with no end in sight. The potted one struggles, and looked dead for awhile, but has produced a few figs, nonetheless.

My advice for growing the Chicago Hardy Fig would be:

* If in Zone 6 or warmer, you can probably plant the Chicago Hardy Fig outdoors in a warm microclimate and feel relatively safe about it. Worst case scenario, it dies back to the roots and has to regrow from there.
* If you are in a colder climate, look into how to bury your fig tree for the winter. This is an old-timey trick that people use to grow warmer climate fig trees in colder climates.
* You plant a Chicago Hardy Fig Tree in a pot, bringing it into your garage or basement for the coldest months may help, but don't expect it to grow very large. If the space is partly heated, you may save your spring crop this way, but I would also suggest starting a clone or two outdoors (fig propagation is easy) so that you get a larger fall crop, too.

 

I'm in 5a here. I have had two figs in-ground since 2019, one each Hardy Chicago and Florea. We got a great harvest this year, particularly from the Hardy Chicago which was a larger size when planted. We do a deep cover with straw bales and leaf mold -- would be basically considered 'burial' as Karl mentions, though the plants were not below ground level. Pruned them back to a couple feet for the winter. It really helped them to get a jump on the season to have SOME trunk surviving. Last year they survived but basically no above-ground trunk did. The extra trunk seemed to give them about a month's jump on the season, as we picked our first figs mid-August this year vs. mid-September last year. This was also the first year that I pinched the branches (early July) to force the plants' energy toward ripening fruit and not setting new fruit that would not ripen.

They've gotten bigger each year (to answer the original poster from years ago) and I think they will keep doing so up to a certain point, but they'll be limited by how much they can grow in a single season.

Taking notes on your tips for similar 5a growing season. Originally from California (where the tree is sound year round) so unbelievable to me a fig tree can freeze to the ground and still produce figs the following summer. How exciting. Did you buy locally or mail order?

I have Chicago, Behr’s Black, Violette and a Celeste fig here in MD on the PA line. I’m told I’m in zone 7a/b but many years it feels more like 6b.

I used to wrap the trees with tarp or burlap but it didn’t seem to make a huge difference. Now I mulch around base of the trees about 6”-10” with straw and/or leaves. I make sure to take them away in spring or the damp mulch invites slugs to chew on the bark. Organic Sluggo helps when they get out of control. The wrens only eat the small slugs.

If it’s a mild winter like 2020, there is very little die back. I ended up with huge figs as an early crop but very little now in October on the new growth.

The past few years that  stayed cold all season (teens and 20s)- up to 3/4 of the branches died back, some to the ground. I cut some prematurely which affected yield so now I wait for buds to show. Sometimes the upper branch looks dead but further down it’s alive.  When that happens  I only ended up with a late crop, no early figs, and always end up with a lot of unripe figs on at the frost on the newer growth. I did find that the “almost”  ripe figs that may be green on the outside but have pink at the bottom and fully pink inside are still very tasty. And make good jam. But they still have a little of the white latex like sap that could affect those allergic to latex.

If anyone reading has experience with figs in a greenhouse- I have 7 in mine planted directly in the ground. Since it’s  just used like a high tunnel right now, they die back as well with freezing night temperatures. Fruit is late - just ripening now in October and the fruit is much smaller than my outdoor trees.

As well, the greenhouse figs have significantly more vegetative growth and much fewer fruit. So I’m trying to figure that one out. I’m relatively new to fruit trees so not sure what I’m doing wrong.
I trim them back 50% but each year they touch the greenhouse ceiling. Plenty of air flow and some shade.

If anyone has any ideas or what to research - much appreciated!

Hoping to get one or two hardy fig trees this spring too. I'm in suburban Toronto zone 6. Our average annual low is around -4F (+/- 10F) I think. Our nights tend to be relatively warm (urban heat island) compared to nearby rural areas, so we usually get around 6 months frost free (last frost mid April-early May, first frost late Oct-early Nov). Summer daily highs tend to be not too hot thanks to lake moderating effect, so usually in the 70-80s.

I have a south facing wall next to the garage I'm considering but I think it doesn't get enough sun. Might try a different south facing wall instead, or near the driveway. Along the driveway is the only spot that really gets full sun in October, but not sure if having sun in October is that important.

Do squirrels, birds, etc go after them?

"Do squirrels, birds, etc go after them?"

No experience with squirrels when we grew them in California. The birds Love them. We netted the trees. Soft, sweet fruit. What's not to love? I think we will have a deer problem here, too, as they go after any unfenced sweet, interesting food...like my geranium flowers.

Hi Nicholas
I actually have my outdoor figs along the south side of my house about 6 feet back from the foundation where they get morning sun and some heat off the house. I believe that has helped them when we’ve had -6 degrees here.

It took them 2 seasons to start producing but I bought them as small 1 foot plants.

I’ve not had as much trouble with gray squirrels (none  with birds but I grow berries) but opossum, raccoons and flying squirrels get after them at night, even that close to the house. The flying squirrels have been an issue before figs were fully ripe. The other critters just at the tail end of this season as multiple figs ripening rang the dinner bell for their little noses.

