I have been trying to get my figs into a regular maintenance pattern at a low reachable height. It has proven more difficult than I thought. I am growing Desert King. I like the figs and I ate 3 yesterday. The two best sources I've seen are Rick Shory's blog, and Bob Duncan's You Tube about figs. They show how to maintain them at a height, but I haven't gotten into a pattern where the tree will stay there. They talk about pruning as if it's once a year.
I pruned in the fall, but I had to prune again just now, including chopping large trunks back. My branches had grown to 12 feet already. I think I'm going to have to chop them twice a year, until they stay in a pattern where they max out at say, 7 feet. If I left them at 12 feet, they would grow the tiny figs, and then next year, the figs would be at 18 feet or so. I am not a tall man, but I don't know anyone that tall. Pruning twice a year is my new theory. We'll see how that works. I'm pretty sure once I get it into the right regular range, I can keep it there.
John S
PDX OR
John, my bet is that your fig has far too big a root system to not grow bonkers. I've been doing a combo of the technique in the Rick S. blog, and following some guidelines Jeff V. shared with me, and still they grow like crazy. I don't think we will get them to limit their height. Maybe if we allowed a greater density of trunks, the growth drive could be distributed, but the tradeoffs don't look good to me.
I like this discussion. I've got 2 Violette de Bordeaux right next to each other, which allows me to be freer on experimenting with pruning technique and timing with lower stakes because I have the other to fall back on. Having failed to remove the main crop figs that didn't ripen last year, I removed all of them from one to prevent them from molding. On the other I just pruned off all of the wood tha that figs still attached. That really reduced the breba crop, but now that tree is quite bushed out and I expect next year to get plenty of brebas within reach.
at my old place is a 20+ year Violette de Bordeaux planted right next to the house and in the corner. It's gotten huge, drops figs on the roof, and is an obstacle to getting around the house. I have a cutting grown tree of it in a better location, so I plan to murder the original. Chop it down and poison the stump. As far as I'm concerned that same tree is alive 20 feet away from the corner in a better location and I'm pruning out this location.
My experience and recommendation for growing figs (in the PNW) is growing them as ‘a clump,’ that’s multiple ‘trunks’ forming from the roots, perhaps a dozen or so growing up.. Not in a ‘tree form.’
Pruning for size allows you to dormant/ winter prune by removing the largest, tallest ‘ground shoots,’ AKA, limbs or trunks. Every year they send up new shoots from the ground/ base. Leave these shoots for future production, and cleanly saw as close to the ground as possible the largest, tallest ‘trunks.’
They heal over without damage, allow sunlight to the lower ‘shoots,’ lower the production height of the ‘clump’ (tree), and balance the energy storage within the root system. I had seven figs of two main varieties, Desert King being by far the most vigorous.. as well as caring for several others I’d planted for relatives - and this method of pruning worked well.
Leave 3 or 4 new (baby) shoots to develop each year, with varying aged ‘replacement shoots’ before them, leading to your largest shoots. With these layers of differing heights, you may also bring them down even shorter by removing the ‘next tier’ of shoots below the largest ..and so on..
I’d taken some pride over time in ‘mastering’ this technique.. Took years of observation and experience, but worked fantastic ~
Thanks Viron.
I'm still trying to get a handle on the process. This year, I hadn't been paying that much attention and I was shocked at how much they grew, so I chopped them in August. I got to harvest a few figs while I got everything below about 8 feet. I think I'm going to try to watch them more carefully and keep them fairly low, so I will be able to harvest the figs. Probably going with a couple or even three prunings until I can get it settled down.
John S
PDX OR
A less vigorous variety can help. I have a 24 year old Petite negri, which has never been taller than about eight feet tall, with minimal pruning. It did get moved roughly eight years ago. That variety has among the best tasting figs, but not reliable. Often, they ripen in October and get moldy in the rain. I'm betting on the warming climate patterns to benefit this variety via earlier ripening.
Similarly, Brunswick also grows more as very large bush, than a tree. It's not too difficult to keep it under about ten feet tall, but it is quite wide spreading. It's like a huge old lilac bush in shape. Huge figs, very sweet, delicious, but same issues as Petite negri.
I have a variety called Sicilian White that stays under six or seven feet tall with almost no pruning. It makes a modest crop of green-skin figs. It may lack vigor due to proximity to a huge Linden tree.
I lopped my original Hardy Chicago back to about seven feet tall. The next year it grew long branches, but no figs. I cut those new branches back to about a foot long. Those did make figs. After that, it was a matter of continuing to prune the new branches back to a few buds.
I prune all of my other fig trees back to about seven feet tall each winter. I can't manage them taller than that.
One thing that might help somewhat is to snap off growth tips when new growth has about six leaves. That stops auxin production in the tip, with the result that fig production is stimulated - earlier formation. Branch growth sometimes ceases then, but often resumes from leaf axils with lower branching. I snap those tips off after formation of a few more leaves. By that time, I want photosynthetic energy from the leaves to go into figs, not new tip growth. If I stay on top of it, it helps restrict top growth somewhat too.
If my, maybe ten varieties, the Petite negri and Sicilian White are the most compact growing.
If you like to graft, it might be a good experiment to graft a vigorous variety such as Lattarula onto a nonvigorous variety like Petite negri, to see if the dwarfing effect influences the scion. I did that but deer and voles destroyed those trees at a young age. Petite negri is somewhat challenging to start from cuttings. I've done it. Air layering is more successful.
My fig trees get no watering, all summer long, unless there is run-off from other plants. The run-off water does seem to stimulate more growth.
I thought I'd add a little about root pruning. It's an ancient, established method to restrict top growth. Some fig growers that use containers, take them out of the containers and cut the roots back significantly, to check growth.
To illustrate a fig tree's roots, here is a fig tree that I dug up and moved a number of years ago (Brunswick). It was about ten years old at the time.
The roots weren't all that deep. Maybe 18 inches to 2 feet, but mostly spreading. I could see digging a narrow trench around a fig tree, and slicing downward, with a sharp shovel. That would cut a lot of lateral roots.
After that tree was replanted, it settled in over the winter. It survived and produced new growth despite the severity of its move. Over the next few years, most of the original top died and vigorous new shoots from ground level took over. It continues to be productive and healthy.
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