Waking up early

[AmericanFigLover]

I noticed all of my dormant trees are waking up early. They were stored in a cold room in the house that didn't get heat. I'm guessing the heating started to work and now they are all pushing leaves. One tree had figs starting to swell. Is it possible to force them back into dormancy? Or should I let them grow? I'm thinking that I could put them in the garage, but it's also warm in there too. The snow up here in Washington is melting so I'm guessing winter is ending early. I can walk outside in shorts now.

I honestly wish that I would have noticed sooner before the buds popped up.

[COGardener]

This seems to be a problem for a good number of people across the country this year. To "force" them back onto dormancy may not be easy, you will need to get the temp down and keep it that way. Have access to a walk in refrigerator? You could start the season early... real early... Get some gig lights on them or if it is really that nice out, start the pot shuffle now. Put them out only bringing them in if the weather turns. Could be a good year for the long season varieties and a bountiful year for the rest.

[DBJohnson]

Same here. About 1/3 of my trees from last summer (all in 1gal pots) have leafed out, 1/3 have buds about to break, and the other 1/3 are swelling buds. I've decided to set the lights to 16hrs/day and let them do what they're going to do. It's not cold enough in my basement this winter to try to keep them dormant.

[AmericanFigLover]

I guess I should let them do their thing then. My nero 600m is producing figs beneath the soil. It must be trying to make up for last year. If this weather keeps warming like this I will just put them out for a head start.

[COGardener]

I had trees still growing in the garage with no light and barley any water until the beginning of December. Then winter showed up and that was that, we have 5 or so inches of snow right now. My garage is heated so I have sealed of the vents and done what I can to keep it cool in there, it usually 50* regardless of how cold it gets outside.

[DBJohnson]

I just checked. My basement is at 60F. I doubt it drops below 50F even during the coldest nights of a regular winter.

[COGardener]

Everything I've read says that is to warm to keep them dormant.

[don_sanders]

My garage has been staying between 35-50F. Mostly closer to 50 this year and a couple look like they are about ready to break bud.

The cold looks like it's ready to come in tomorrow though so that should get them back to sleep.

[GregMartin]

My storage room off my basement is usually easy to keep around 40F. This year it took an uncomfortably long time before it got below 50F, but it's holding around 40F now and no bud breaks. Dang, do you have to be in zone 5 to keep figs dormant this year??? I've never seen a winter this warm before here in Maine, El Nino or not.

[COGardener]

I've opened the doors to cool it off in the garage a time or two. Again, no need right now it's 14° at home. It should only be 45° or 50° in there.

[Coop]

This has never happened to me before. My 2nd year Maltese Beauty broke dormancy in my unheated garage about a week ago. I am going to try to keep it going through the winter, but I am not happy about this. Today I put it outside to get some of the rain that's falling in our 60 degree weather here. This is crazy, will put it by the window and see what happens.

[COGardener]

It should be fine Coop, might need a little extra light to keep it from getting leggy.

[JohnnyK]

Mine are starting to leaf out as well downstairs in the basement. I suppose I'd better hook up some lights.

[AmericanFigLover]

I need to find some lights. I had some nice grow lights, but they were stolen.

I take it that it's too early to give a small amount of fertilizer?

[COGardener]

Depending on what you want for lights, Home depot has a 4 bulb T-5 fixture for a reasonable amount, or maybe Craig's list.

[cuckoo4cocopuffs]

Has anyone had success with placing small pots in a south facing window sill to wake up their figs this early in the year? I have a small vdb that I want to have a nice headstart to the growing season here in Portland Oregon. Or should I just wait another month or two? I'm just impatient and want to start growing again.

[blaze]

yes

[Clarktj2]

Any updates on how it’s doing?

[Clarktj2]

I think it’s going to be tough to try and wake them now. January and February have colder temps than December and even March can be pretty bitter at times.

[JCT]

I had a small rooted cutting go dormant with the beginning of our winter (as such that we get down here.) It was too small and risky to leave outdoors and trust it not to die over the winter, so I brought it inside a couple of weeks ago and put it in a sunny window. It's broken dormancy and put out two leaves so far. I'll just have to baby it through the winter until temps are high enough to take it back outside. I have a couple of others like that which were either late rooting attempts or just did not grow much over the summer.

Not an ideal situation, but I can baby a few small plants through the winter.

[arachyd]

Mine are kept in an unheated room with a light on all day but no window. They don't go fully dormant and have already begun slowly putting out a few tiny leaves after dropping them for the season in November/December. By spring they will have leggy growth and normal-sized leaves so it does give them a head start. I assume having them in a window would help them have more normal growth.

[ginamcd]

The downside of waking them up early (or having them wake up on their own if your storage area get too warm) is that they cannot go outside until temperatures are consistently above ~60F, versus dormant trees that can go out much sooner. It's that much longer that they need to be babied indoors.

Here, for example, actively growing trees need to stay in and protected until about mid-May. Dormant trees can typically go out in early April.