Sometimes just turning on a light or walking out and talking runs them off for a few hours. Don’t recommend that if the raccoons are aggressive in your area though. Mine here tend to be fearful of humans.

Some use Christmas lights for critters. I found that a string of the solar blinking fairy lights that cycles through different patterns worked very well to keep opossum out of one of my alpine strawberry beds. This was the first year I had such critter pressure with figs so I will be ready with blinking trees next harvest. They’re only like $9-10 on eBay.

If I am harvesting daily it gives the critters less to damage.

We have European hornets here, and they really got after my figs too. They are huge, 2 inches long but so far not aggressive to me ( but they kill bees and butterflies so I try to eliminate nests when I can find them) and they do  stick to the fig they have pilfered before biting another unlike the flying squirrels, that leave bites in several ripe and unripe figs in a sitting if they are available for their tasting.

Hope this helps!

Kim Goff wrote:Hi Nicholas
I actually have my outdoor figs along the south side of my house about 6 feet back from the foundation where they get morning sun and some heat off the house. I believe that has helped them when we’ve had -6 degrees here.

It took them 2 seasons to start producing but I bought them as small 1 foot plants.

I’ve not had as much trouble with gray squirrels (none  with birds but I grow berries) but opossum, raccoons and flying squirrels get after them at night, even that close to the house. The flying squirrels have been an issue before figs were fully ripe. The other critters just at the tail end of this season as multiple figs ripening rang the dinner bell for their little noses.

Sometimes just turning on a light or walking out and talking runs them off for a few hours. Don’t recommend that if the raccoons are aggressive in your area though. Mine here tend to be fearful of humans.

Some use Christmas lights for critters. I found that a string of the solar blinking fairy lights that cycles through different patterns worked very well to keep opossum out of one of my alpine strawberry beds. This was the first year I had such critter pressure with figs so I will be ready with blinking trees next harvest. They’re only like $9-10 on eBay.

If I am harvesting daily it gives the critters less to damage.

We have European hornets here, and they really got after my figs too. They are huge, 2 inches long but so far not aggressive to me ( but they kill bees and butterflies so I try to eliminate nests when I can find them) and they do  stick to the fig they have pilfered before biting another unlike the flying squirrels, that leave bites in several ripe and unripe figs in a sitting if they are available for their tasting.

Hope this helps!

The south facing wall of our garage has a lot of underutilized space, but it only gets a few hours of heavily dappled shade since we have a large silver maple growing about 30ft from that wall, so I suspect that's too shady. The south facing wall of our kitchen gets about 6 hours of sun though, so I'm considering it. The bed there is just one of those narrow 3-4 ft wide strips homes have between the house and driveway, but I think figs don't mind those sorts of conditions? Other shrubs like yew and holly have done well there.

Our driveway is part of a "coyote trail". Our house is one of the few that don't have side yard/back yard fences, so it's a convenient way for them to access the creek and forest behind our house. We see them passing through pretty regularly, so I hope that deters racoons and opossums (which we see much less). We also have dogs which maybe keeps some animals at bay? I've only seen flying squirrels once in my area. Squirrels (gray/black and red) and chipmunks are much more common.

You don't have issues with birds because they eat your berries instead? Our Saskatoon Berries (I believe you Americans call them Service Berries?) get picked clean pretty fast if we forget to pick them ourselves.

We have European hornets here too. They freak me out a bit because of how big they are but it seems they're not too aggressive so that's good.

Perhaps someone here has some experience with this, and advice to share...

I’m in Zone 6b, and am trying to care for an approx. seven year old Chicago Hardy fig at a local community garden. I’ve only observed it for the past two years. So far, it has been unprotected in the winter, and died back to the ground each year. The vegetative re-growth has been extremely vigorous, a circle/crown of unbranched canes shoots up 10-12 feet. It doesn’t produce fruit. In trying to figure out why, and how to correct that problem and get some delicious figgy goodness, I found lots of conflicting information online- fruiting on current season growth vs. previous year growth... Finding out now it’s complicated with figs! With their multiple crops and whatnot...
I’ve read about other people having the same problem (no fruit) but also a couple reports of the first year re-growth fruiting but not ripening by first frost.
At this point, my best guess is that each year, the energy our fig has stored in the roots is all going to vegetative growth each spring, and could have been redirected to fruit by pinching the terminal leaf bud of each cane after it grows to about half its usual height?
Yesterday, in preparation for single digit F temperature, we did some winter protection to try to keep at least part of the canes alive, hopefully giving them a head start on veg growth for spring. I’ve learned that with figs, though, longer periods of not-so-extreme cold and wind are worse than short extreme drops in temperature, and noticed yesterday that the tops of the tall canes already appear dessicated.
I’m torn now between pruning the canes back to encourage new growth at comfortable harvest-level (assuming having a head start on growth will help it fruit) and just letting the winter prune them... What i’m thinking is that if I prune them myself, the cuts may be injurious, but it would be easier to fully cover and protect the remaining stems.
Any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated.

abbie kruse wrote:Perhaps someone here has some experience with this, and advice to share...

