I have heard people make mention this, but has anyone ever done it?  What kind of results did you get? How deep do you make the cut(the trunk is about 1-1.5 inches thick), I would guess about 1/16" or enough to go through the outer bark layers. And, would you make the cut just the width of the leaf scar?

I have a Peter's Honey which is ~3.5 yrs old. I bought it as a thick whip which was about 3' tall at a local nursery, it was a Monrovia plant. It was nice because it had some figs on it already, one of which was ripe so I got to taste it and was sold. I topped it at around 30" during it's first dormancy and repotted it to a 12 gal pot. The following spring I trained out four branches relatively equally spaced radially, but they are all in the upper 1/4 of the main trunk.

Last year I thought I let it over crop, it had many double figs. Some figs were very good quality, most were not, this was at least partly due to poor timing of a lot of rain. The over-all growth of the tree I didn't think was that great, most of the branches only grew about 4-5 inches. They were nearly covered with figs though.
This winter when repotting trees and such, I removed the stake I had in the PH pot for support because I figured it wouldn't need it anymore. The tunk was still a bit unstable. So I replaced the stake and I chalked that up to the suspected over-cropping and the tree didn't have good root or top growth because all those figs.  Fast forward to now, the tree is in the same pot and getting the  same fertilizer regimen as all my other trees which are solidly anchored. It is still not the most stable tree. I removed all the 2nd  of the double figs this year and only allowed 3-4 figs per branch, hoping for a bit more vegetative growth during the fruiting stages. It's the same as last year so far, very healthy looking growth in the spring, slow but steady. After about 5 leaves per branch and internode lengths of 3/4-1", no more vegetative growth, just growing the figs.

So, I guess at the moment I'm thinking..if the tree is a slow but consistent grower, which is reliable for the amount of figs it produces per branch. I need more branches(I really should call them a spur given their length), which the tree it is not eager to put out. Thus if I can make the cuts and add 3 more braches in the middle third of the tree, I should be good.
The tree does put out branches at and just above soil level, there are 3 now but they all are thin little weaklings so far. One of them has been there since I bought the tree, it has hardly grown and is still thinner than a pencil. That branch had a couple worthless figs on it last year, none this year. I'm cutting all those little ones off this winter. For now, I guess I'm leaving them to harvest a bit of sun energy.

So, do you think this sounds like a good idea? In case you were wondering.. the soil, it's the same as all the other trees also. We shall see at the end of the season how solidly anchored the tree is. I don't think there are grubs in the soil. The leaves never wilt or look stressed. The tree just grows slow, and I really thought that by limiting the crop this year it would increase the growth.

Oh, I should also ask, when does a person make these cuts? I would think in the early spring not long after bud break. You never know where new shoots will appear on the main trunk before/during bud break.

I've never heard of it but would be interested in knowing if it works as well!

Good luck Calvin.

See my post regarding a regarding sweating trees in a clear garbage bag. This will induce tremendous bud break. I'm doing it now with some persimmon that were taking a while to come out of dormancy.

I do it. Works like a charm. When the tree is actively growing, I make a cut (not sure of exact depth; I cut deep enough that the cut bleeds) just above the node. It is only approximately the width of the node, maybe a little wider. Not an exact science. I just cut wherever I want a branch. It helped turn a lot of palm-tree-looking figs into ones that are more bushy.

I tried it with a persimmon and it worked well but when I tried it with an asian pear it didn't work.  I've never tried it with figs.  Last winter I topped the figs that had been whips at around 15-20 inches and generally have gotten a nice array of branches at the height I want.

Just curious, it sounds like you are talking about notching, am I correct? There was a thread where Ascpete answered my question about notching...

It sounds like your tree needs fertilizer to boost up its growth.  This is an example of a whip that was pruned to 18 inches while dormant.  The 3 branches sprouted after it was pruned.  I know this is not the same as notching, but it gives an example of what pruning will do.

   

For me, it is not really notching, so much as wiggling the blade a bit in the cut, to pry it open a little.

Thanks guys.

Rafaelissimmo, yes you are correct, it's called notching. I didn't know what it was called, thank you, now I can research it more.

Chapman, thanks for your input and added pictures. I actually did cut the top off of the tree a couple years ago, come to think of it, it was the first tree I cut the top of. It is the only one to respond like it did. I have tried giving it extra feedings, it doesn't seem to make any changes.

Steve, I now top my trees shorter than I did when I first started, probably closer the height you stated. I'm not sure if it's due the varieties or trunk height, but the shorter ones are much more aggressive growers with nice scaffolds.

jtp, after Rafaelissimmo gave me the name I was able to search it and found the old threads in which you were learning this. I'm glad to hear it works well. You said you do this during active growth. Do you mean during a flush of growth or just when the tree isn't dormant? Basically, my tree isn't putting any new growth on at the moment, it's just growing figs.

One of the articles I found said it should be done just before bud break for the best results, jtp has had good results with notching during active growth. Anyone have experience with notching a tree that presently has a fruit load? Will it cause the figs to drop, or is it not really a big deal?

Hi cis4elk,
I don't notch, but I prune.
Do you still have space ?
I would make a new tree ... with airlayer or through cuttings ...
I don't know PH, but some cultivars are slow to grow and the only way to go faster is to have more than one tree - the other way i to wait for the years to pass by :( ... I have 8 trees of my unknown ufti strain ...

Calvin,
Notching works on figs, but pruning and pinching will work better. You can notch at any time in the growing season, but its rarely needed if the tree is pruned to remove apical dominance and the unwanted buds are then removed while they are still small. Simply remove a thin sliver of the bark and cambium above the leaf node to interrupt the flow of auxins. The attached pic is for notching apple trees.
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<edit> BTW, The sucker or lowest growing shoot should be trained as the new main trunk (the existing main can be air layered). They will usually grow much faster than the existing main and scaffold due to the uninterrupted transfer of nutrients in the new main trunk (fewer, longer inter nodes and no pruning heading cuts). IMO and from experience, training the new shoot as the main trunk will result in a healthier more prolific tree.