My winter protection 2016 -- #1 the "Figloo"

[jrdewhirst]

This is one of three methods I'm using this year for winter protection. It seems best for smaller, bushy plants.

1. Prune and, if necessary, bind branches to reduce overall size (height and width). The plant pictured here is a small Sal's EL planted this spring; I didn't need to tie it.
2. Create a support structure for a covering. Here I use wire fencing, which is sold in 4' wide rolls, attached to 4' steel posts (pic #1). You can imagine other possibilities, such an a large inverted barrel.
3. Cover the structure with an opaque, wind-resistant, insulating cover. Here I use foil-covered bubble wrap (pic #2), which is sold in 4' wide rolls. The bubble wrap provides some insulation. I believe that the foil on the inside helps retain heat (reflect infrared) from the earth, perhaps helping ensure that the interior doesn't get too cold; the foil on the outside reflects sunlight, helping ensure that the interior doesn't get too warm. Note that I tape the seams. I also use soil and rocks to reduce infiltration of air at the base.
4. Just for added security, cover it all with a tarp. Tie and weight the cover to prevent it blowing away (pic #3).

In past years, I had good success with this approach using only #1-3. I added #4 this year, but it may not be necessary. I decided deliberately not to use a dark colored tarp.

Note that I have no other materials inside, nothing in contact with the tree. I'm trying to not encourage mold. And as the tree is not a heat source, I see no point in putting insulating materials close to the tree itself.

In past years, I put down plastic as a vapor barrier but I doubt that it helped much so I'm not using it this year.

Also, I toss a few mothballs inside to deter rodents; but I'm not sure that helps either.

[jrdewhirst]

The forecast is decent weather (>38 F) for the next 2 weeks. Hoping that late April will be at least as good, I decided today to remove some winter protection by dismantling my two "figloos." As a reminder, this year I used this method (described above) to protect two small trees that I had planted last spring -- one is a Sal's EL; the other is a variety that was sold to me as Wallington Blue and is likely to be the same as Brooklyn White.

Now the trees are uncovered, and both trees seem completely fine. As yet, there is zero evidence of damage, either from cold or critters; and there is no evidence of either desiccation or mold. The terminal buds appear healthy, displaying some combination of green and brownish-red coloring. Also, the two trees still seem fully quiescent / dormant: There is no significant swelling of the terminal buds, and there is at most only a hint of swelling of buds along the branches. So all in all, the trees seem both healthy and dormant.

Pictures always help, and I could add some if needed. I can't tell whether the pictures originally posted above survive; and as yet I have not posted new pictures here today. But if it would be helpful, please tell me and I will add photos of both the coverings and the trees.

Anyway, here's the bottom line: For the 4th consecutive winter, the "figloo" has been a success. Admittedly, this winter was not very cold -- the minimum temperatures were ~ +5 to +10 F versus -5 to -7 F in prior winters. But the consistent, repeated success is both encouraging and instructive.

What are the take-aways? My experience appears to confirm that at least some fig varieties can reliably survive winter cold temperatures down to ~0 F (i.e., +/- 5 F) if (1) they are gradually exposed to progressively cooler temperatures in late autumn, (2) they are then covered with an opaque, windproof material that is reflective on two sides (keeping all light from the sun out and infrared from the earth in), and (3) they are uncovered only when/if temperatures promise to remain high enough not to damage new growth (e.g., >35 F?).

[jrdewhirst]

Figgerlickinggood -- I don't know what happened to the pictures. I'm sure that they were there at one time. In fact, my second post refers explicitly to those pictures and asks whether they "survived."

I'm hesitant to re-post them because my preferred method has changed. Maybe "evolved" is the right word. Moreover, I did post pictures of this current method in later threads. Basically I use a 4' tall x 3' wide cylindrical cover made from a single layer of foil-covered bubble wrap with a 3" layer of fiberglass insulation glued to the inside. There's nothing else inside except a cup of vole poison. The cover is reasonably air-tight -- the base is buried a couple inches. Also I use wire mesh around the trunk (4-6" diameter) and around the cover (3' rectangle) to repel rodents.

