Hello Everyone!
After reading all the basics, I still have a few questions that I hope you all can answer.  I found this site when looking up fig propagation since a very delicious fig tree was recently trimmed by the city and now all the reachable branches are gone.  I carried home one for the branches and have started to root 13 of the branch tips.  I cut them to 5-8" long and have wrapped the bunch in a wet paper towel and stuck it in a zip lock bag on top of my refrigerator.  It's been there almost a week and I open it for fresh air.  It appears that there is a tiny bit of activity and maybe even root buds on some.  I have the rest of the branch and if it's not too late, I may cut it up and try other rooting methods.  What do you recommend and how easy is it to get the DNA test done to determine the variety?

My question is about pruning a first year tree without any branches.   I bought a pretty little fig tree at the farmer's market last spring (in Santa Monica, CA) and it had a few small fruit that eventually ripened and were delicious.  The fruit were green and light green stripped and the flesh was a raspberry color. (see attached photo, 2 figs on a saucer)  They were sweet and flavorful.  The fig is planted in a large pot 24" diameter at the top. (See attached photo, pot on the left, before any new growth) It grew a foot and a half straight up, doubling its size.  No new fruit grew.  I trimmed off the growth bud and it gave me one small 5" branch.  Now all the leaves have fallen off, but one.  How far should I prune it back?  Is 18" a good height to trim it back to every year?  I plan to keep it in the pot.  my yard gets full sun for part of the day.  What is idea and should I keep the dormant fig in the shade or as much sun as possible?  I'll ask the vendor what variety it is.  Can I use what I prune off for rooting a new tree?  I know several other folks with fig trees that recently got cut down and am wondering if the new growth can be used for rooting.

I'm excited about my new fig project and hope to have more figs to eat this summer or next summer at the latest.  

Thanks a bunch,
Heather

Welcome Heather.  I am new to this but you will get a lot of good information soon.  I will learn right along with you. There are a lot of very seasoned, generous, and helpful folks from your neck of the woods that will give you a lot of help.  Good luck with your new addiction!

Welcome Heather, I am new to this also but you might have a panache fig. You can go check out the variety section on the home page. I would leave your tree alone and let it grow if you have the room. And yes you can use the cuttings to root a new fig tree. That's what I did. The first two ended up as dead sticks but third times a charm. If this brown thumb can do it , I am sure you can to. Good luck in your rooting.

_______________
Zone 8a
Rick Lakewood WA

Welcome to the forum Heather, looks like you have a good start. Use the search feature for rooting methods and you should get a lot of advice. A paper towel(slightly damp) in a plastic baggie is okay to store in the refrig but not a method for rooting even on top of a refrig, if roots form there is too much of a chance for root damage. If you see any root activity, I would get them in quart cups or gallon pots soon with a medium of your choice. The photo looks like a Panache. Just my opinion on everything, I am not a one or two year expert.

Welcome to the forum Heather.  You will find there are lots of ways to root and raise figs!

Ed, you wrapped the bunch in a wet paper towel???

Heather, welcome to the forum!

Welcome to the forum Heather. If the wood is also striped you do have a Panache. I bought a few fig trees like you and instead of prunning, I made a couple air layers. WAYYYYYY easier then rooting. I'm not planning to prune my babies till year 3 or so.

Welcome

Welcome!  That's definitely a Panache and it's a great fig.  Check this out for my favorite rooting method.  I use the alternate method but you'll want to read the page linked to first to get the principles down.

http://figs4fun.com/basics_Rooting.html

Okay Ed that makes sense. Sorry Heather I should have PMed Ed, check out Bobs thread and do a search for all methods. Again welcome to the forum, we may not all agree but we try to respect everyone's opinion or method. Ed's point is the clincher, paper towels completely wrung out and as soon as you see roots emerging then re-establish in a cup, SIP, pot, or whatever. Good luck and good growing.

Welcome!

Heather,
Welcome to THE forum, where everything happens :)

Nice Panchee, (to my opinion) if you want a bushy style, you trim the branch lower...to get new branches starting from bottom of it. 
If you want a tree shape then give the original branch some hight and trim the top part, the new branches will form at the top level giving the tree a canapé'.

My neighbor just gifted me a Panache (I am so happy) and I trimmed it to18 inch hight after planting it in a 5Gallon nursery pot.

Keep it under full sun... all figs LOVE sun at all times. You'll have new branches starting at no time, Santa Monica has a mild winter.

Are you planing to attend the Rare Fruit Grower's gathering in Encino tomorrow Sat 24th? i'll be there.

Keith , A long time ago I was tinking about Star Wars and R2D2 when I was creating a new e-mail account. So it was rx2.
Make it a great day,      rick

Thank you all for the warm welcome! I'm going to divide my cuttings and try different methods. I won't be at te rare fruit tree growers gathering in Encino tomorrow, but I will visit Encanto and Exotica Rare Fruit when in Vista and San Diego next week!

How much time in this year do I have before it's too late to prune? I'm not sure what to do with my one stock and one branch fig tree and don't want to be hasty.

