Correct me if I'm wrong. It makes my stomach turn when I see larger sized fig trees, 15 gallon pots or more, in shape of a traditional tree. There's one main branch (about three feet high) that has the same width as the handful of upper branches (canopy) and it just doesn't look right. Although above 6 feet in height, they aren't lush and haven't many figs on them.

These trees are being trained incorrectly! Rather than encourage bushy, lateral growth, they are being grown as tall and lankly - nonetheless at a high price tag. They look like neglected trees that should have been air layered and weren't.

Anyone else come across this as well as warmer varieties like Kadota and Black Mission being sold in cooler zones instead of Celeste, Chicago Hardy, and other "appropriate" varieties?

Fig trees can definitely get very lanky if not trained properly but I suppose those who are producing trees solely to turn a profit don't really care
But I wouldn't say warm varieties or cool because it all depends on whether you have the means to take care of them properly, it really doesn't make a difference to those of us who have to overwinter the plants cause they'll all die without it anyway.

I actually prefer a tall thin tree. It fits in the greenhouse and garage easier :)

Johnny's got a point lol. Fig shuffle can be,hard work. Glad i only have to move around 20 or 30 trees ! Some have it worse. Mine are only in 5 gallon

Unacceptable.

Any pictures? And what do these trees cost?

Some people like a bush form, others prefer a tree form.... Neither is right nor wrong. 

I see it as 2 plants for the price of 1.  I got a panache like that and air layered the top off.  The lower stem sprouted along its length and the upper part was an instant bush.

Here are a couple of pictures:

I don't see much of a problem with that, if pruned properly wouldn't that turn into this over time potentially? that's how I see UD Davis, and other large orchards doing them. guess it's more of a preference thing.   

I'm not sure I see a problem with the nursery trees pictured. When they are producing hundreds of thousands of trees of all sorts of varieties, we really can't hold them to the same standard as a backyard grower.  Judging by the size of that nursery it looks huge and would require a ton of man hrs to shape each tree, which means a higher cost of operation and lower ROI. I'd rather have them keep their prices down then to charge more for time spent pruning.

I usually look for the healthiest trunk in a nursery and then prune them when they get home to the way I like them.

Where is that BTW?

This is how I like my trees shaped 2 ft or less trunk height and branch out from there I have been following this pruning technique and have been very happy with it

      

You could bury that horizontally and have all the bush you want in just a little while. :)
 

I'm a fan of the fig "tree" looking like a tree.  On the other hand, a fig bush, as I understand from reading because my oldest fig plant is only a year old and hasn't produced a fig yet, bush form will produce more figs.  I love the picture posted by cdeguida4.  If I had ground space I'd definitely copy that.  Since my ground space is non-existent, I'll be doing a version of what Dave is doing. 100% containers for me.  I feel so blessed to have had all the no-name cuttings I was able to get last fall so I can play with different forms.  No right, no wrong, just personal preference.

Great pictures cdequida4!

These look great!  The ones that concern me are the ones with 4+ ft. skinny bare trunks sold in 15 gallon pots that have been poorly trained.  Trunks are fine if the tree has a large overhead canopy.

Here are a few beauties:

I think the nursery trees look great. I just don't like the bush form, and to say they are improperly trained, well not for me. I would much prefer that form. Looking at the bushes posted in this thread, confirms I would want a tree, not a bush if at all possible. I don't need a ton of figs.
Dave your figs look fantastic! That would be easy to do with those nursery trees.

If a tall skinny 15 gal fig costs $160. Then a tall tree with a big bushy top would cost much more to produce. The nursery has to charge based on the space and effort needed to produce the tree. If they can grow one bushy tree in the same area as 4 skinny trees the bushy tree will cost 4 times as much. That's why both big and small figs from large nurseries are tall and skinny.

Some effort and a yr or two and one can convert the skinny tree to your desired form. If the nursery has to do that for you expect to pay up.

You have people who like me, will gladly shop at the hardware store or discount outlet.  Others wouldn't be caught in one and will pay, the more the better in their thinking. It's a mixed up world.  No doubt, the nursery hopes to cater to the ones who won't go to wal mart and they must or they wouldn't remain in business long enough for a tree to reach the sizes they have.
  

I pinched a lot of my in pot trees this year and they all turned into shrubs. I prefer a shrub in a container. I'm hoping to get more figs this way.
As for in ground, I'm noticing that certain varieties prefer a single trunk and then spread naturally on their own without any interference, while some others prefer a shrub type growth.
Here's an example of a tree that I never touched. In my mind, it is my best looking tree in the yard so far.
I also regretted pinching the Violette de Sollies, that went into ground. It just stopped doing anything and might take several seasons to recover and start spreading out the way I like.