Let me know if you can't find the more recent posts.

[Figgerlickinggood]

I made a post today entitled “anyone try this? Does it work?” I posted a 4 part video about winter protection method. Then Gina mentioned about a figloo. That’s how I found this post. Sorry I missed it. I wasn’t a member back then.

[jrdewhirst]

No prob. See for example my Post #19 in this thread:

https://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-home/972766-gonna-take-the-plunge

[zone5figger]

Thanks for sharing, looks like you've got winter protection dialed in for your zone.
Still under snow here!

[jrdewhirst]

I wish. Encouraged by the weather and the results yesterday, I opened the 6 other in-ground figs today, which were protected by similar materials shaped as a tunnel. Sadly, all of these trees had extensive rodent damage, which hadn't happened in the prior years. I'll post details when I recover from my acute depression. Bottom line, I might have been no worse off with unprotected plants at 5 below.

As far as I can tell, what saved these two plants is that I buried the bottom of the cover around the entire perimeter. Mice never found their way inside.

[jrdewhirst]

Yeah, I'm having similar reservations. And I'm considering similar escalations. We should compare notes next fall.

[Fygmalion]

Ed, I was thinking of trying out a 1/4" wire mesh enclosure consisting of a 48" diameter circle with a radius and central core cutout to accomodate a single central stem laying down on the ground and then marrying an additional 12 - 18" circlet of the same wire mesh to the bottom mesh to form a wire pot surround the fig and then do the winter protection over that. Not sure if the mice and voles would be able to get past the 1/4" wire mesh or wire latte bottom and side or get into the winter protection from above the wire and still get to the fig bark.... This would be a lot of work but might be worth it 1 - if it works and 2 - for a small number of hardy and delicious preferred varieties.... Thoughts? I am going to definitely try the wire mesh on planned step over espaliers this coming years as I would hate to loose any progress made with those to the little @@@@@@@s....

[DaveL]

Joe, if I may asked why did you individually wrap some tree and tunnel wrap others? I'm 6A in SE Ct. and encouraged by your success.

[figgi11]

Covers came off today. No dieback!

Only concern is that there were a lot of surface roots that I cut back heavily (some were 1/2" thick) because they were ruining the grass. I have to put some sod where the roots were taking over. You can see the "soil" patches on the ground. I'm sure there's plenty of deep roots to compensate for the pruning. I hope I didn't damage it as some roots were kind of big. I followed up with a nice soaking of SUPERTHRIVE and water. 🤞

[figgi11]

[DaveL]

Figgi, nice job on the winter protection. If you don't mind my asking what zone are you in and where are you located?

[jrdewhirst]

<< if I may ask why did you individually wrap some trees and tunnel wrap others? I'm 6A in SE Ct. and encouraged by your success.>>

DaveL --

The individual "figloo" structure seemed right for my 2 new, smallish trees. The trees are ~16' apart. It seemed a waste of material to cover the whole 16+' when I could just cover a <2' radius around each tree.

The other 6 trees had been in the ground longer, and I had pruned each of them to a low cordon. After pruning, each tree was ~2' high x ~2' wide x 12-16' long. Rather than create small, separate 2' x 12-16' quonset huts (my past approach), each with two end caps (which are a pain to make), I figured I could make one long tunnel roughly 100' long with only two end caps. I still think that this was the right choice if the two goals are efficient manufacture and solid protection. But I hadn't considered the rodents. That's because in the three last years -- my entire experience with figs -- I hadn't noticed a single nick from an animal pest on my protected figs.

