Why Has My Fig Tree Been Killed by Frost?

Coming out in spring to find that your fig tree's branches are brown and dead — no buds breaking, no sign of life at all — is a distressing discovery. Whether the tree has been killed outright or only partially damaged depends on several factors: the severity of the winter cold, whether the tree was protected, the health and age of the tree, and crucially whether the rootstock and the base of the trunk have survived even when the upper growth has not. There is often more hope than the situation first appears to offer.

How to assess whether the tree can recover

The first step is to determine how far down the tree the damage extends. Scratch the bark of the main stem close to ground level with your fingernail or a knife. If the tissue beneath is green or pale cream, that section is alive. Work upwards from the base, scratching every few centimetres. In many cases, even a tree that looks completely dead from the outside will show living tissue at or near the base of the trunk. This is your recovery point.

When to cut back

Wait until May before making your assessment and cutting back. What appears dead in March may still produce late buds in April or even May in a cool spring. Cutting too early risks removing wood that might have survived. By May, any section of stem that was going to produce growth will have done so. Cut back to just above the highest point of living growth, using clean, sharp tools. Make cuts just above a bud or a point where new shoots are emerging.

Recovery from the base

If all the above-ground growth is dead but the root system has survived, the fig will typically send up new shoots from the base of the trunk in late spring or early summer. These new shoots grow very vigorously — often producing two to three metres of new growth in the first season. Allow several to develop for the first year, then select the strongest two to four to become the new framework branches. This regrowth will be on its own roots and will be the same variety as the original tree.

Preventing frost damage in future years

The most effective protection is a south or southwest-facing wall position, which stores daytime heat and radiates it overnight, significantly raising the minimum temperature around the tree. Fan-training against a wall also allows the tree to be wrapped easily in two or three layers of horticultural fleece from November to March. The fleece should cover the whole tree and reach the ground, but should be ventilated on mild days to prevent fungal problems underneath.

Hardening off growth before winter

Stop all feeding by the end of June. This ensures that the tree does not produce soft, sappy growth late in the season that will not ripen and harden before cold weather arrives. Well-ripened, fully hardened wood survives much lower temperatures than soft autumn growth — sometimes the difference between survival and death in a hard winter.