How to prune figs in a cool climate for first (breba) crop fig production 

This is a fantastic video. I've never seen it explained so clearly. Great work!

I wish all the videos I researched on RU-vid had this kind of instructions. Well done.

I followed your instructions last year and got my best crop ever. There's a lot of 'fig pruning' videos listed above yours when I searched, but this one truly gives the best advice.

Real life hands-on experience speaking. I watch this video early winter every year before starting pruning. Thank you for all that I've learned and will continue to learn from you.

Bob gets to choose which branches to keep, and the rest of Canada has to pray our figs don't die over winter lol Thanks for this great video!

I´ve seen dozens of fig prunning videos but this is the best one. My grandpa had some figs and now i have 2 on my garden. He´s gonna eat some great figs from heaven. Thank you for all this great info! Much love from Brasil.

Thank you very much! very clear and to the point video. I purchased a house with some land in Italy with fig trees all over the place, neglected for 50 years. One tree has a 60cm diameter and is all over the place but your method should still work. I will get to it tomorrow. Thanks again.

Eindelijk iemand die het snoeien van vijgen eenvoudig en praktisch kan voorstellen!

Hands down the best explanation for pruning Desert King. I'll adapt that to wintering mine indoors.

This is an excellent guide and demonstration of pruning for a breba crop. Our climate in the UK is pretty similar and so it's quite difficult to get main crop figs to develop here, so this is how I will be training my trees. Thank you for this very detailed guide.

Excellent video, you explane it all so well, It brings back for me some wonderful memories of when I was a young boy in Tenerife we had a very large( Breba fig tree) near the house and even had a small treehouse half way up it. It was enormous and totally left to its own devices never prune it and never really looked after it, there was no need, the climate there is so good it use to give us 2 crops a year, one early with very large figs and fewer in number and a heavy crop later it never failed to ripen them all with flavour to die for . I have been in the UK for the last 45 years and here it is very difficult to get them to ripen so I am going to follow your pruning system and hope I will do better. Thank you for your excellent pruning guide and stay safe.

Never thought of pruning back that way! So very helpful and thank you so much! I live on Vancouver Island so this is 100% relevant.

Very, very well explained and made me learn how to prune my fig trees - I wish I watched this video years ago. Thank you very much!

By far the best explained pruning technique on RU-vid. Thank you very much indeed.

Thank you Bob - really well explained. We have 3 newish fig trees in our garden in Norfolk UK and this has helped me realise that we need to create a structure not far off the ground. We have been distracted by all the fruit we are seeing.

This video is great - thank you. Please never delete it

Finally, a post that addresses fig growing in coastal PNW and gives a clear, comprehensive overview. I'm not able to physically prune my 16 year old overgrown fig. I think it's a Desert King. It does have a breba crop. It was damaged to the ground by cold several years back and came back strong. Last year it was pruned back to the main boughs, but now it's over 12 feet tall again. I've struggled to understand what to prune and how to recognize the age of branches.

Thank you! This video is exactly what I was looking for. We recently purchased a house in Central Saanich and were ooking for tips how to keep it looking great and producing. Now my Sunday afternoon is set up!

One of the very best videos of how to prune figs! Thank you!

We need to see that fig in full production ❤

I am currently in year 3 of building the structure. I just watched this video for the third time and I'm off to prune right away!

I'm so glad to have found someone that could help my poor expertise when it comes to fig trees.. My fig tree had reached 25 feet in height. Although it produced wonderfully, there was no way for me to get to the figs because the birds always manage to get them first. Last year I decided to prune it and I mean, really......... prune it.. Well, this year I had no fruit and now I know why.. I need to prune it again this year, I love figs and I'll make sure to do it the right way... Thank you for your informative well done video...

Hi Bob, thank you for the nice and clean information on fig tree. 😊

Probably the most helpful video out there for fig pruning. Thank you.

Thank you for showing, this is a much needed video. I am in Vancouver and will start pruning the same way.

Thank you so much ...... We have our first house with an existing fig tree so your video helped us enormously! Very clear for those of us who are first time fig tree Owners.

Brilliant tutorial on fig pruning. Excellent guide for the UK as well as BC. Will recommend this to all my clients so they can understand what we are trying to achieve.

Thanks for making this helpful video Bob!

Bob you are a national treasure!

This video was fun to watch and easy to follow - start to finish. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

Thank you so much Bob! You are the first person who made me clearly understand the breba fig crop vs the main fig crop, and more importantly created a great training system that can produce consistent breba crop. All I have to do now is try to figure out a way (other than fig trees in pots) to go through the much tougher winter in Montreal area in order be able to keep the one year old branches alive... Thank you once again!

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Now, I know about the importance of the permanent structure.

Best video for pruning fig tree!!!!! Thanks!

The most helpful video on pruning fig trees. Thank you.

Thank you--the demo and explanations are so helpful!

I live in a London suburb and this works for me. Excellent advice, thanks for sharing.

Your video is the best out there. Very useful. appreciated deeply for your information. Thank you Bob.

