Hello I'm new to the forum. I live in Southern California near the coast and I have a Panache fig tree growing up against the side of the house. I cut it back quite severly in winter, to keep it sort of like an espalier and I only get two to three figs at most, which are quite delicious but not worth it for that small amount. I've read that Panache needs heat to produce so maybe that is the problem. It is up against the southern wall of my house to help with the heat. I has beautiful green growth but only one fig as of now. I'm thinking about taking it out unless it produces!!!! I heard figs really don't need to be fertilized so I don't. It is green and lush. Grows about 20 inches a year. So how do I get it to produce? and if heat is the problem or lack thereof, what should I plant that will do well along the coast and tastes like Panache, i.e., strawberry like flavor and color and that I can keep small? I'd be happy to give cuttings for trades of other figs that will grown in my area. Thanks in advance.

Heat will affect ripening, but should not have much affect on fruit set (quantity). Severe pruning should not be an issue - I take 10 feet off the top of mine even year.

Several years ago, an arborist friend told me about a client's Black Mission in Tucson that wasn't producing much. He tried boring holes into the soil out at the dripline and poured in a bunch of slow-release fertilizer granules--he said he really over-fertilized it, but did so far enough away that the tree could tap into the nutrients as much or as little as it "wished." It responded very favorably, with a heavy crop of figs (the owner let me go pick a bag of them). Unfortunately, it's been long enough that I don't remember the chemical composition of the fertilizer or the time of year he applied it.