A common technique for growers of bonsai is to remove all the leaves from a tree, after the initial first flush of growth, to "force" the trees to push out new, smaller leaves and to encourage dormant buds to sprout on older wood.  This technique serves two purposes: i.e. the new leaves are much reduced in size...better for bonsai, ...and to force the tree to make more branches, without increasing the overall size of canopy...also good for bonsai.  Bonsai growers call this, "ramification".

Has anyone deliberately stripped a fig tree of all leaves to force the tree into producing more, new, leaves and sprouting more branches from dormant nodes?  Pinching out the terminal buds has a very limited effect on back-budding on older wood, and seems to force new branches to sprout only from the area right below the pinched-out buds.  Thus, the canopy is always expanding outwards.  Other than hard-pruning, there seems little that works to force dormant buds to sprout from older wood.  I tried the bud-notching technique, but it didn't work.

If I were to guess, this leaf-stripping technique might be better for long season growers, on West-Coast USA. 

Just curious.  Just asking.

Frank




EDIT:

Other than using the pinching techniques for terminal buds, there has been very little written about how to INCREASE fig production.  It seems that we all just sit around and wait for the trees to set fruit, and then wait for the figs to ripen.  Very passive.  I raised the question to see if there are techniques that we could employ to actively increase fig production.

Conclusion:  The amount of  figs a tree will potentially produce depends solely on the number of leaves, and the length of the ripening season.  The more leaves, the more figs.  We need to change this limiting factor, if possible.

I want more figs!

Conclusion, you need to grow your trees for a longer period, they will get bigger and you will have more figs

Frank I wanted more figs also... I now have more trees......

i had removed leafs before late in the season (around September) to help ripening existing fruit by getting more sun exposure and to direct all tree's  energy into remaining fruits
this advice was given to me by navid whom is an expert on his own rights

Thanks for the suggestions.

I can't extend my growing season...warm weather begins and ends at a certain point, and that factor alone determines what ripens, and when.  The only thing I could do is choose varieties that ripen at different times.  However, that's not the solution I seek.

Increasing the number of trees that you grow increases your harvest, but not the fig production on each individual tree.

Removing the leaves, late in the season, might hasten the ripening of the main crop...but does little to increase production.  There is a video on You-Tube that shows this technique, and it is posted on this forum.

My question still stands:  Are there a techniques that we can use to increase fig production on each individual tree?

Frank

I routinely remove the lower leaves off of my shorter trees.  I do this for a couple of reasons.  One, it is easier to get water to the base of the tree without the leaves deflecting the water away.  Second, there are fewer places for the damn grasshoppers to hide in the trees.  Third, less transpiration during the hottest months.

I have not necessarily noticed more fruit production after removing some of the foliage.  There does, however, seem to be huge flush of growth within 2-4 weeks of removing leaves.  I have always removed the leaves where it meets the leaf stalk and not where the leaf stalk meets the limb.  Dan once eluded to the idea that doing so encourages root growth.  I do not know if this is what is happening or not.

~james

I have a Vista fig which defoliated naturally due to drought stress and a heat wave. I was out of town for 5 days in June, and the container Vista fig did not get watered enough (was barely watered by 1 day by a friend).

Anyway, all the leaves dried up and dropped and it went into hibernation state for about 1-2 weeks. It then started to flush big healthy leaves 2-3 weeks after the stressed leaves dropped. The tree had a Breba crop on it too, I decided to remove the figs to conserve energy (was scared it got to stressed from the drought period).

The Vista Fig is in a 5 gal SWC container. I am planning to repot it into a 10-20 gal fabric container.
6/2/12, before stress


7/22/12, after stressed leaves dropped. With new flush of leaves.

Defoliation due to heat stress was a common occurrence when I was growing trees in containers in Houston.  Some would stay in a quasi-quiet state with just a green tip for most of August.  Last year, in Austin, most of my trees did not grow at all for the better part of July and all of August.  They held on to a few leaves, but otherwise were not active.

James,

Its really nice that the figs are drought resistant like this. Have you tried fabric containers? It may be the root zone temperature, perhaps it triggers stalled growth when its to high.

Thanks for the observations, and additional comments.

Now, on the defoliated trees, in addition to a new set of leaves, did you notice if new branchlets also sprouted along portions of the  older wood?

Frank

The roots do stop working efficiently when the temps in the containers get above ~80F.  I am growing in the ground now, so I try to mulch heavily enough to keep the root zone cool.  Before I was growing in AirPots.  The most effective way I have found of keeping the container cool is to share it.  Also, if you can work out a pot in pot situation and fill in the gap with mulch it keeps the inside container cooler.

Frank, No branching on older wood, but the new growth on many of the trees have branched out.

James...

Thanks.  I think my original questions will need testing.  I will try to do this "defoliation thing" on one of my trees next Spring and see what happens.

Thanks for all the input from forum members.

Frank

Fig trees will drop there leaves under stress and its my opinion but i have
have no proof that there useing energy to put them back if grower removes them at any time .

On another note.

If i want to have dormant nodes awaken back further on a branch in dormant season i cut that particular branch back and some awaken and grow quickly in spring and then select which ones to keep for they will be the new fruiting branches for season to come.

As those new branches mentioned in above paragraph grow during spring one can let it grow some and nip the end and have push out multiple shoots at the cut .
Done early enough you will have more fruiting branches , done to the extreme fruit will be smaller and more stress to tree grown in a container because of limited root system that can be had.

Thanks Martin....more clues to better growing techniques.

Interesting information about the timing of the pinching of buds.


I think you are probably right.  Removing leaves is stressful for the trees, but I only asked thinking that the benefits might outweigh the risks if the trees will increase fruit production.

I've been thinking about this whole thread, and if there were specialized growing techniques to increase fig production, I would think that the commercial fig growers would be using them.  Sooner or later, we would have found out about these techniques...but nothing, so far.

Anyway, thanks all for your opinions, comments, photos...

Frank

I'll loan you my dogs.  After thrashing my potted trees going after moles I got a lot of growth on old wood.  Not much else was left.