Does anyone know if there are zone 5 hardy figs available now for a birthday present for my Dad? He is a tree grower in Maine and would love a fig as long as he doesn't need to bring it into the garage in the winter, or bury it.

I'm really thrilled with my new fig project and have already made one fig loving friend very happy with promises of potted fig trees. She has a list of her favorite fig trees in LA and we're going to go on a twig hunt, asking permission, when needed, of course!

Welcome Heather,  if you get your dad even the hardiest fig plant, it will most likely need some kind of winter care/protection plan to insure it's continued survival.
You are in a much better climate, tell him to come visit his fig tree when he's in CA!   Happy fig hunting, that sounds fun.

Heather, if you do go to Exotica I recommend you lock your car (they are theives), buy only plants you are certain of, and only trust the worked the worker there named Leo Manuel. The others will lie just to make a sale. Many of the plants there are marked as a specific cultivar when actually they have been grown from seed. A better choice of nursery in the north county is Green Thumb in San Marcos.

Hi HeatherRoses,
Welcome to the forum.
I would let your "Panachee" fig tree grow up to 2 meters/7' before cutting anything, unless you're up to some trades.
I would pot up when the tree needs it - hard to tell the size of the actual pot, but next year you'll be there from what I can see.
Panachee is a cultivar that turns into big trees with thick stems so it needs a bit more fertilizer in the growing season.

One neighbor has a 5 years old Panachee and the tree, started as a 1'/ 30 cm tree , is already at 2 meters/7' of height and the guy made some fire with some good trimmings from that tree.
Supposedly, although I'm no medium, this means "NO GIVING & NO TRADES HERE !!!" .

Hi Fig Friends,
I had a great time visiting Encanto Farm and learning about figs, citrus, cherimoyas, etc. from Jon.  I gave him some cuttings from the delicious Santa Monica purple fig that I mentioned above.  Jon recommended collecting cuttings from figs that do well in cool coastal Santa Monica, which make a lot of sense!  This will be a project for me this year.  I'll donate young fig trees from Santa Monica once they get going.  

My cuttings are starting to sprout.  One cutting is covered with roots and will get planted this week.  Some cuttings are already in clear plastic cups, pre root sprouting.

I'm planning on going to a Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop this weekend and will continue to consider where and when to prune my Panache.  It does have stripes on last years growth, BTW.  I haven't stopped by the farmer's market to ask the nursery what variety they sold me.

Thanks for all the encouragement!

All the best,
Heather

Sound like you're on your way!  In a couple of months, you're going to have so many fig trees!  Welcome Heather!  Enjoy the ride!!!!!

Welcome Heather! Try not to go overboard like myself, but its hard! I like to take advantage of this growing season and am trying to root a good number of figs.

Hello again!  To give you all an update, my cuttings have rooted and many have leafed out.  I planted cuttings in cups that were too small so I've transplanted them into some quart sized open bottomed cartons that I got from my dad who ordered them from a nursery supply store for his American Chestnut seedlings.  I didn't check back here for the basics on potting mixes but asked the guy at the local nursery and he recommended a pumice, coconut coir, work casting mix.  I'm repotting the fig cuttings as well as a lime tree and a pineapple plant.  If you think this mix is going to hurt the cutting, please let me know and I'll probably go out and buy the recommended soil.

The little panache has also leafed out and is looking beautiful.  I'll count the fig fruit buds as soon as the leaves are a bit larger and it's easier to differentiate.  

A couple of weeks ago, I took a 4 hour course on fruit tree pruning and the teacher/arborist pruned an apple tree, fig tree, 2 plum trees and 3 citrus in the demo section of the class.  The fig tree was already well formed and didn't get any significant pruning, to my disappointment since I was poised and ready to collect cuttings!!!!

I haven't started collecting other Santa Monica loving fig cuttings, but it's on my list and I'll get to it some time soon.

Thanks for reading and I appreciate all your encouragement and advice!

Heather

Welcome Heather from another Californian.  I started my fig addiction in La Quinta in the hot dessert.  All my figs were in pots.  Al, at garden web gave me a version of his gritty mix that worked great for the hot dessert. 

My biggest, saddest mistake was using potting soil/perlite to keep my baby rooted cuttings in plastic cups while they grew enough roots for transplanting into 2 gal containers.  I kept them all in the sunny guest bathroom and didn't notice the fungus gnats buzzing around until it was too late.  So keep an eye out for those.  Easily controlled with BT or Gnatrol.  I'm so paranoid now, I root everything in plain old dirt outside like the old Greeks and Italians do.

We have since moved to the hills overlooking the town of Hemet.  We own a chunk of Riverside county property, studded with boulders, partly irrigated with plenty of places for in ground figs.  Easy access is a problem.  Hubby planted two that I can't even get to.  Slope is too steep and slippery, and I value my life and limbs.   I'll see if I can get cuttings from them and duplicate them in a better location.

Your project sounds really exciting.  The pictured fig does look like Panache.  I've got one of those.  Nice that all your cuttings rooted!  When you get some fruit, be sure to take photos of the leaf and a whole fig and then a cut in half fig.  Members here are good at ID and may be able to recognize the variety.

Congratulations on your visit to Jon!  I've never made it down there in all these years.

Suzi