This year was different. All 6 of the figs under the tunnel suffered severe damage. I'm not sure why the rodents were a problem this year. But in retrospect, I realize that the cover over a fig tree that is pruned to a low cordon has a huge footprint -- 2' x 16'. So the perimeter is 36', compared to ~10' for the individual figloo. Multiply that by 6 for the single long tunnel and there is a 200' perimeter, which the mouse or vole or chipmunk can exploit. If one of the little @@@@@@@s gets inside anywhere, then he has access to all the figs under the cover.

I had fallen in love with the low cordon as a pruning method to optimize production and simplify winter protection. But if I need to minimize the footprint of my winter protection to control access by rodents, I will go back to pruning a taller tree (central leader or modified central leader) with a single trunk. I can reduce the risk of invasion by rodents if the winter cover has a small footprint. I may bury the edges and also surround the cover below the soil line with wire mesh.

[Fygmalion]

I love your cordon / step over espalier and I am going to do one but for winter proofing I am going to enclose the whole espalier in tight wire lathe from bottom ground covering up. The only entry holes into the wire basket would then be via the stems coming up from the ground and these points I will tightly reinforce with steel wool (should affect the fig stems since they will be dormant at that point) to try and keep them out. Once that is in place, I will use your protection scheme over the whole cordon and hope for the best. I also decided based on discussions that I will lay wire lather down on the ground inside the GH as a first layer before putting any other ground topping over it, be it pine mulch or patio block I will also put the same wire lathe up the first 18" of the inside of the GH tacked to the stacked pressure treated 2x10 framing the perimeter of the GH. That should form a barrier to any mice climbing up the lumber and sneaking in that way. Hopefully the wiggle wire tieing down the GH double skin will be tight enough to keep any vermin from sneaking in that way and judicious use wire and steel wool around the entry doors should help to keep anything undesirable out of the GH during the worst of the winter... Perhaps being over the top about mice in the GH but I could almost visualize storing all my figs in there and then having vermin chew them to hell.... Don't want that nightmare scenario to play out...

[jrdewhirst]

I had always thought that one important benefit of the tunnel approach was that the low cordon would be warmed (relatively) by the ground -- The tree is physically close to the ground; and the surface area of ground is high relative to the volume of the cover. But obviously, this benefit (if it exists) may be overwhelmed by the risk of vermin.

Are you OK with the prospect that the temperature inside the protection will basically be the same as the temperature outside? In other words, you'll block wind and sun but not cold.

Meanwhile, I agree totally about incorporating wire mesh. I was already imagining it both on the ground and around the trunk. Let's continue this conversation . . . .

[fitzski]

I remember Tony mountainfigs posted about this a while ago and there were some interesting discussions in that thread.

The whole thread is good but here's where it starts getting interesting.

https://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-home/14740-the-low-limb-technique-good-success-with-minimal-mulch-covering-through-winter?p=14817#post14817

Right now I vertically bury my inground fig and so far I havent had any issues with voles.

https://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-home/51724-winterizing-my-in-ground-fig

I don't have room right now for a low cordon but i'm very interested in the results as I might try to put a few in at some point.

[cis4elk]

Joe, I wonder if digging something like a 4" d X 4" w trench around the perimeter of the figloo would do. Then you bury the wire mesh in the trench, I suppose you could fill the trench with pea gravel so it's easy to dig out every fall and replace around the mesh. If it works out, one could gradually make it into a system which is easily repeated yearly. Maybe a simple rebar frame shaped like a sawhorse except with a half circle for legs on each end. It could stay in place year round or not. The end mesh pieces would be cut to a half circle and attach with wire to the rebar and the large cover piece would go over top and be attached to the rebar on the ends and in the middle. The good thing is is in the spring it will all lay flat and could be rolled up to some degree saving storage space. Or with the correct cuts made overhanging the end it could just be folded together and closed with a few pieces of wire; I'm not sure how many years that would work with bending the eventually it will break.

