Fig Cordons in Cold Climates: Craig Boyer’s Japanese Espalier Trials

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Craig Boyer of Coastal Fig Company joins me to talk about a fig-growing system with great potential for cold climates: fig cordons grown low to the ground inside high tunnels, with a second layer of protection using low tunnels or row covers.

Craig explains how he’s using low cordons for commercial fig production in Pennsylvania. Instead of digging and burying fig trees each fall—or instead of heating the greenhouses—Craig trains horizontal cordons close to the soil, then holds in heat with covers.

In this episode we discuss:

• how the fig cordon system works 
• combining high tunnels and low tunnels for passive winter protection 
• getting fig bud break and fruit production dramatically earlier 
• pruning and spacing strategies for commercial production 
• leaf pruning and airflow management 
• “the row cover dance” and avoiding heat damage 
• fig varieties that performed best in Craig’s trials 
• using passive solar heat instead of paying heating bills 

Craig also shares how support from the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program helped make the project possible (see below).

Learn more about Craig’s project here: Coastal Fig Company project profile

About Craig’s work with cordon figs:
This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, through the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under subaward number FNE22-003-AWD00000495.