Hello everyone,

This is my first post. Every year for the past several years, my neighbor has brought over a basket of fantastic figs from his tree. I'm an experienced gardener and decided I'd like to have a few potted fig trees of my own.

Last year I took cuttings from my neighbor's tree. Using the instructions on the figs4fun website, I had really great success, and now have 7 trees, some of which are 5 feet tall and have luxurious growth on them.

I did the same thing this year with cuttings from another neighbor's tree, but I messed up by keeping the cuttings too damp. I now have several cuttings that are showing good root growth, but the main bud has rotted off due to mold.

So now these cuttings are sprouting several side buds below the top (main bud). This does not strike me as a good situation as I fear the result will eventually be several crowded, weak branches. I'm thinking a single strong leader would be better, if at all possible.

So my question is: leave them alone to do their own thing, or rub out all but the strongest bud?

Just a little background for the sake of interest: I don't know what kind of figs these are (nor do I know last year's) because my neighbors don't know what kind of trees they have. But that's a question for another day.

I'm located in S.W. Washington state and will be growing the trees in pots since my property is located such that I get very strong, cold winds in winter. My neighbors have some protected spots for trees, but I do not.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Robert

I think you will be just fine.  I "pinch" mine when they get about 15" so that they will do exactly what yours are doing naturally.  Watch the humity and moisture on the roots and you will be fine.  Most of us newbees lose our cuttings at this stage.  Yours look like they are doing well so far.

If you leave all the branches on you can train them to grow outwards and make an open vase shape, if you want it to get taller before branching out then wait for them to grow a bit more and select the strongest shoot, sometimes a couple shoots may decide to stunt in growth so this way you can avoid leaving a weak shoot only.  My opinion for what it's worth.

If you don't like the shape you can take cuttings or airlayer the unwanted branches. With a cutting that small, You might damage it trying to remove the unwanted buds. The less you mess with it the better in my opinion.

Let them be. You can always prune later.

Thanks for the replies!

Yes, my big fear is messing up some nice cuttings, so I'll leave them as they are.

Thanks again. The forum is really great and I look forward to participating in the future.

If you have good roots I'd pot up and fertilize. 

Those look wonderful just as they are. If the top is rotting (very squishy) you can clip it off and seal it with a bit of white glue. Nothing wrong with having only side growth.

Leave it alone for awhile. Let it grow out, train and prune it to desired shape once it puts on enough growth (after up potting).