[jrdewhirst]

I'll give it some thought. The two key things seem to be protecting the lower trunk and then preventing the voles from getting inside the cover and up into the branches and upper trunk. To protect the lower trunk, it could be wrapped in mesh. To keep out the voles, we could either (a) put mesh around the perimeter to some depth in the ground, leaving the ground uncovered; or we could cover the ground beneath the cover with mesh, then bend the mesh up around the outside wall of the cover.

[mountainfigs]

Why fig wood dies here: a) if it is too poorly protected so that cold hammers away, it dies; b) if it is too "well" protected so that a warm haven is created for hungry critters, it may get eaten and die.

Why fig wood survives here: if it is mildly protected but not overly protected so that the tree remains part of a wet and/or frozen fluctuating environment exposed to rain and snow but not wind, cold but not too cold, some heat but not too warm, say, ranging perhaps between 20 and 40 degrees F, give or take, covered by permeable mulch whether at or below ground level, then it will neither be hammered to death by cold (nor wind), nor be likely to be grazed to death by snug winter feeders, which wouldn't be very snug in any attempt to do so.

Come spring then, I imagine sweeping out the mulch swales so that the cordons are running through air, at or slightly below ground level. So no rooting should take place along the cordon. The cordons might even run slightly below the level of the central base of the tree, though it might be better if the ground is slightly ridged and furrowed (with good drainage) so that the cordons are neither higher nor lower than the center base). To me, this would make for an interesting appealing trial. Leave the tree brutally cold and exposed for any rodents but not so brutally cold and exposed that it would be hurt by weather. For this you need to make of the ground a long narrow furrow within which the tree would be quite happy precipitation exposed and dormant at temperatures a dozen degrees below freezing, whereas any rodent would be utterly repelled. Somewhat likewise, many (if not all) of the tree's roots.

This coming summer, I would be inclined to create the basis for a winter experiment in a spot between a previous overprotection tree death and numerous underprotection deaths. On both severe and mild slope I could set up a couple experiments. I would be inclined to run cordons just below ground level in swales that drain and don't collect water, fully covering the cordons and tree base and swales with chips or leaves. The basic idea would be to bring the fig through without encouraging varmints to move in. I've never had a problem bringing low (very low) cordons through this way ... with one exception - however in that exception, the low cordon was undamaged but the tree base was killed by varmints that ate its roots, which I had buried under heavy mulch - too heavy. Roots don't need as much mulch as cordons do, and in this case I gave the roots more mulch than I gave the cordons.

I imagine no measure is foolproof, but if you can get through every winter with the vast majority of your fruiting capacity intact, then that should be plenty. Simpler to shuffle a few pots in and out of storage? Anyway, I might give it a trial.

[jrdewhirst]

Tony --

How much do you think the typical successful protective cover warms the fig tree? That seems to be a critical question for cover design.

I'm guessing not much, unless the cover is nearly airtight. Even if the air inside the cover is warmed by the ground or by daytime sun, the slightest ventilation -- and we're encouraged to incorporate ventilation -- will move the warm air up and out. So on a cloudy day or at night, the temperature inside the cover would probably be roughly the same as the temperature outside. Let's suppose that a cover of carpet or burlap or bubble-wrap or whatever somehow manages to raise the tree's minimum winter temperature by ~5 F degrees -- Is that increment critical to its survival? I'm guessing not.

If the main benefit of protection is not to raise temperature, then maybe we can minimize the "footprint" of the winter cover. Imagine a cover where (a) wire mesh surrounds the lower trunk; and (b) the upper trunk and branches are enveloped with whatever protective material we prefer. The tree would get no benefit from the relative warmth of the ground. But the tree would be protected against wind and sun. And rodents would have to climb wire mesh and bite through the covering in order to get to the tree.

