How to Prevent Dormant Potted Fig Trees Leafing Out Early

header image with title for Figs Waking up Too Early, showing a fig loaded with breba, indoors, with lank growth

“HELP…my fig tree is growing already!”

I often see this sort of e-mail subject line in my inbox in late winter. If your dormant fig trees are sprouting too early, you’re not alone.

Dormant fig trees are easy to care for. But when conditions aren’t right, they come out of dormancy early and start growing sooner than you want!

Keep reading. This post will help you decide what to do if your fig tree is leafing out early.

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The Problem When Your Fig Tree is Awake Early

Fig tree is awake in winter, with yellow growth because it's in a crawlspace, with no light — Fig tree leafing out early, in a crawl space with no light. Notice the lank, yellow growth.

In cold climates, where fig trees are not hardy, we can store them as dormant trees over the winter.

But if the fig trees wake up early, it can affect your fig harvest!

Growing figs indoors over the winter as houseplants isn’t likely to give you a good harvest.
The low-light conditions indoors over winter gives lanky, weak branches—and that can affect your harvest once you move the fig outdoors for summer.

Why Fig Trees Wake up Early

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When potted dormant fig trees leaf out early, it’s usually because the storage area is too warm.

Basements in modern, centrally heated homes usually are not cold enough to keep a fig tree dormant all winter.

It really depends on your house, though:

A friend had a century-old farmhouse with an uninsulated, unheated, earth-floored basement…fantastic for dormant figs. That’s the kind of space that keeps fig trees dormant.
My garage is unheated and is a perfect spot for overwintering dormant figs.
Some modern homes have a good root cellar—and the desirable temperatures for root cellaring also work well for keeping fig trees dormant.

A Note on Dormancy

Growing Figs in Cold Climates: 150 of Your Questions Answered

There are a few things that work together to induce and keep a fig tree in a dormant state:

Heat
Day length
Soil moisture

But I’ve found that the single most important thing to focus on to keep your fig tree from leafing out early is temperature.

Yes, longer days plays a role in figs waking up. Having said that, when I store dormant potted fig trees in my garage—which has windows—they don’t wake up too early. That’s because it stays consistently cool.

What to Do if Fig Trees Start Growing Early

What do you do if your fig tree is awake early?

Here in USDA Zone 5, if figs wake up mid- to late-winter, it’s just too cold to put them outside to coax them back into dormancy.

The tender growth they’ve made inside is quickly zapped by the cold.

So let the fig tree grow indoors—but give it the most light possible.

Here’s a guide about what to do with fig trees in the spring.

Let’s dig into a couple of examples of potted figs sprouting so that you can think about what you could do if your figs leaf out early.

EXAMPLE 1: Figs Leafing Out Early

dormant fig waking up early in a dark crawl space — It’s dark, but it’s also too warm…so the fig trees have started to leaf out early!

Here’s an example of a late-winter note that I received about potted figs sprouting early. Holly wrote:

I brought my six fig trees inside and put them in my crawl space. They are in large containers with reservoirs in the bottom.
Anyway, it is dark but too warm, and they are spouting small albino-pale leaves.
Now I don’t know what to do? Leave them? Move them to my cooler sunroom with light? Help!!!

Here is my response:

Sorry to hear about your fig dilemma! Yes, it looks as if it is too warm, so they’ve come out of dormancy early. It's hard to get trees back into dormancy. If you put them in a cool sunroom with bright light that would be the best choice—as long as they don’t freeze.

The Challenge

Even though it’s completely dark, it’s too warm in Holly’s crawlspace.

This dormant potted fig in a crawl space is waking up early — If fig trees come out of dormancy early, give them light—otherwise the growth is lanky like this.

So the fig trees started to grow.

What to Do

Find a bright indoor space to grow the fig trees until they can go outdoors for the summer. The brighter the better—so they have compact growth. But they mustn’t freeze now that they are growing.

(A dormant fig tree can freeze. Find out how cold fig trees can get.)

Holly has a sunroom, and that’s the best option in this case. In fact, it’s a very good option, because it bright and cool.

