Hello, I am interested in planting 5,6, or much more fig trees this fall. It really depends on how close I can plant them to each other while still keeping them healthy and productive. I have seen three different trees planted about two feet apart, and they ended up looking like one tree with three different trunks. Is this considered an acceptable practice? That is... while I'm sure yield suffers a bit, is there any downside to this? Any dwarfing? What sort of spacing has worked best for you?

I have looked this up online, and while I have read everything from 30' on center to 18", I am really looking for success stories with close spacing.

Thanks

edit: apologies if this is a commonly asked question.

You probably read the Todd Kennedy article about the 18'' center spacing. I doubt this is really practiced. I think 5-10 feet is fine is you are really tight for space. But you will have to grow your figs as bushes this close together.
The other issue I have is the time frame for your planting. Where are you located? If you're in any zones such as 7 or lower, I would not be planting fig trees in the fall. They'll freeze! The best time would be in the spring after the last frost date for your area.
When you do plant your trees, make sure you plant them several inches deeper than the original soil line. The reason being. If your tree freezes to the ground, there will be several inches of tree trunk protected below the ground surface. This will insure some degree of sucker growth and a new tree!
Leon Edmond

Mine are 5-7' fro the most part.

I'm zone 10 I believe, coastal San Diego. Freezing is not a problem (neither is sunburn for that matter!).

Between 5 to 10 feet sounds good to me, I was planning on bushiness anyway.

Thanks.

I have figs at 3' spacing and it produces a continuous hedge. I think it looks perfectly fine that way, and I can get a good harvest. The main trick is to balance the pruning so the varieties you like more are getting the most space. Right now my Violette de Bordeaux is suffering a bit because it is less vigorous and the Celeste next to it is in its space. I will need to prune back the Celeste this winter to make more room for the VbB. One other advantage is when you take out varieties you like less, you will in one season have that space filled by the neighbors which you like more.

Scott