[mountainfigs]

Joe, I think that in a protected situation the general temperature is largely irrelevant to the rodents, though not entirely. Think of going into a tent or underneath a big ledge or just inside a cave opening or into a waterproof sleeping bag during a cold driving rainstorm. Suddenly: stillness, no wind chill, no soaking nasty conditions, no splash in your eyes, no plain exposure to predators. What a relief! You can think! Eat! Your bodily functions can even warm your micro-space in such a situation. Sure it may still be basically or nearly the same temperature technically in the overall protected space, if large enough, but it's relatively dry and feels much warmer because no wind chill or wet chill, no soaking downpour and feels much safer, more secure, protected, and may indeed be warmer immediately around the creature's body area. Comfy leisure time: eat bark! roots! Much more creature friendly. And much more dangerous for the fig tree than tough but withstandable weather exposure.

The main benefit of protection here in WV, and in many places, is to raise temperature. My mulch covered limbs survive as glossy green all winter because they are warmer, thanks to ground "heat" - and, also thanks to being protected from wind and sun but only secondarily. Wind and sun don't kill limbs here (except rarely); rather, the typical winter drop in temperature kills. Wind and sun sure help aggravate the effect of severe cold, but the cold snaps are the decisive factor ... certainly here.

Wire mesh can help, sure. Growing a tree in a strong enough wire cage, the bulk of limbs and some of the roots, may be the only way to guarantee survival against rodents, especially hungry rodents, in some places. However, I think if you look at the ecosystem both from the rodents' perspective and from the fig trees' perspective, then you may be able to often and more easily create natural conditions that strongly favor fig tree survival. Look at your own trees that survived this year, that is, that weren't eaten. Their situation was too naturally unpleasant, to exposed, for the rodents to mess with. They were exposed to the weather, the elements, but not too exposed. They didn't need a wire cage. They needed to be exposed but not too exposed.

I suppose it's easy to see potential problems with what I'm suggesting, along with certain strengths. Just so, with wire caging: strengths and weaknesses there too.

[jrdewhirst]

Well, I think that you are probably right about branches and trunks under mulch. The mulch is effectively an extension of the ground. The ground is a big enough heat sink that it keeps the mulch fairly warm, probably near 28-30 F. And a mulch will resist cooling due to ventilation. The only risks I ever saw from mulch were (a) the mulch is a cozy home for rodents, and (b) maybe a moist mulch would encourage mold.

For branches and trunk above the ground, I'm not convinced that the cover does much of anything re temperature. Yes, as you note, there is less wind, less wind-related desiccation, less wind chill and wet chill, etc. But those results would all be produced by any wind- and water-resistant cover -- even a cover with no insulating value whatsoever. The typical cover probably has minimal value as an insulator, and most are nowhere near airtight.

FWIW, I tried to measure the temperature inside my "tunnel" by putting a wireless temperature sensor inside. The attempt failed. A friend of my son, a very good electrical engineer, said "That's won't work!" The foil-covered bubble wrap creates a Faraday cage, which traps the radio signal.

I understand your suggestion for a Goldilocks environment (not too hot, hot too cold). But honestly, it's all too imprecise for my taste. I spend too much time growing the trees. I want a method of protection that will work no matter how motivated the rodents may be.

[mountainfigs]

A lot of the protection measures that don't trap any heat in harsh environs ... they fail. Plenty of reports. Wind and sun protection can lower the kill temperature, but at a certain point fig trees, and all trees, will die if too cold. Rodents are good at defeating wire, especially around roots, so I don't think it would be easy, but I think careful caging can be constructed that can defeat rodents. If you are mechanically inclined, then I agree that caging can be a good way to go. If less mechanically inclined, then there are other options that may work well too, managing the ecosystem and using geosolar energy. Commercial fig farmers in France used to plant their figs on a slant, then bend and bury them in dirt each winter. Lots of options but all require care and work. As you mentioned, keeping up your bird feeders might have been all the solution you needed this past winter, coupled with your figloos for colder winters. If so, why cage, unless the creatures are a pest and disease concern?

[jrdewhirst]

Thanks. I have plenty of time to figure it out before next winter.