Other places you can put fig trees that come out of dormancy early:

In front of a bright south-facing window
Under artificial lights (less than ideal…but if it’s all you can do, it’s better than nothing)

Avoid Early Sprouting Next Year

Holly told me next year she might build an insulated space within her garage so that her figs don’t leaf out early. This insulated storage space is a really practical approach for garages that get too cold for potted fig trees to survive.

(Even garages that are warm enough for dormant figs can get too cold when the large doors are opened in winter.)

To make this sort of insulated storage space, build a lean-to or closet inside the garage, against the outside wall of the house. This gives a protected area where the temperature does not fluctuate as much when the garage door is open.

EXAMPLE 2: Figs Leafing Out Early

Here’s another example of a late-winter enquiry I received about potted figs coming out of dormancy early:

“My fig trees are growing, what should I do?”

Fig tree leafing out early--and filled with breba fruit — “My fig trees are growing, what should I do?” David’s fig trees awake early…

That was the start of a late-March phone chat with my neighbour David. A fellow fig enthusiast, David grows his figs in pots on his patio over the summer. He leaves them out in the fall until they’re dormant.

The potted fig trees spend the winter in his garage.

The garage is heated because David works out there on his cars over the winter. And it has lots of big windows. The combination of light and temperature were enough to coax the fig trees out of dormancy earlier than David wanted.

The Challenge

Fig tree waking up early in David's garage, in the dim glare of a shop light. — Figs awake early… David’s potted fig trees are sprouting in his garage, and making lanky growth.

It’s still too cold outside to put the potted fig trees outside in bright light. There will be more freezes, and that would kill the tender new growth.

But the light in the garage isn’t bright enough for good compact growth.

What to Do

There’s no putting these impatient fig trees back into dormancy.

And it would be a terrible shame to trim them back and lose the breba fruit.

Lots of Lights

I suggested to David that he put the fig trees in the brightest spot in the garage that he can until it’s a bit warmer. Then he can move the figs out on warmer days, so they’re in brighter light. (Starting in a sheltered, shaded spot so they are not scalded by the bright sun or get wind burn)

The other idea I mentioned to David is a simple, temporary greenhouse built against his garage. Like a temporary greenhouse just for his figs in this shoulder season.

South-facing window + fluorescent light

Avoid Figs Waking Up Early Next Year

Next year, there are a few things David can try so that he doesn’t have the problem of fig trees waking up early.

Keep the garage cooler
Or, instead of making the whole garage cooler and darker, wall off a corner—like a mini cold cupboard—for his figs
Overwinter the figs outdoors (plant in the ground and tip over and mulch for winter; or, use the trench method for potted figs overwintered outdoors)

Here are more ideas for overwintering figs in cold climates.

Important Tip for Figs Trees That Leaf Out Early

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There’s one more thing to remember—and this is important.

When it's time to move the fig plants outdoors in the spring, put them in a shaded location to start with.

When fig plants have leafed out early indoors, in dim light, and you put them outdoors in bright sunlight, there is a chance of sun scald.

I’ve fried my fig plants many times when I’ve moved them into full sun too quickly.

Put the fig trees somewhere shaded for a few days before moving them to a sunny location.

Find out what to do with your fig tree in the spring.

FAQ – Figs Waking up Early

Why does my fig wake up early?

The most common reason is that it’s too warm.

So should I grow my fig indoors now that it’s awake?

It’s not ideal to grow your fig as a houseplant. You’ll get lanky, weak growth. But if it’s too cold outside, grow it indoors—and then give it conditions to keep it dormant all winter next year.

Do fig trees need light to wake up?

Nope! As Holly’s predicament, in Example 1 shows. Light is involved in dormancy…but heat is the thing to pay the most attention to when you want to keep your fig tree dormant.

Do figs lose their leaves over the winter?

In cold climates fig trees drop their leaves and go dormant for the winter. This is great for cold-climate gardeners because it gives us lots of ways to safely store fig trees in a protected space. (In tropical climates they can grow all year long…not a situation that I have here in my USDA Zone 5!)

How do I get my fig to go dormant?

Shorter days and cold temperatures cause your fig to go dormant. Leave your potted fig outdoors through the first fall frosts to help it go dormant. If you take your fig indoors before it’s dormant, it might not go dormant.