Fruit · Moraceae
When to plant figs
Fruits best when its roots are confined and its life made slightly difficult. A fig planted into rich open ground makes a magnificent tree and almost no fruit.
First worthwhile crop
Year 2
After planting, not after sowing.
Hardy in USDA zones
7a to 11a
Winter cold sets the limit here, not the calendar.
Frost tolerance
Half hardy
How much cold the plant itself will take.
Those weeks become real dates once you name a place.
Timing, in frost-relative terms
Nothing about a standing crop is sown to a calendar. Once planted, figs stay in the ground for years, so the question is not when to sow but whether your winter is survivable and your planting window is open. Both answers come from your frost dates.
- Expect a first worthwhile crop in year 2 after planting.
- Needs roughly 100 chill hours below 7.2°C (45°F)45°F (7.2°C) over winter to set fruit, which rules out the warmest climates.
- Hardy in USDA zones 7a–11a.
Getting the timing right
Plant dormant, into a restricted root space - a lined pit, a large container, or against a wall with a paving slab under the rootball. In cool climates the embryo figs that overwinter on the shoot tips are next summer's crop, so anything that kills those shoots costs the year.
Frost tolerance
Established wood tolerates around -10C and will regrow from the base below that, but the pea-sized overwintering figs are killed well before the wood is, at roughly -2C. In a cold region, wrapping the shoot tips is the difference between a crop and a handsome leafy shrub.
Classified as half-hardy, with damage expected below -10°C (14°F)14°F (-10°C).