I’m in Zone 6b, and am trying to care for an approx. seven year old Chicago Hardy fig at a local community garden. I’ve only observed it for the past two years. So far, it has been unprotected in the winter, and died back to the ground each year. The vegetative re-growth has been extremely vigorous, a circle/crown of unbranched canes shoots up 10-12 feet. It doesn’t produce fruit. In trying to figure out why, and how to correct that problem and get some delicious figgy goodness, I found lots of conflicting information online- fruiting on current season growth vs. previous year growth... Finding out now it’s complicated with figs! With their multiple crops and whatnot...
I’ve read about other people having the same problem (no fruit) but also a couple reports of the first year re-growth fruiting but not ripening by first frost.
At this point, my best guess is that each year, the energy our fig has stored in the roots is all going to vegetative growth each spring, and could have been redirected to fruit by pinching the terminal leaf bud of each cane after it grows to about half its usual height?
Yesterday, in preparation for single digit F temperature, we did some winter protection to try to keep at least part of the canes alive, hopefully giving them a head start on veg growth for spring. I’ve learned that with figs, though, longer periods of not-so-extreme cold and wind are worse than short extreme drops in temperature, and noticed yesterday that the tops of the tall canes already appear dessicated.
I’m torn now between pruning the canes back to encourage new growth at comfortable harvest-level (assuming having a head start on growth will help it fruit) and just letting the winter prune them... What i’m thinking is that if I prune them myself, the cuts may be injurious, but it would be easier to fully cover and protect the remaining stems.
Any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Hi I love in Zone 6b and I didn't get a Chicago Hardy fig because my summers are not hot enough or long enough. Instead I got a Desert King fig and we have gotten ripe fruit on it every single year since we planted it. We planted it next to a South facing wall and it has never died back but our winters are mild and do not go to single digits. But it always produces fruit in the spring on the newest growth. Those figs are actually started as tiny buds in the late fall. But it starts producing it's second crop of figs in July/August and they get quite big but never ripen since it cools off here in September and usually drop off after the first hard frost. If I were you, I'd try a variety that is known for two crops a year, then maybe you would be able to get a small crop once a year on the new growth. Especially if your summers are hot and long.

But since you are wanting advice about the one you already have, the nursery I bought my fig from suggested to prune it a lot to encourage lots of growth from the roots to make it more of a bush than a tree and that way if it got really cold and died back a bit, there would be plenty of places to grow from the base. They said the tops are the most susceptible to cold damage. They also told me to prune it in the winter. I don't know if that's at all helpful! 😜

I am new to figs. Just bought two and put them in large pots.  This may sound weird, but is it possible that potted plants that don't produce as well are a product of being separated from the earth. Mine are on my second floor balcony and I will be running a ground wire neatly into every pot, including my lemon tree.  Just a thought.

Welcome to Permies John!

I too am a potted fig grower and wonder to myself what the tree needs to pull from its roots to be happy, healthy, and successful. Trying to recreate 'natural' soil conditions can be tricky business in my experience.

I grow my figs in the ground. What I've noticed over the years is they're sensitive to chill (both branches and roots) and moisture. It's easy for potted plants to get their root balls chilled before a ground planted plant would, and it's easy for potted plants to experience dried dirt more often.

If I've buried the root mass in a pile of yard trimmings for winter on cold years, they recover faster in spring. The branches green up earlier, and the deadwood slides loose at a gentle tug. Years where I don't, I often have to cut the deadwood. Years where I've fed them yard trimmings other times of year don't seem to affect the spring recovery.

If there's a dry spell in spring or late summer, I'll get more and earlier fruit if I water them once a week through it. A dry fig will still have plenty of leaf growth, but it'll drop a lot of the unripe fruit.

I have had both Chicago Hardy and Brown Turkey in the ground for a couple years now. They die back to the ground every year in 6b SW Ohio. They come back with a passion. I had to prune a lot of new branches last year and rooted cuttings for 10 new figs. I put one in a pot on a south facing wall and will see how that one over winters. The other small ones I will grow up this year and try planting them out in the meadow out back. The deer might munch on them some, though they may come back from the "pruning". If they die back to the ground, the rabbits and deer may keep them from growing new branches. We'll see. Since I lost track of which variety is which (I seem to do that more often lately) I can't say which one actually had ripe figs on the new growth last year. The same one with ripe fruit last year already has several figs starting. The other is growing secondary branches and possibly fruit is budding where the new branches are sprouting. I have read that they will do that. So far, I am glad I am growing figs, even though they don't seem like they will ever be large trees. In a way that is totally cool, since I planted them in the veg garden and I was going to have to prune heavy anyway. These are them in July last year. I think they will be much larger by July this year. They are almost as big already. Just no pics for them yet.

Best of luck!

What I did to grow figs in Colorado Springs was to bend and weigh down all the branches with big bricks and cover with burlap and a wire cage filled with leaves. Was able to keep enough old wood to get some figs even in the short growing season.
Where I presently live in southern Kentucky, I do similarly with just a 5' fence cage with kitty litter jugs of water around the tree filled with leaves. I then tape plastic over the top half to keep rain out. Keep enough old wood to get some fruit in summer and late crop on new wood. While the fig essentially stays a large bush, it is is fruitful.