Many of us will pinch (cut off) the terminal bud on a branch after 5 or more leaves if the branch hasn't started to produce fruit yet.  Causing fruit buds to develop can enable a plant to ripen fruit that it wouldn't have time to ripen if it followed its own schedule.

I've seen this work for 

Col de Dame Gris
Kathleen Black

This fails for 

Hardy Chicago


As people post what varieties pinching does and doesn't work for I'll add them here so we have a 1 stop shop to look at to see whether or not pinching will help your fig plant produce figs in time to ripen or not.


Pinching works for:

Col de Dame Gris
Kathleen Black
Panache


Pinching Doesn't work for:

Hardy Chicago

I agree. If you look at a large tree that fruit it totally block from sun by very heathy leafing ..... the tree is still ripening fruit. Richie
LOUISIANA

This also works well for black mission

Bob,

Sorry to tell you but the pinching works on my Hardy Chicago, as well as MBVS and Takoma Violet.
Actually, it worked on all the figs that were ready to produce the figs last year.
For some younger plants, it inhibits the branching instead of the fig production.

Pinching has already started here. It's the quickest way to get trees to start fruiting early.

In 2016, 2 mature, in-ground trees respond differently to shears pinching at leaf node 6-8. The trees in the images are on the SF Peninsula in Palo Alto not far from the Bay. Both were 'pinched' around 6/1/16. The Jurupa has produced new growth and more figlets. I will cut these off sometime in the next 7 days. The Lampeira is producing nice figs and no new growth.

 

 

Has anyone else seen this dramatic a difference between cultivars?

These 2 trees are single variety trees on 6' centers, pruned for main-crop figs.

I have 2 more trees that are multi-grafted, (Osborne Prolific (lives up to its name but flavor is so-so) and Panache (a wonderful tasting fig that needs more heat than we now get.) I have not had time to document which grafts from 2014 and 2015 are producing figs this year and how they are responding to 'pinching' with a shears.

thanks,

baumgrenze

Just my opinion on pinching but I think pinching works on all fig trees. There is probably something else which causes a tree to not form figs when pinched. Last year I pinched my Hardy Chicago and it produced a lot of figs, this year I pinched it and the tree produced more branching and less figs. It could be growing conditions, fertilizing, or just a growing cycle the tree goes through. In any case, it may work one year but not always the next.

Give the lampeira more time. It will push out growth.

It seems to work on all my varieties with the exception of the trees age.
If the fig is less than 2 years old it may not fruit whether pinched or not.
A 3 year old tree is not producing I pinch it, and wait for fruit to form.
They always have so far.
Just my findings.

I think the trees age makes the most difference whether pinching is effective.
I also think the time of year and your zone should be considered before pinching.
Do you still have a long enough season to ripen those late forming figs?

Doug

Pinching seems to work with all my trees, including HC. At first it seemed not to work on my young Col de Dame from a UC Davis cutting. But just a few days ago I spotted little figlets on its new growth. So pinching appears to be working on all my figs, though just slightly delayed on the CdD.

I have also had fantastic results by pinching. I have not seen any trees that did not respond positively to the snip.
I recommend this method for all to try

The 2 trees in the photos I posted are the same age, planted in ground in the spring of 2009 all at the same time. I described our 'fig forest' in detail in this post:

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/factors-that-end-winter-dormancy-7925109?highlight=fig+forest+baumgrenze&pid=1290936153

In this post there is an after pruning image of 4 trees on 6' centers, planted in a 12' x 14' strip between two driveways. The trees are kept small by pruning for main-crop figs only each spring.

I confess, I do not meticulously count leaf nodes and pinch out the terminal bud. I wait until much of the new growth has passed 6-8 leaf nodes and then cut off the excess, but both cultivars were treated alike. On one or two of these grafted branches I see tentative regrowth. These may have been cases where there was not much growth below the terminal bud when it was removed.

Because I like Lampeira, because I was 'pinch/pruning' for yield, in 2014 I began learning about fig grafting. I grafted both the Osborne and the Panache over to Lampeira using the 'bark graft' Joe Real taught us for citrus and deciduous stone and pome trees. These grafts were by-and-large successful. Some even produced nice fruit in 2015.

That said, limiting new wood to 6-8 leaf nodes reliably results in a good fruit set with Lampeira. With Jurupa (the cultivar that shows regrowth and new figlets) the results are less reliable.

Later in the summer of 2014, and also in 2015, I did further topworking of the Osborne and Panache with varieties from friends and neighbors. Some respond with figlets at many of the leaf nodes, others only occasionally.

I will do my best to remember to report again later in the 2016 season.

There are other anecdotal observations I believe have some validity. I took to heart Axier's observation regarding fig chip grafting, that new wood on new wood worked best. Also, if the scion is placed on a particularly vigorous, apically dominant branch, the growth of the graft seems to respond to the placement. A graft made at the end of an otherwise similar horizontal branch is slower to take and slower to grow.

Added in an edit ~15 hours later.

In gathering some images for a talk about fig grafting at our local CRFG meeting I found a photo of 2 2014  Lampeira grafts taken in January 2016 before I pruned. I estimate from the photo that I made a pinch/prune cut at 8 nodes and each grew 2 new branches of 6-8 buds that I failed to remove later in the season. The first of the 2 photos below shows the branches. I added the second to show how 'drastic' pruning for tree size and main-crop figs only can be.

 

 

Enough for now.

thanks

baumgrenze