For sure (1) I will NOT cover the foil-bubble-wrap with tarp; I think that made it all too cozy; and (2) I will cover at least the trunk with wire mesh. The rest is TBD.

[mountainfigs]

If the world depended on it, I would surely try multiple measures at once: bird feedering, wire meshing, goldilocking, heat cabling, greenhouse enclosing, 24/7 camera and wildcat surveillance... With far less at stake, I may give merely one of these measures a try this year and see what happens.

[zone5figger]

Painful to see those nibbled trees, I feel for you Joe.
I use metal window screen mesh to protect some trunks in my orchard, and it is easy to wrap and staple for installation. Seems like that would be feasible for the entirety of a low cordon. Trapping or poison bait in the fall would be another precaution worth considering. Hope they bounce back for you!

[mountainfigs]

A row cover figloo quickly constructed yesterday evening to ward off the snows of today and tomorrow. Bunch of brebas beneath being protected hopefully. 14 foot wide medium row cover wrapped over and around using mainly the tallest fig trees as supports (plus a few bamboo stakes), the row cover "tent" about 8 feet tall at its highest. Comfrey photoed below thriving down bank.

[Fygmalion]

Denying the rodents access to the bark / roots in a protected environment is key... Wire mesh may do it; how about thick aluminum foil? Will thick aluminum foils wrapped around the main stem and lateral cordon damage the wood because they would effectively create a non breathable skin where ever the thick foil is used? Would this be the case if the fig is truly dormant? Would rodents bite through thickly wrapped aluminum foil or aluminum duct tape? The foil actually does not need to be applied directly against the bark, it could be applied on top of a primary skin of light styrene sheeting, for example... Would this work? Lots of questions....

[TylerJ]

I use regular aluminum foil around the bottom foot or so of each of my inground trees and suffered no rodent damage on any (9 of them). I just crumple it around the trunks/ low branches and it is not an airtight wrapping by any means so the bark can breathe. I had a big problem with my inground kiwis in my greenhouse a few years ago getting chewed but the after using the foil I haven't had a problem since. Its cheap and quick. It doesn't look nice but it doesn't matter if its covered anyways. Tyler

[Fygmalion]

Thanks, Tyler! Always good to get first hand confirmation that something will not have an adverse or unintended consequence...

[jrdewhirst]

Thanks. Aluminum foil had seemed like a good approach, but it's great to have confirmation that it works.

[fitzski]

Joe,

Are you anywhere near this place?

http://www.newenglandvfc.org/2013_conference/powerpoints2013/Greenhouse%20Grown%20Figs.pdf

I wonder if their method of winter protection is still working for them.

Hope your trees recover.

[jrdewhirst]

Yeah, I know the area. A good friend lived in Sherborne, and two other good friends lived right next to Framingham State. My kids used to play soccer all the time at Elm Bank.

Yes, Pete always has good ideas. And there have been great suggestions on this topic from two Tony's, Fabio, and others.

Despite the vermin problem, I've had great success keeping the trees alive. Even the ones that were eaten this year seemed otherwise very healthy. The 1-2 yr old wood on the laterals was not damaged by cold, except at a few tips. Overall, I'd say that there was <5% cold damage. I ended up taking roughly 8-10 good cuttings from the uneaten branches of each of the 6 damaged trees (maybe 50-60 cuttings in total) just in case the in-ground plants don't recover.

So it seems that the "igloo" and "tunnel" approaches both work well to protect against cold, wind, sun. But clearly we'd need to add protection against vermin. That'll be one major challenge this year. So keep the conversation going -- I'd be very interesting in hearing what you decide to try. I'll do the same.

And if you ever wander in this direction, let me know. We can arrange a visit. Weather is probably best in July or August but the harvest would be peaking in late Sept!

[fitzski]

I'm very familiar with your current area as my parents grew up in Fall River.

The reason I mentioned the farm was that I'm really curious if they still grow figs and if they do what they do to protect their figs from vermin.

