I have 3 fig cuttings from last year, they are about 12 inches tall. They dropped their leaves in the fall and I wintered them in the garage. I watered them about once a month in the winter. I just looked at them today and noticed there were some new leave tips at a the very top, which have dried out and the stem is dried out also, Should I water and trim off the dried out stem. Also when is a good time to put the pots outside. I don't plan on planting them in the ground but want to keep in pots for awhile. Any suggestions or advice is appreciated.

Most of a plant's energy reserves is stored in the form of starch in root pith, but no matter how you slice it, some of the roots are going to come off at some point if your plan is to root prune. I think there is an advantage in repotting after leaves drop ion fall as opposed to doing it in early spring - because the roots can still do a LOT of growing after leaves drop. Fortunately, the energy required to open leaf and flower buds in spring is already present in the form of starch reserves at the base of each bud. You can see evidence of this fact when you cut apple, cherry, pussy willow twigs in the middle of winter and 'force' them to bloom and leaf out in a vase of water. Al

Sorry but edible figs - Ficus carica - are fully deciduous :-) Other types of figs are not. Some evergreen figs grown as houseplants do indeed drop their leaves at the slightest hint of disturbance or stress: too hot, too cold, turning the plant in its pot, moving it from location to location and from indoors to out. But as I stated, if given the proper care and the conditions it prefers,it will releaf almost immediately. Just an FYI, but deciduous plants generally make very poor houseplants - they need a period of dormancy that typically coincides with winter. That is why they drop leaves. Evergreen houseplants are often from tropical or subtropical climates, need consistent warmth and have no requirement for a dormant period.

Thanks a lot but no Bob , it and a few others did not wake up sadly including my 2 UcDavis black madeira's still in their containers in yard. The madeira's i treasure the most for its flavor on palate and still hold out hope as i cannot replace them being UcDavis no longer has the scion program along with one of them i finally was able to have it show FMV symptom free after constant propagating from mother tree i have had since 2008. It is shown above. Noire de Barbentane just started growing from soil line and Hardy Chicago started sprouting from its limbs. The 3 year old Madeira that looked fmv free of course only a test would tell for sure from last season.It was a lot of propagating to get to that point with Madeira and heart breaking. Still i look each day at it after cutting it back for a node to awaken even sprayed some old harpin on it had laying around. Jolly Tiger is totally lost i originally bought from now closed nursery that first brought it out , it was so expensive back then i had called and talked to the owner on phone about it but only grew it for the beauty of its leaves as the taste was not good to a me so no big a deal. Spring started ok but turned cold un like all other years growing the figs. Martin