Hi all! I'm Rick from northcentral Alabama and a new member to F4F. 

After reading Jon's excellent thread "Breba New World" (http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/breba-new-world-3336779?highlight=growth), I am curious if there's a similar list regarding which varieties produce exclusively on old or last year's growth

For instance, my Lemon/Blanche has not been a great producer, which I've learned may be because I keep whacking away at the old tree. It grows, I kid you not, 12-foot new growth every year. Long, seemingly-unsupportable branches. It never shapes up into a bush-like form, it just shoots a few lanky branches 12-feet straight up. Which then begin to bend over. It's embarrassing, so each year I give the ol' girl an acceptable haircut. But I have been informed recently, unlike my other trees, the Lemon only produces on last year's growth. This year, I reaped a staggering 3 figs from the tree. :/  Is the Lemon truly a breba-only cultivar? 

Thanks! (Please feel free to link me to older threads that might clarify)

Hi Rick,

First off, welcome to the forum!

I don't know the answer about whether Lemon is breba only from my own experience.  But check out the info in the varieties pages that Jon has posted, both for Lemon and Blanche.

In particular, see this info:
http://figs4fun.com/Info/Info_Blanche.html

If it's the same fig you've got, it speaks of Lemon as a 2 crop (breba and main) cultivar.  Of course, there's still the question of whether it's the same as your fig.  Sounds unusual in any case.  But also check out the info on here about pruning (and also "pinching").  Try the search function for that.  You can probably induce this tree to branch better, with a bit of perseverance.  In any case, good luck!  

Mike   central NY state, zone 5a

<<edit:  some of the info at that page, particularly about the growth habit, makes it sound like you may have a different variety from that one.  But there are photos in Jon's varieties pages... you could compare with your fruit and see if they look the same.  See
http://figs4fun.com/Thumbnail_Lemon.html

Thanks for the info Mike.

BTW, mine has the turbinate/no neck) shape as offered through Petals from the Past (PFTP):  http://petalsfromthepast.com/catalog/images/Fig,%20Lemon.JPG