This is the first year I have ever tried pinching my Fig Trees. This BM plant is the proof. I can not believe the results. Thanks to the people here that taught me how to do it! The comparison  here is the same plant, the perspective is a little different...This BM had 14 Figs on it and I picked 7 of those off..Oh yea, this plant was fed every week, with a diluted mixture of "Miracle Grow" 1 teaspoon per gallon of water.

Congrats Frank , that tree looks very healthy.

Great job, Frank!  More branches = more cuttings!

You have done a nice job to get it to branch out and maintaining it's health. It looks like it is not stunted or even inflicted with the virus, no visible signs. Surely this is not a UCD cutting.

I know pincing helps fruiting but still looks like BM is a productive variety.
Congrats!

I think pinching is the closest thing to garden magic there is. I use it on my figs, blueberries and blackberries (have not tired it on raspberries yet). Of course the practice is different with each plant, but the principal is the same. Pinch off growth that is tending toward long and leggy so you get branching, and more branching = more fruit.

Hi Frankallen,
Nice result on the branching topic. But, how is it for fruit production ? Do you expect some fruits to ripen ?
The big drawback with pinching here in my zone7 is that the fruit growing on the sub-stems won't have the time to ripen .
So, here, pinching helps with branching, but not with fruit ripening .

I've found that pinching does indeed help with ripening an already formed main crop as well as forcing an immature tree to begin fruiting earlier in the season. I also drop any very small fruit that is forming late in the season as my reasoning is that they will not have the required time nor heat to ripen so why put the tree's energy into them?

I had the same results in pinching.I now have fuller trees that look like shrubs but, with figs growing.

Nice job Frank the tree turned out to be nice and full 

Thanks everyone for the kind comments! I have learned  a lot this year about Figs! : )

Wow!  Very nice work, Frank.  I was afraid to pinch my young BM earlier this year.  Maybe I should have done the same.

Looks great Frank!   I was afraid earlier in the season, now I'm kicking myself for not doing it earlier, I have so many trees that the branching starts way to high because I hesitated.

I let my first year trees grow at will, but definitely on next year's agenda.

I had gotten into pinching per Herman's recommendation and instruction and it made a night and day difference in branching and fruiting. I started playing around with notching to get better branch placement and while I have not mastered it I do see results. Check out this article for more information -> http://journal.ashspublications.org/content/119/4/678.full.pdf

Thanks for the photos, I am going to try this next year on my younger trees. 

And one may also take into consideration that a tree in ground will need more attention with pinching than a tree in a pot. Potted trees, I my opinion, need more attention with soil mixes and amendments as well as watering and root management. Its just too easy to be lazy not to pot them up so they cannot reach their full potential.

Frank I honestly try not to be lazy and try to keep up on my uppotting but some of them seem like they want a new pot every time I turn around.

My point was that pinching or notching is an awesome technique but new members should know that it is not a cure all for fig trees and that the basics all have to be in place to allow the tree to take advantage of these techniques.

In ground tree tending is more forgiving and can readily benefit from these methods assuming soil is decent etc... Flip side is you have to winterize them in ground so there is a trade off for sure.