First time fruiting. Mild, sweet and very nice. Ripening early this season.

Jon, how old is your tree ? I know U don't prefer breba's, so is this a breba or main crop? I have 3 nicely rooted Hollier, very robust grower(at least 2ft tall) and has good branching habits. There are tiny bumps showing, not sure whether they are figs. If they are, no chance of them ripening  this year -- would pinch them off.

What is a breba? I am pretty sure this was a cutting from early 2007, and is currently in a 5g pot.

I'm not sure if the last response was in jest, but for those who might not know ... he is referring to the difference between a breba crop vs a main crop fig. Some folks on the forums have said that the breba crop fruit is not as sweet or tasty as the main crop figs. The breba crop forms on previous season wood and main crop forms on current season wood. I personally can't attest to this or not as I do not have recent experience comparing the two.

Jon is the 'guru' of all fig "matters". Ya -- he's kidding.

I thought so too - just wanted to make sure no one was left hangin'

The point about brebas centers on the fact that they form on wood that grew last season and main crop figs form on wood which grros in the current season. Since I prune 90-95% of my growth each season, only trees which absolutely insist on growing brebas produce them here. That was about 10 trees this year. None were worth eating. I am guessing that they do poorly here because we don't often get much heat when they are ripening. The upside is that, since I do not mind not having a breba crop (which is important in a short season climate where main crop figs often don't ripen), I can prune off the wood on which they would have formed, and keep my trees smaller for easier picking.

See pix at http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/figs4funforum/vpost?id=2728445

Thanks for adding a more thorough explanation then I could have. One follow-up question ... have you noticed that your main crop figs are developing and maturing earlier with your pruning practices compared to leaving more of the old wood on your trees? I am debating how far to cut back my tree for next season and I hadn't thought about this before. NJ's season is much shorter than yours and anything that could be done to speed up fruiting is welcome.

That is an interesting and complex question. I can't really compare, since I don't have unpruned trees to compare with. My Vista (VdB UC Davis) is an older tree. and gets less sun that my younger VdB from Edible Landscape. The Vista is 2-3 weeks ahead of the EL tree in ripening. The main crop figs on a branch of the Vista that had brebas ripen on it are not close to ripening yet, but the the others on the tree are getting ripe. Celeste plants in 5 gallon pots are way ahead of in-ground plants. Many figs are earlier this season that ever before (weather probably). if heavy pruning encourages more vegetative growth, that may delay ripening, but I can't prove that.

Take it from me Steve.
I am in NJ too.
Havy pruning will make your tree be late.
Thinning will not.
So prune medium,and thin a lot.

Thanks for the great input. So, paraphrasing everyone's observations/experience to see if I got it right ... it would seem that new growth & fruit production are competing for the tree's resources.

If I prune heavy (most of this year's growth) - the tree will put energy into producing new wood and fruit production will be later. Conversely, if I prune light, fruit production is likely to occur sooner and maybe at the expense of new growth.

If I thin the tree (during the season) - the fruit production is likely to be enhanced because more energy is available.

If I thin the tree (at the start of the season) - the tree is likely to be in better balance between new growth and fruit production.

Does this sound right?

I'll take one small portion of the pruning question. Prune when dormant to the height at which you want branching to occur. For me that is 12-18" on a new tree because I want them short and bushy. Most of my new trees will be about 6' tall in 5g pot, then planted in the Fall (weather/protection not an issue) and pruned to 12-18" in January/February when they finally go dormant. Save the cuttings for starting new plants.

Are you then cutting it back to the same 18" every year? Basically Pollarding the tree at a very low height? I am curious if that works on varieties that don't really start growing until midseason (like black mission) or less vigorous types like VdB. I am sure it would be very nice on something like Panache or Excel.

Havy Pruning is what Jon is doing.
Light pruning is one third or less.
Thining Density refer when you have a lot of branches not just one or 2.
A tree is suficiently thinned when a mocking bird can fly between the branches without touching.
BR