Hi there. So I'm trying to clean up the base of my tree from the rest of the suckers and blackberry roots. There are rotten leaves everywhere. How can I possibly clean them all up so my leaves don't get rust again? Should I just do my best and then spray something on the tree? Does neem oil actually work? I'm worried about using something toxic around my pets. Is there a certain way to mulch the base to keep away the suckers and wild leeks that I find so irritating?

Also, just sort of interesting - looks like someone attempted to cut my tree down twice. Second picture is the tree with my 5' shovel next to her for a size reference.

No telling how old that tree is. What kind. Looks very old. And looks,strange with all those branches coming out that trunk.
Ok my advice. I spray round up carfully all yhe way from the trunk out. Kills everything. They do this at the Lsu fig breeding field. I been there nany times. I little bit of over spray wont hurt the trunk but make a complete circle with round up. You will bee golden.
Ok this spring before bud brakes. Soeay tree with nead oil. After bud brakes spray again. Spray ground too. Continue to treat this,spring and,summer till no signs of rust. Richie from louisiana

Thanks Richie. I actually sent you some of my cuttings. This is "Antigone's Mystery Fig". I hope someone will figure out her type for me. And roundup doesn't kill wild leeks. Pretty much the only thing that does is boiling water and of course that will kill everything :/ But the roundup will kill the suckers the fig wants to send out? Good to know that neem oil actually works.

Is thus the same tree you sent me cuttings from ? I have been following your p I st and progress if its the same tree you got it in good shape. Will produce lots of breba with that root system and small branches. Nice work. You have enough peps with your tree to figure out what it is. Richie from louisiana. Nice cuttings you sent me. Watch i will get figs this coming season. Figs are awsome that way

maybe I'm wrong but, I've never known fig rust to be anything but a cosmetic issue.  It seems the tree loses its leaves and begins dormancy about the time the rust really kicks in.  Am I missing something?

Mine took it very hard. The leaves dropped so fast that most of my fruit got sunburned and shriveled up. It was very upsetting.

Roundup is systemic so spraying any on the suckers will harm the main tree. For a safer way to burn the suckers you can try a contact herbicide like Scythe. Not sure about onions but it does a number on most waxy leaves, any contact herbicide will need to be applied regularly. Or maybe a flame weeder?.

What is going on there is the tree is in real bad shape due to those cuts. I am amazed it healed over, the bark recovered the wood that was cut (how deep?) will not and can't transport water as a result. That might be why the suckers are so bad. The tree might not ever really recover, do you know how many years of unpruned growth are there?Are you really sure it had rust? There are other things that cause spots, rust makes identifiable nodules on the undersides of leaves. 

No idea how long it was left unpruned. I moved in a little over a year ago and September 2014 the crop was AMAZING. Hundreds of delicious figs. Then this past spring she got small red spots on her leaves that became larger and larger. The young leaves would come in spot free and then developed their spots. I'm almost positive it is rust. Leaves eventually shriveled and fell.

That girdle is serious. A bumper crop does make sense since girdling prevents sugar from moving down to the roots, it is done with some fruit trees but really carefully so that the tree heals within a few months. A deep girdle like that must have taken at least a year to heal, (if ever in some spots) so the roots would have depleted their energy reserves and died back.

The safest thing to do would be to get rid of the portion above the girdle and select some growths from the stump. Sorry, I know that is not what you wanted to hear after selecting the growths at the top of what is left of the original tree. If you feel like the cut is not very deep all the way around and more than half of the bark has cleared the gap then it might be worth trying to keep the growths you have selected and seeing how things go. If the bark has not recovered well then the growths above the girdle will continue to act only as a drain on the roots. 

I took a look at your previous pics of the leaves and don't think it is rust. I can't say for sure that it is root stress but when you understand how trees work it make sense. 

Hi,
That girdle, it looks like a wire from the fence (or a dog chain) was running around the tree. Trees usually recover from that. I would perhaps stake the top growth.
As it is wind may take that top growth down from the weight of the leaves and fruits.
I only weed mechanically next to my trees . With chemicals you may lose control and lose the tree. So just keep on cutting the root-shoots and cuttings the weeds.
After a while the tree will shade its feet and the weeds will slow down.
You could use coper-fungicide on the trunk,stems and leaves.
You could white wash the trunk with lime. Usually those fungal diseases are helped in spreading by crawling insects like ants and caterpillars ( wind too, but...).
The white wash/lime will take a toll on those insects and you'll get less problems on the leaves.
You should clean the base of the tree for overwintering insects will rest there. Pour some lime next to the tree on a 10cm/3'' circle around the tree.
Keep the trunk white on a 10cm/3'' ring . Apply again in March next year and keep the lime barrier up and running through out the growing season.
I always had problems with fig moths (caterpillars netting and feeding on the fig leaves) and so far got rid of them with the lime after applying lime this last July.

By the way, now, that is one of a trunk especially for a fig tree.

There is no need to spray your tree. A little rust is fine and won't severely harm your crop. I avoid any synthetic chemical treatments as much as possible. Your tree looks well pruned, keep the structure open so that rust (a fungus) won't form. In terms of suckers, just cut them out as they appear. 

The rust did severely harm my crop this year. The leaves dropped and most of my fruit became sunburned and rotton.

Amber, somebody tried to murder your tree. The dead part is obviously a deeper cut than the rest, the xylem was damaged and water could not reach the top of that section. It was made with a chainsaw at the same time the tree was cut down. 

Please take close up pics all the way around the girdle to show if it has recovered yet. If not, removing all of the growths that form below the girdle will kill the tree.

If a chain saw was used at the point were cut is in tree in theory she would have a fast growing healthy tree. Below the cut in tree is fine.

I would airlayer a branch and rip that thing out! Start over

I can actually see one part of the trunk that's dead but all of those thick branches I have coming out are very healthy. Produce many leaves and fruit. Such a shame fig rust ruined her for this season. We'll see what happens in the spring. Fingers crossed.

What kind of mulch do members normally use? It would be the most helpful if I could buy online as I do not drive nor have the best access to cars.

Good luck Amber, hope your tree does not end up as mulch itself. Richie is trying hard!