FIGBUSTERS! Winter Dieback Report, Part Two. May/29/22

[@LesDeplorables]

I watched your video earlier today but I wanted to stop back for two reasons. I wanted to confirm that I hit the thumbs up. And I wanted to thank you for putting up all this information. It has helped me greatly and I know it's helped many other people like me. We get busy and we listen to KZbin's while we work and we don't always get time to thank the guy that does all the hard work. You are appreciated by more people than you realize

[@loumonti10]

Thank you very much for your kind words and special consideration! Regards from, Lou Monti

[@kennethmckibben6845]

Lou, you seem to be taking this much better than I imagine your audience is. You probably have figsters all over the world fighting back tears as they watch this video. While I can't speak for them, obviously, since I am not in your area, I have to believe if you needed help, all you had to do is ask and people would have been over right away to help winterize your figs. You have earned that with your contributions to the community. Oh well. So, it's an experiment now. I am Looking forward to seeing you make the best of it. Obviously, if the roots are dead you might as well take them out. But, you mentioned you might rip out many of the ones that survived but did poorly. You might consider experimenting a little more on some of these trees. The question is when a tree is severely damaged, is it better to cut it back to the ground or let the tree benefit from what has survived. Call it the Wabi-Sabi strategy vs. the Tough love strategy. You can always take them out later or consider other experiments like: Are cutting from a weaked trees worth taking or should you just start over. I'll be watching .

[@tarekharb8978]

Thanks lou, sorry to hear you lost a few of your trees . I also get winter die back in 6a in northeast Ohio. Your videos are always informative and a pleasure to watch. Thanks for your time and great knowledge.

[@PHUNGUYEN-yi9dq]

I just into figaholic a year, very appreciate your video, learning a lot.

[@gitatit4046]

Interesting info Lou and something we can all learn from. A degree or two does matter sometimes and probably the variety too in some cases. Thanks for sharing and I wish you well on the recovery/restoration on the damaged ones.

[@brucejacobs1059]

Thank you so much I watch all your video's,

[@loumonti10]

Thank you for watching, Bruce! Lou Monti

[@thelostcatfigfarm6198]

Sorry for your loss! We are in 7b coastal Virginia. We also had a lot of winter dieback this year, more than in the other 4 years we’ve been here growing our trees. Ours are coming back from the roots since they were mulched with wood chips, but we had to remove some very large fig tree trunks, including Hardy Chicago. Trees that had survived colder winters, I can’t understand it.

[@stevebattista6686]

Sorry to hear you lost some trees Lou.. I did too for some reason I uncovered a couple of mine and they were covered in mold..

[@pjorge8363]

Hello Sir, very interesting information with regards to winter protection. This really reinforces in my mind the extreme importance of winterizing fig trees in the Northeast, weather digging them up or wrapping them. Thank you for sharing this priceless information. Best Wishes.

[@stephenremo9200]

Extra cold year here in NJ.. I keep a potted fig on my front porch over winter. It took forever to come back this year thought it was dead.so no wind on it but I'm guessing too many consecutive cold days

[@AveryOCason]

Great information thanks for the walk around Lou and your time

[@thedungeon1288]

Wow this is devastating. I had a brown turkey that died back to ground. My problem is the position of my house. Where the sun is I also have the east wind so the house would not block the wind on that side. On the opposite side there would be a wind break but not much sun.

[@capetownfigs-rsa]

Do you have copies of the trees that perished?

[@loumonti10]

No, Ivor, I don't have a comprehensive list, however, it suffices to say that it's best to cover all valuable fig trees in 7-A and colder zones. I have videos on Winter covering and uncovering, too. Regards! Lou Monti

[@sunnysharma1701]

hey Lou, do you recommend removing tarps from desert king even later in the season? do freezes or light frosts make the tree drop figs? Or is it better to uncover desert king when night time temperatures are steadily above 50F?

[@loumonti10]

I tend to remove my protection after the most extreme low temperatures close to the end of Winter, but before my trees come out of dormancy. Regards from, Lo Monti

[@brucejacobs1059]

Can you prune a fig in May?

[@loumonti10]

Hi, Bruce! Personally, I prune all year, but lightly is better when the trees aren't dormant. Thanks for watching. Regards from, Lou Monti

[@AveryOCason]

Lou I typed in go fig your farm on KZbin and it didn't come up

[@loumonti10]

Hi! That's Go Figure Farm. Lou Monti

[@AveryOCason]

OK I'm a little hard of hearing thanks