I need guidance please. I've got a few figs that look more like palm trees because they are tall sticks with a tuft of leaves at the tip. They never branched out but some produced nice figs, so I want to do what is best for them.

My question is how would you prune such a tree? I was thinking of cutting them shorter (which would provide cuttings), so that they might send out side shoots next season. Would this be my best option? Or would you wait and air layer next year? They have yet to go dormant, but it is too late to air layer. All are in containers currently (I rent).

Thanks.

I had same issue. So I chopped the top. Now my trees look like upside down broom.

My trees had grown this way when I started the fig hobby. I was unwilling to cut the top soon enough that lead to the tree looking like a palm tree. I had to air-layer the top part with some length of the trunk. So I ended up with two plants.

The trunk part in the original pot also generated some shoots/branches but in hindsight I wish I had cut some more length of the trunk in the original so the branches will take place lower and closer.

If you've got over a month till dormancy I would cut the tuft off with some stem and make cuttings out of the top.  Then fertilize with liquid fertilizer (no slow release stuff) every watering for 2+ weeks until you see the new shoots forming.  You'll get lots of shoot growth from what's left.  If you don't fertilize heavily you'll only get a branch or two near the top.  Don't use the outdoor strength in a potted plant or you'll kill it.  For Miracle grow that's the small spoonful in a gallon of water for potted plants.  The big spoon is only for in ground plants.  Pick the height of the stem so that the branches that come off the top will still be pickable.    You can send me a few cuttings  :)

If you don't have a month till dormancy I would do this next year.  You can take cuttings this winter but you have to wait until the apical (top) bud is already growing then take that off (with enough for a new cutting if you want) and fertilize to get the most branches from the bottom part of the tree.

Just to make sure I understand correctly. Since I may not have a month before dormancy sets in, I should wait until next year for either cuttings/fertilizing or airlayering, correct? Or would it be feasible to lop them off after dormancy this season? Do the buds have to set before dormancy or will they form in the spring from the remaining stick and root ball?

Currently, I have the trees sitting on a southfacing slab of concrete along my house. It is a bit of a microclimate, too hot for summer but nice right now. I kept my kumquat outside there all last winter (only tarped on three frosty nights) and harvested fruit on Christmas. The surface heats up during the day and radiates it out overnight. That may extend my season, if things go like last year.

Otherwise, has anyone ever airlayered indoors? I have a sliding glass door, also on the south side, that gets a lot of light year-round. I have kept tropical plants in that location. Does anyone think that this may work? If dormancy is not absolutely necessary, I thought perhaps I could airlayer inside. I already plan to bring some of my smaller cuttings in this winter.

You could go either way.  If you cut the top off when dormant the topmost bud left will break in spring.  Fertilize heavily and cut a cutting off of the top.  The top bud suppresses the rest.  When you remove the top bud there's a stimulus to grow.  If there's lots of fertilizer around you'll get more buds breaking than if only a little is around.

If you can give the fig the light and warmth it needs in your S. window an airlayer should work.  You may have to supplement with artificial light.  Some believe a fig needs some dormant time, some don't.  I don't know anything about that issue.

There is a guy in Indonesia that gets 3 crops and his figs never go dormant, so if you grow it near a window with good light or you add some CFL / T5 / LED light it should do it. 

If you look at the 100s of species of the Ficus genus, the majority does not go dormant or they lose leaves for a really brief period of time. 

I suspect dormancy is not a requirement, but an adaptive way to deal with cold winter weather. I was looking at the weather in Malta and it is really mild. 
I grow many Ficus (tropical banyans) and I overwinter them indoors and they keep growing and are very lush. I do not think that a Ficus carica may need more sun than a Ficus benghalensis or Ficus virens or Ficus obtusifolia that are trees that grow in full sun in the tropics and get to be among the highest in their surroundings and are doing well in pots for me, outside in the summer, inside in the fall / winter. 

Actually my largest F. benghalensis was growing like a tall stick with a stout base, on the 3rd year it started branching by itself. I posted a while ago a video of a Fig tree (F. carica) in Tuscany that had never been trimmed and its aspect was similar to tropical banyans (the free standing ones, not the strangler figs)

John,

Air layering requires healthy leaves to generate the air layered roots. It also needs warm temperatures for optimal root growth. Attached is a diagram for a basic "Japanese fig espalier" for container. If you do a search on the this Forum there are lots of explanations and picture. It requires pruning and training for best shape and fig production. "Buds", new branches develop at leaf nodes, when the dominant growing tip is removed (pruned). In the diagram below the hash marks are leaf nodes. With proper root pruning, the containers can be kept relatively small.

Posts with additional Links.

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/Can-a-Black-Mission-tree-be-kept-small-6040665

Good Luck.

Interesting image.

Thanks for the help, everyone. They'll get a trim sooner or later. I just need to look at them a bit to decide. Kind of the measure twice, cut once mentality.