I'm going to send them an email and maybe they will have some ideas for us.

How high are your cordons off the ground? How long is each cordon from the main trunk?

Did you cover your trees early than last year? Was it much warmer last winter than the previous one after you wrapped them?

I have about an hour commute each way so many questions have been going through my head.

Interesting problem ... hopefully we (ourfigs community) can come up with more ideas that may help.

[jrdewhirst]

Last year there were five figs that were already bent and pruned to a low cordon; there was one additional fig in transition. So there was some variation. Trunks were roughly 12-16" high with 1 or 2 cordons on each side. Cordons ran roughly horizontal with some waviness, starting anywhere from the bottom (ground level) to the top of the trunk. In general, the majority of each cordon was roughly 12" off the ground, but the range was probably 0-24" during the summer and 0-12" after winter pruning / tying. Cordons started at ~3-4' in length for the newest trees, gaining roughly 2' per year. The trunks are on 16' centers, so the longest cordons were ~8'.

These trees had been in the ground for different periods. I planted Paradiso and Florea in 2013; Hardy Chicago in 2014; Marseilles Black, Lattarula, and Ronde de Bordeaux in 2015; as well as Sal's EL and Wellington Blue/Brooklyn White in 2016. In it's first year (or two), each of these trees was covered using the "figloo" method. In the summer of 2015, I pruned the existing six to a low cordon (but I damaged Lattarula, which set it back). In the winter of 2015-16, I covered all six using individual small tunnels -- basically little quonset huts. This past fall, after much more growth, I decided to merge the tunnels, so the same six were covered by one long tunnel, as described in a separate thread. The two new figs were in individual figloos, as described above.

I always wrapped the trees at roughly the same time -- roughly 2nd week of December, after the trees had experienced temperatures down to 28-32 but generally not much below. I removed the covers in the first week or so of April, depending on weather. At the lows, past winters got down to roughly -5 to -7 F. This last winter was warmer -- the lowest temp here was +5 F, briefly. Two or three other lows were 8-10 F.

Through all of these four winters, the most common outcome was minimal damage (0-10%), mostly at the tips. On Paradiso, the damage was perhaps typically 10-20%, again mostly at the tips. By far the worst single outcome came in my 1st winter, when I lost 90% of Florea; but I think the reason was that I had wrapped the branches in bubble wrap, which encouraged mold. I never did that again! In the winter of 2015-16, I lost roughly 1/3 of Hardy Chicago; I think the reason is that I opened one end of each tunnel too early in mid-March, believing that the trees might benefit from ventilation. I won't do that again either. Anyway, in both cases, the trees regrew well.

Bottom line: I am very confident that my winter protection can keep "cold hardy" fig varieties alive through temperatures down to -5 F. Now I just need to figure out a way to fend off the pests.

[cis4elk]

I don't think this has been mentioned yet but may be worth a try. Through reading in chicken magazines lately there is some talk of planting strong smelling herbs around the coop to keep rodents away. So I did a little more research and found quite a bit about it. Peppermint is supposed to be really good. Crown Imperial is supposed to be awesome at deterring rodents but the smell supposedly does a fair job of repelling us as well.
So, maybe grow a bunch of peppermint and then cut it in the fall(or earlier before the seeds form because mint is a real B to get rid of) and lay it amongst the cordons and trunk? Maybe worth a shot.

[jrdewhirst]

Thanks. Yes, maybe worth a try but I'd have to risk only one plant in the experiment. I couldn't deal with a failure like this year when six big trees were demolished.

I have peppermint in a pot. But I'd have to plant a lot more. I know that deer don't like it.

FWIW, whatever attacked the plants this year (mice, voles, chipmunks?) didn't mind mothballs. Could peppermint be worse?

[figgi11]

Weed cloth, pink insulation, tarp, garbage pail on top. Works like a charm every time!

[jrdewhirst]

Just to clarify, were any of these materials used to cover the ground to block access by rodents? Thx.