How and Why to Prune Fig Trees 

How do I get bigger figs? Thin themike pears?

+Dana Jumper Figs are not cow resistant. Good information. Thanks for watching.

Without knowing the exact method of pruning, the past 3 years, we've cut our fig tree way down from 8 ft to4 ft. In the spring, it always grows back even taller and we have an overabundance of figs each ear

I'm in Knoxville Tennessee. Last year we had a freeze that took all my leaves and all my little figlets. I thought it had died except my new little growth tips were still green so after I waited and waited and it didn't come back I thought well I'm going to prune half of it and see which side does better. After I pruned it it still took a while but it started to grow. That turned into a recovery year for the tree. The year following that, this year, I am harvesting so many figs. I only took off a foot or less and I stuck them in some dirt and half of them rooted. The side that I pruned had probably three times as many figs on it as the side that I didn't prune. I have picked 4 gallons of figs that are now in the freezer waiting until I make jam and I have 2 gallons in the dehydrator as of this morning to make fig Newtons with. Wherever I made my cut it was right above one of the little nodes and it was cut on a slope. That was left on the tree. The piece that I trimmed off I tried to find a spot where two of the nodes were closer together I scraped the bark a little bit around that branch I cut it off on a slope right below the lower node and stuck it in dirt. I made sure the soil stayed down and I sprayed the leaves to help the plant absorb moisture while it didn't have any roots. I give my rooted cuttings away. This year I kept two to add to my garden.

Wow

Great information. Thanks

Yes, this is what I have been told, too. Knce the tree is nicely shaped, can pruning be done after the crop is harvested instead of late winter? I am on the Kitsap peninsula.

+Nathan Eban I always like to get rid of branches that I'm not keeping as soon as possible so it doesn't waste energy, but I'm not in an Australian summer so I might be more cautious. Don't remove more than a third of tree and you should be fine.

Cool, thanks for the advice Jim!

You just answered your own question

Holy crap. Is your back yard the size of a football field?!

I too have a MASSIVE fig tree! I love “her” but she is sooooo big. I’ve tried to control it with pruning, she came back with a vengeance. I need her to stop trying to take over the world.

@@jlazzz68 Same here! I cut mine pretty much in half last year, and this year it grew straight up and spread its "wings" everywhere!

I'm in the same boat! I thought I had trimmed it to within an inch of its life last year, but it got taller and fatter this year.

@@lianshoemake6009 my landscaper cut it back a couple of yrs ago and it struggled to come.back to where I know it cane be. I gave it fish fertilizer 2 yrs ago and it has tripled from 2019 to now. It's almost scary how big it has gotten. I was scared to prune it. But I may take some pieces down this year.

Lack of water and heat. Where I live it is 100°+ for months on end. They go into survival mode. If the fruit is dry inside, lack of water.

+Brian Kingsbury Unfortunately they mature at different rates for about 6 weeks

I would also like toe know

I live in Nice and just cutting my huge fig tree back , had a huge main branch cut it self in two , if the fig tree is so large you cant get to the figs i would cut it back so you can get to them ,

Conor Hope A bigger tree may have more fruit but a well pruned tree will have superior fruit. They don't have to be pruned, but it allows better light and air penetration into the plant. Also the bigger the plant and greater number of fruit could lead to more drought stress potential.

Conor Hope .

If you notice, in nature a plant, tree or flower looks rather inferior.

The logic is, why does grape vines are prunes every year? Because it produces more fruits, better fruits and most fruits trees needs to be well taken care of. If you don't, you'll get more brunches and leaves. If you lived in a four seasons climate, then your growing season is shorter, it will just grow leaves and not fruits. My fig tree was about 2 yrs. old and I pruned it last year and it was way healthier and yielded bigger fruits the next summer.

I live in a huge b alley of farms & ranches ect. Every single tree, Bush, vine whatever is pruned accordingly. This gives greater yield and better crop. Trust me the farmer isn't interested in allowing the trees whatever naturally occurs, he or she is in the business of getting abundant harvest since he has to pay for water, property taxes, Mortgage, association fee, labor costs etc etc. My one fig tree took down the fence, a 110 feet wood fence. We had to fork out $7k to put in a new one this April. I was injured in 2020 and it just grew taller, wider, fatter and unruly. My poor older neighbor had to prop up the fence several times. I also propagate the cutting and give away.

i live in Australia in the central tablelands in nsw where we can get to -15 deg C and we have big trees that have been around for 40 years with no problems they are next to the house however

I would, if you need to get it under control.

You will forfeit some of the crop, but the remaining fruit may actually be superior.

@@JimPutnam Thanks for your quick reply! I did some pruning yesterday because it desperately needed shaping--hopefully not too early as we sometimes get warm spells in January (I'm in Northern California). Will hope for the best!

It wouldn't hurt to take a rouge branch off

Thanks Jim.

The wood from from 2018 is the only thing that will fruit in 2018. Same years growth.

Thanks

I wished he would answer most of these questions, mine is 30+ yrs and bad suckers coming up under the ground, im going to cut them all off at trunk and all branches around it in half, don't know what it will do but it is so over grown, im in Australia, vic.

Teresa Vest (

Hello, i also bought a house with a huge fig tree that has not been taken care of for about 20 years. Fruit yield is small, but leaves are big. How much trimming is to much..the tree is easily over 20 ft tall and wide.

You gotta get ruthless and prepare for a season of no fruit. Neatly prune it back to the structure you want . It will regrow

Yes, they are self fruiting. If you are nervous about pruning just cut it halfway back in the late winter. That should be plenty to get it branching from lower in the plant.

@@JimPutnam thanks, Jim! Just to make sure I understand, the only branching at all, and it isnt much, is at the very top, and you think it would be okay to cut it back in half where there is just the one main stem that I would be chopping back?

I don't think you would kill it, but it would probably prefer to be cut after winter.

Thank you