I asked a friend who has a plant nursery how do you get a fig to branch.  He said to break off the leaf where you want it to branch, count up 3 more leafs and continue.  I tried this on my Black Mission and it worked great.  I have now even done this on the first branches to make it more of a bush form.

Has anyone else tried this on other varieties?

Herman and others here have shared that pinching the tip end of a branch will encourage branching.  But pulling off a leaf where you want the new branch to grow is a new one (for me at least).   Since most of my trees are 6 to seven feet apart and are going to be kept small in a hedge...and shape is important....this is definately something I will try.

Thanks for the info.

I liked that info too, but it's a little late in the season to try it now. 

Thanks!

Suzi

Thanks for this slight variation of the "standard" terminal-bud, pinching techniques.  I will try this next season, and include this in my bag of tricks for controlling the growth...and, shape...of my trees.  Ultimately, this should lead to more figs-bearing branches, and to an increase in my waist-size.

In the past, I have found that it was difficult to get an overly long, unproductive branch, to break dormant buds on the older portions of wood, and I would have to prune the branch to induce branching.  Now, maybe....this removing of the selected leaves will be helpful.

Thanks again.  Now...the wait for next Spring.


Frank