Is my fig tree dead?

[Extensionrebellion]

I have a very small fig tree, that has been in a pot. A few weeks ago I planted it in the ground as I'm hoping to espalier it against my wall. However it has still no leaves. Is it too early or has the cold weather killed it?

Fruit buds rather than leaf buds, I take it you mean? Advice is usually anything larger than pea sized. But like you I don’t.

Sorry, yes fruit buds.

I probably need to do a hard prune to both bring them down to reachable height and tame them but keep wibbling. And then wouldn't get any figs for a while unless I did one at a time.

I'd get a load of cuttings though ....

I don’t do more than one or two main branches a year.

Fig branches are amazingly flexible. I can grab the base of a branch, then slowly walk backwards while walking my hands up the branch so it bends down in an arc, until eventually I can reach the figs at the top. Need big pockets for the figs as the other hand is still hanging on to the branch.

For those that don’t know - when a fig is ripe, its neck goes soft and the fig hangs straight down instead of sticking out from the branch.