Dormancy. NOT!

[newnandawg]

All my trees in ground and the 50 or so in the garage had plenty of
cold temps for them to go dormant and take what would be a long
nap. We have had the most unusual weather that I can remember
in the month of December. We just set record high temps four days
in a row hitting the mid and upper 70's. One of those days was 78
degrees. Additionally, this could turn out to be the wettest December
on record. We had over 6 inches of rain the past week and over 9
inches for the month. There is another 1-2 inches in the forecast
for tomorrow.

I just noticed that two of my in ground trees are breaking leaf bud
and one in the garage. Is the nap over? We have temps in the
forecast back close to average with lows in the upper 20's and
highs around 50 starting Friday. Potted plants may be doing
a shuffle again. LOL

[Kelby]

A Malta Black in my garage is still holding some leaves, somehow. Definately been weird!

[drew51]

Farther north on I-75 it stayed colder, enough that no figs broke dormancy. All are in containers. I plan to put a couple in the ground in a couple years. Winter is here now, so no worries anymore here.

[DBJohnson]

I have a Bryant Dark in the basement that is in the coolest, darkest corner I could find...and it has still budded and is pushing 4 big leaves at the top. Will likely just move it over to the lights I'm rigging for the cuttings.

[F. Bennett]

I found a lower branch of a potted RdB that broke bud. I'm hoping the rest stay asleep.

[jmaler]

All my trees in ground and the 50 or so in the garage had plenty of
cold temps for them to go dormant and take what would be a long
nap. We have had the most unusual weather that I can remember
in the month of December. We just set record high temps four days
in a row hitting the mid and upper 70's. One of those days was 78
degrees. Additionally, this could turn out to be the wettest December
on record. We had over 6 inches of rain the past week and over 9
inches for the month. There is another 1-2 inches in the forecast
for tomorrow.

I just noticed that two of my in ground trees are breaking leaf bud
and one in the garage. Is the nap over? We have temps in the
forecast back close to average with lows in the upper 20's and
highs around 50 starting Friday. Potted plants may be doing
a shuffle again. LOL

Same here. I had some inground whips with new 1 inch leaves at the tips. I'm thinking with the sap up and a quick hard freeze that extreme damage was to come. I wrapped them with heavy grade frost cloth multiple wraps and zip tied them. Next, to keep the frost cloth dry, I placed empty plastic MG garden soil bags over them and made a cut with sissors on each side about a inch long for fresh air then zip tied the bottom. I am hoping for the best til April or last frost.

[pppldj]

I have seven in ground figs and all are breaking bud and leafing out. The harshest winter months of January and February are yet to come. I am hoping for colder weather to send them back into dormancy before harsh freezing hits. I also have blueberries blooming and some fruit set. What a strange winter season we are having.

[SarinaP]

I saw on the news this morning that the cherry blossoms in DC are popping out... that's going to make a mess of our tourist season if they can't bloom again in the spring.

[COGardener]

This seasons blossoms are born on last seasons new growth. So there will only be springs blossoms if some don't open or freeze.

[Rewton]

I live about 15-20 miles north of those cherry trees on the tidal basin and so far none of my trees have broken bud. However, I did knock some old figs off of an in-ground Paradiso-Gene and saw some white sap. So if we get much more warm weather they probably will break bud. It looks like it will stay cooler for a while now though. Maybe with a little luck my in-ground trees won't suffer damage this year even though they have little or no protection.

[Sarahkt]

Yeah, there's been weird weather yo-yoing back and forth over here too. We had frosts that took the leaves off everything but the citrus, avocado, and blueberries in November, but now some of the figs are budding out again. I expected the blueberries would be evergreen here, but I was not expecting them to continually bud and put out lots of flowers as they are doing now. El Nino weather is still ahead!

[DaveL]

Checked on my stored trees yesterday. While not fully out of dormancy, I did notice some buds beginning to swell a bit. Gave them all a quick drink and with today's 30 ish temps hopefully back to sleep. Crazy December!

[Erick]

Well I also have three trees that when I checked on them was in full bloom. I was very sad when I first seen them because of how long it is until spring. I moved them into the extra bedroom where I have my cuttings and the grow lights.. Crossing my fingers and hoping for the best..

[figgrower]

Experience has taught me that the weather will try to even itself out. I don't think you are done with cold weather yet.

[brettjm]

I've still got a celeste and an unknown that are holding on to a few leaves in pots. Crazy.

[figgysid1]

My trees went dormant in late November, I expect them to wake up mid to late March.

I thought the shorter daylight hours caused dormancy, but you guys are saying that higher temperatures cause them to break dormancy.

It's in the 70's here and they are still sleeping soundly.

Good luck everyone. The coldest it gets here in Hawaii is 12f, which I'm sure is like living in a sauna for you northernmost guys.