Most reports I read indicated this was the worst winter in 30-50 years for the Northeast and Midatlantic. Most of these "old" figs are probably that less than that age.

In my opinion, the issue causing so much dieback was the length of below freezing temps combined with wind. The ground was so frozen that plants couldn't get any water to the stems/buds to prevent complete dessication and death.

I saw this a lot with evergreen broadleaf ornamentals (Holly, Euonymous, Laurel), same should apply to plant stems that are pushing it in these climates (figs, poms, crape myrtle, southern magnolia).

Once in 10-20 years seems to be about right. We had a cold one about ten years ago that killed my small figs to the ground. Every plant has a different weakness in cold. For some its the lowest low that destroys cell walls when freezing happens. For figs in the mid-atlantic its the duration of the cold and wind that is the problem. I watched my figs slowly fade over the winter, each big cold windy spell making them a bit worse than the previous one.

After the dieback ten years ago I covered my figs completely for the next five years. I had huge tents of aluminum bubble wrap over them. That works great but its a lot of work and at some point I stopped doing it.

Scott

I know in Michigan, they said it was about 20 years ago that they saw this kind of damage...so I guess you could say that you might have some time before we get damage like this again.