Here's my 23 yo neglected tree. It has shoots all over the place and it's too tall for me to reach the figs. After it fruits this year, how should I prune it? I'd also like to root some of those shoots. Can that be done?

This might be easier... got one for my dad for Father's Day but I have not tried it out since my trees are all 2 years or less.

https://www.amazon.com/Flexrake-LRB190-Fruit-Picker-Telescoping/dp/B002S8BRSQ

Might be too late this year, but for the shoots, I'd definitely set up air layers as soon as next spring hits. Each shoot would most likely root and you could then cut it off at the ground, have a new tree, and tidy the original tree up a bit.

Use this....

 

Lol

There was a gigantic tree a couple of years ago. It was technically bulldozed to the ground. Now it's back to almost half the size of what it used to be.

This was the original tree: on June 15, 2015



Photo in May 2016



This is the same tree in June 2016



I'll take some photos this week to show what it looks like today.

It's a testament to how tough - and stubborn - these trees can be...

It depends on your climatic zone.
If you are in a Zone >8 then any of the standard fruit tree shapes can work fine.
If you are in a zone with harsh winters then depends on your winter protection.

In my -20C to + 35C weather I train fig trees to bush shape to make it easier for winter protection.
 
In the fall you remove any suckers.  Try and get some roots and you can easily start new trees from these.
Also take as many cuttings as you need for rooting during the winter.
The winter itself regardless of your protection will do a lot of pruning for you so concentrate on your winter protection method and do your pruning in the spring once you see what wood survived.

I found a similar tree on an empty house lot, bush was 10' wide x 10 ' ht, bore 10 figs total, to late to ripen .  Before 2013 polar vortex occupent  said it bore hundreds of figs, before he moved.  It was winter killed back to the roots, trunk was 11 1/2" dia at 18" about ground, regrew to 20-25, 8' to 10' suckers.  Info on the forum said cut back to 3 main trunks, I left 6 last fall.  now there are 100 + figs but arent ripe yet.  My cuttings of that tree in pots from 2 years ago have ripe figs.  back comments on forum offer several things to do.

bill e,  md

I'm in Zone 8-Yorktown, VA. 

Hi,
For the root-shoots just water around them, grab them by the hand and pull. There should be some roots coming along with them.
Then pot them or plant them elsewhere .
For the main-bush: it is in a shady spot, it seems . You probably should thin the surrounding trees, to give more sun to the fig-tree.
Then, it is up to you.
You could cut all stems at say 4' or 5' of height come next 1st of March .
You could cut half of the stems to 4' or 5' of height, in the year after you cut the other half to the same height.
I don't see how many trunks come out of dirt. You should probably try to have 3 or 5 but no more.
Good luck !