This is the best video I have seen on fig pruning. Thanks and God bless

Incredible video! Well done! One of the best pruning videos I have seen. Thank you very much!!

Fascinating. Thank you. I am trying to build a couple of fig tree structures in my little orchard.

Came to via Charles Dowding. He refenced you in his latest video. We live in Victoria. Small world and we have a fig tree. Useful information, subscribed Cheers

Thanks for the clear explanation!!! After looking at a lot of video' I' m glad to find this Canadian lesson.

Great video, explains what to do very clearly. Very helpful!

I get it, it is similar to spur pruning for grape vines. Great explanation and demonstration.

Thanks so much from Crescent City, CA!

Excellent and straightforward,thank you sir 👍

Thanks Bob, this gives me a good idea what to do with my Fig tree.

Thanks for the explanation, very clear, we have a lot of work to do.

Well explained and very useful tips :) thanks Bob....

Thank you for making sense! Am "starting over" with a new pair of trees and the timing is perfect as they are about a foot tall and ready for a bigger pot. They will be indoors for the winter, so will have an early start in the spring in my zone 4B.

Thanks for the instruction. Really helpful!

Finally, just what i needed to know. Thanks!

Wonderful video... I now feel like an expert! Thanks very much Sir :-) I will now go out and redesign my wild and hitherto unpruned fig tree with more confidence!

Just got my first fig yesterday. in Cheshire UK not the warmest county in UK.i have looked at loads of vids but this one by far the best,I will be endeavouring to replicate a tree exactly like this,thankyou.now for my patience.

There are a lot of fig pruning videos out there, but almost none about "building" a fig tree. I saw off my five year old fig tree last winter and now I Have about 10 branches. The coming winter I will select 3-4 branches out of that then. Maybe I will grow different varieties on the same tree. Thanks for the great video!

Best video out there on this topic.. i will adopt this approach from now on..

Really helpful. A thank you from Poland :)

thank you for the ideas on pruning the fig.

Love this vid Bob!

Thanks for this - you made it easy to understand - greatly appreciated.

Very helpful and clear information , thank you .

The best video seen and the best tips and advise, live in Surrey, BC, don’t want tall tree either, thank you

you have answered all of my questions . Great video , thanks

Excellent video. Thank you. You covered all of the important points on how to prune to develop and maintain a fig tree for fig production in a northern climate. You even recommended the best fig variety, Desert King, for northern climates. 400 figs from that one tree?! Maybe you should do a video on what you do with all of your desert king figs!

indeed an excellent video, also for our climate in the Netherlands

Only a BC fig need would understand, but this is just about the best video on YT ever.

Thanks for sharing! Really really appreciated!

Extremely helpful video Thank you!

Thank you very much Ladysmith.

Thanks for posting! We may start training my mom's figs this way. They're established, but we can still restrict them with this system.

Thank you very much for the great instructional video!

Thanks for this. I'm just starting; figs planted in pots this year (lower mainland).

Thanks for such a good explanation.

This is such a helpful video, thank you so much from Woodend Victoria(Australia)

This is very informative. One of the 'rules' of pruning generally is to never leave stubs! So fig trees are completely different- we want that stub growth. Good to know. Thank you.

Great video. Very informative!

sooo helpful mate, cheers. was confusing the hell out of me, reading about it. much better to be shown

This was the most interesting info on how to prune a fig tree. I learned a lot ,and feel confident on pruning my tree in the future. I think your tree looks healthy and well kept,awesome job!. Thank you for sharing 🌳👍😊

Great information and presentation, thanks!

Very informative and helpful; Thank You

Very well explained. I especially like the chosen height for fruit bearing. It's not too high or too low. On a separate note, I'm really interested in knowing more information about that espalier citrus behind Bob against the wall. I imagine the dark wall serves as a heat sink for it and enables the tree to produce fruit. I'd love to see Bob tell us more about it.

Thank you! Just what I was looking for

Great video, great advice. Thanks

Thank you, an excellent presentation. I’m going out to prune right now. Tsawwassen.

Great information! Thank you!

Excellent video, thank you! I live in Nanaimo so this was incredibly helpful, I was wondering why I only got one harvest when there were so many immature figs still on the tree! I moved into a new home with a HUGE fig tree (as tall as my house) and it needs some serious TLC. Would love to see you make more videos that apply to our local climate.

Thank you sharing your knowledge.

Great pruning info, ta for sharing .

Great overall video. Thanks

Very helpful, thank you so much 😊

Just chopped my 4 new-planted fig trees down to 20cm. thanks!

After seeing your tree, I've got to be honest - I really like the way my trees growing now and even if it results in fewer figs I think I'm going to leave it alone, as everything spaced out pretty well as it is! Cheers

I have never hacked my beautiful fig and she always produces plenty of figs....and look gorgeous in her natural state

Great video and info. Thanks

Thanks, heading out today to prune mine.

That was the info i needed. Thanks

GREAT VIDEO!! Thank you.

Thank you! I learned a lot.

Thank you....well explained. I am doing it!.

I have a desert king in Phoenix, and this is applicable to that as well, although I got a great main crop this year into the winter before leaf drop.