I found an interesting article about optimizing the yield with respect to pruning:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-03/asfh-oya031711.php

If you click on the link at the bottom, and then click onto the Full article on the top right side, you will access the paper itself.

The research, conducted as part of Gerber's MScAgric degree requirements, was developed to establish the optimum 1-year-old shoot length to maximize fig fruit yield and quality.

For a few years I was following the Herman's suggestion to pinch after 5-6 leaves for all the varieties. While it is a great general way for the colder climates, it seems the paper's results state that we should approach different varieties differently.

Anybody had looked into this?
I am curious about your feedback.

Cool article...

Do you know if trees in the south need pruning for production?

Richard, all figs need pruning for production.  North, South, East, West.  A fig is a fig. 

This year nothing got pruned here, because some trees never went dormant, and I didn't get to the ones that did in the two weeks they were dormant.  Short winter here.  But, I find pinching after 5 leaves is a great way to increase production, and that can be done all year.

Suzi

Suzi,

Same here, crazy winter! Many of mine didn’t go dormant too. I just pinched the terminal bugs instead of pruning, to promote bushiness. They will grow like telephone poles otherwise.

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I checked the references from that paper and one caught my eye: 
http://www.gipe.uchile.cl/Articulos/Botti_et_al_2003.pdf

The authors tested the VdB/Larga de Burdeos, Kadota, and Brunswick/Kennedy fig productivity in Chile in different locations (i.e. hot and sunny CA vs. less favorable conditions for us in the US). The results of this study clearly demonstrate the strong effect of the climate on fresh fig production.

“.. Despite the fact that the distance between each locality is less than 66 Km (straight line), El Palqui, further away from the coastal influence, in an interior valley, shows better conditions for fig production in agreement with several authors who indicate that figs grow best under intense solar radiance, high summer temperatures, moderate winters and low relative humidity.Almost all the vegetative and productive parameters evaluated showed significant differences between the trial at El Palqui (with higher temperatures and higher solar radiation), and the other two sites. In cvs. Kadota and Kennedy, the difference in fruit weight per plant was more than 10 times higher, while cv.Larga de Burdeos, though also more productive at El Palqui, showed somewhat less climatic effect. For fruit weight, cv. Kadota had an increase of 71,3% and 85,4% when compared to the fruit of the same cv. collected at Cerrillos de Tamaya and Las Cardas, respectively. “

So, basically, we need to choose the wish list figs quite carefully, depending on the conditions first of all (not the overhyped figs and pretty photos)
This has been said many-many times and confirmed by the seasoned fig growers, I am not rediscovering the wheel here. It was just interesting to see the test results.

Nice article. Thanks for sharing.

Pruning is an important part of the equation. Given effective training of the tree a second factor to consider is that volume of roots is proportional to the volume of harvest. The proportionality is based on inputs of water and nutrients -- some of which might already be present in the soil. As a rule of thumb, a tree with effective root volume of 1 cubic yard will maximize its output with annual input in NET POUNDS: