I planted a few fig trees both in containers and in the ground last year and the year before.   The containers are currently in a shed and a garage, the ones in the garage have started to leaf and grow fruit already because there's some (too much?) light, the others are just beginning to bud. I just watched a video on pruning, and belated discovered that I should have my branches much closer to the ground to keep the tree short.  Some of the trees don't branch for 2.5 - 4 feet above the ground.  If I were to cut everything off these to a few inches above the base of the trunk, would I get any branches growing back? And would now be a good time to do it?  If that won't work, I might have to toss a couple of them and start again.  :(

Personally, I would cut the trunks to 3-4 buds from ground.  Those dormant buds should produce 2-3 branches that you can use as primary scaffolding assuming you want to grow them as trees.  

From this point I would pinch tips to outside buds to get a secondary structure.

Now would be an excellent time.  It seems extreme, but in the long run you'll thank yourself.

A member on here named Tyro (can search him) that has good examples of what this will look like in a few years.  

Good Luck


 

I think I see the picture you are talking about from Tyro.  However, I currently don't have any buds that are near the ground, they are all up on the branches that are too tall.  If I chop it all off will new buds form on the trunk, without having any leaves to gather light from?  I seem to remember that buds may have formed near the base of some of my trees last year and I plucked them off, thinking they were just suckers.  Should I wait and see if that happens, and then chop off the rest of the trunk?

I should have said dormant nodes.  It is these which can "bud" (develop) into new wood.  

ascpete has a good diagram, and pictures here: 

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/pruning-and-training-figs-tree-or-bush-form-6388743?highlight=pruning&pid=1281833375

You could also airlayer the tops, but would take longer, and has its own advantages, and disadvantages, but I digress.  I have a couple of trees I hesitated on pinching and wish I hadn't now.  I now prefer my trees to start branching a few inches (6-8") above grade to keep finished height down.

Without seeing your trees it's hard to say which method is best. If you are generally happy with the shape of the top growth but would like the tree shorter then the air layer may be best. I'm assuming your trunk is in the neighborhood of 1.5-2". I'd air layer something that big with a 2 gallon pot. Would take 2-3 months but 4 months wouldn't hurt. After cutting off the air layered too you can directly pot into a 5-10 gallon size or whatever you'd like. While the air layer is growing you should be doing all of the pruning and pinching that you know you should be doing.

I would definitely air layer the top off.  Then that can be your tree with low branches and eventually the bottom will produce leaves and then you can sell it.

OK, sounds like air layering is the way to go.  I'd never heard of that before, so thanks for the info!  Bummed that I won't get any fruit this year, though.  The trunks are 1.5-2.5" at the areas where I would air layer.  Do you mean that instead of using a little plastic bottle/cup, I would wrap the trunk with a 2 gallon pot?  I don't think the shape of any of them so far are real great, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around which branches to prune.  For every branch that I prune, will I get 2 branches that grow at that area?  I"m not sure about dormant nodes near the base either.  I'm assuming that these would look like something that has the potential to come alive, and I"m not seeing that near the base.  Nothing that looks like it has the beginnings of a bud.  Or does it just look like a little dead flat area until it starts to bud?  I've attached pictures of them in case anyone has any more tips.  

After I cut off the airlayers and plant them, would I need to continue pinching off the fruit next year also to encourage root growth?  Maybe let them start fruiting in 2018?

Atreano, Vern's Brown Turkey, Black Spanish:

 

Desert King:
 

Stella, Conradia, Peter's Honey:

 

Better view of Stella:

 

If you prune properly, even with air layers, you do not have to give up any fruit this year. Do not separate from the parent tree until after you harvest the fruit. Your trees are not "that" big. A 1 gallon pot would be big enough to use for an air layer of most of the trunks. 2 gallon for the largest one. YouTube some videos for air layering figs. You can stake straight the ones that kind of flop over if you want. FYI.

I made this air layer video last summer.  I was wearing camera glasses, so excuse the alignment.

Thanks, that is a helpful video.  Maybe I could use a gallon milk jug instead of a 2 gallon pot for the larger branches, since it would have a lid?  Still trying to figure out the best way to prune the branches above the air layers.

Here's one of your photos.  The red lines mark the location of nodes that might not be facing the camera but should be able to produce shoots.  I'm sure there are more than I can see.  The red circles are nodes facing the camera.  The larger area is the leaf scar and above that are the nodes.  The one labeled in green looks to me like a node that already had a branch there so it won't produce another. 

The bottoms should give you shoots that fruit this year.  If you don't girdle the air layer and wait until a gallon milk jug or 2-3 gal pot is filled with roots to remove the top you will probably get fruit from the top as well.  I do not believe a trade 1 gal pot is big enough to support the tops you want to a/l off.  You won't need to prune any of the top if you don't want to.  For the DK it's best to wait to prune the top until after you harvest the fruit.

 

OK, I put the photo in the post above, lol.

Thank you rcantor!  Forgive my lack of knowledge, but let me see if I"m understanding correctly:  The areas you've marked are nodes that are probably going to produce shoots no matter what I do.  But I could air layer above those nodes, cut it off when 1 gal milk jug or 2 gal pot is full of roots, and then not have to prune anything in the air layer this year.  If all those red marks have shoots (meaning a new branch?), then when would I have to prune those to make the bottom part of the tree the shape I want?  Do I let them all shoot and then trim off some of them in the fall?  Do I only let some of them produce shoots this year?  

For the DK, do you mean prune the top after I've air layered it and it has produced enough roots  and I chop it off? (and then hopefully the bottom has produced new shoots that I can make a decent shaped tree with it?)

Maybe I'm making this more confusing than it should be, but in the last 3 years pretty much everything I've done with these trees in regards to choosing a good shaped tree and where to prune or pinch off new growth has been wrong.

For the bottom part of the stella, do you think it would be OK to leave the smaller bottom branch?  Would I have enough primary branches to produce the best shaped tree?

Thanks so much for sharing your expertise!!!!!