I originally posted this in a thread but decided it would be better to start a separate thread since so many of us have been affected by winter die-back.  The issue is how best to train the new growth on trees that have died to the ground (or nearly died to the ground) and are now sending up new growth from the roots or lower part of trunk.  As recommended by Herman2 and others, the goal is to select 3-4 shoots that will become the new trunks.

Here are pics of my two in-ground trees: Kathleen's Black and Sicilian Red that had a lot of die-back.  With the KB I have two strong shoots coming from the base and two much younger shoots coming out from the ends of the two old (but alive) branches (mouse over to see the pic labels KB_1 and KB_2).  There were several smaller shoots just starting at several nodes along those old branches which I decided to break off.  This leaves me with 4 shoots for the KB so perhaps later in the season after they have put on a few feet of growth I will pinch them.  Because this is is not an early variety I am assuming any fruit that sets won't get ripe this year though.

The other two pics are of the Sicilian Red which had 4 nice trunks before the winter.  These died back to 1-1.5 foot stubs.  There are 8-10 shoots coming out of the center of the these trunks and many green buds starting to leaf out on the trunks themselves.  Should I prune out the shoots in the middle and all but one bud on each of the older trunks to leave 4 new shoots?  Or should I choose 3 green shoots coming up from the center and eliminate the shoots on the old wood trunks?  The advantage with the latter approach is that the shoots in the center are larger.  The disadvantage I suppose is that the old trunks have energy reserves and it might make sense to have new growth coming out of them.

On Sicilian Red,That has live trunks,make sure,the trunks wood are alive all around not just half of the said trunk,like the south side can be dead and the north side of trunks is alive.
Once you have it green all around,live all buds that grow outside direction and remove the buds that go inside as to not interfere with shoots from the other trunks.
Once you done that,pinch at fifth leaf,the new shoots that will grow except one shoot on every trunk that will become leader,and you let it grow as much as it wants to.

I hadn't considered the half-dead/half-live part of the trunks but you are probably correct that some of the remaining trunks have some dead wood on one side but not the other.  I'll remove green buds from the outer parts of the trunk that are dead on one side.  Anyway, my understanding of what you recommend Herman is to remove the suckers in the center and let the tree focus its growth at the four trunks.  The buds on the trunks that project toward the inside direction should be removed and the buds that project toward the outside should be kept.  If I misunderstood, let me know.

Open forum questions:  (mainly for short-season growers)...

If fig trees are severely damaged, are pruned back hard because of winter die-back, and late to break bud and leaf out.....do you/should you allow main-crop figs to form and ripen this year, or do you sacrifice this year's figs for a much stronger tree next year?

Should the strategy be that all the tree's energy should be directed into growing new leaves and branches, and not figs?

Just wondering.



Frank

@BronxFigs:  I guess it depends on how much they died back, Frank.  I use that strategy for "new trees" that are still small.  So if the die-back was severe enough that the tree resembles a small new tree, then I would say yes, let the tree put its energy into root and top development.  But if the die-back is less severe, then there's no need to knock off this year's figs.  So, where is the threshold?  You decide.

Mike   central NY state, zone 5a

Frank - good question.  I would probably take a middle of the road approach i.e. let some figs mature if there is time but remove some of the crop if the crop seems particularly heavy.  It's a little bit like the question of whether to let young container figs ripen figs (or not) except that in this case the in-ground trees should generally have well developed root systems.

Steve,
I've posted this picture on several other topics. Its a good visual of a bush form tree that has been pruned and trained for 3 secondary off one existing trunk. The resulting tree had a well formed canopy. Most of this trees canopy will have to be pruned back to the secondary branches due to the damage caused by the cold weather this winter.



Frank,
IMO, it depends on the timing or when the figs are produced on the new branches. If the figs are formed 3 months before the first frost, they should be left to develop since most of the roots of the in ground trees are still intact and can support the reduced canopy. Any figs that are formed with less than 3 months should be removed.

@Rewton:  Herman raises a good point (about one side dead, one side alive).  It's very good advice (and always a good idea to listen to Herman, with all that he knows.  :-).  The only exception to that that I have practiced, is when there's a tree where the only trunk (or all of the trunks, as the case may be) is half dead and half alive.  In that case, if I've got a trunk that is half dead and half alive, I don't cut it back to the ground and wait for a new shoot.  Instead if I'm getting any green activity, I let it grow.  And then later in the year, I either air-layer it or take a cutting.  The mother tree will never be really healthy, but it provides a way to keep that variety around long enough to get a new tree.  With the trunk of the mother tree (the trunk that's half dead and half alive), then after I've taken whatever cuttings I'm going to take, if it has a growing tip down low enough, I cut it off above that low green shoot (that's coming out of the half-live side), and I repot the mother tree deeper, burying all of the half-dead trunk (plus a little of the new shoot).  

I had this happen with a Triano Calabrese last year.  It was a pretty small tree to start with, and the whole tree got that half dead half live state.   I ended up with two "new" small trees... one was a green cutting that I rooted (which had grown out of the live half of the trunk, until I cut it off and rooted it), and the other was the stub of the mother tree with one new green shoot on a half-live trunk (with the entire half dead trunk buried).  I'm not sure how much the old roots stuck around after the repotting, but they at least gave it a start until new roots formed.  Both trees took off.

Mike   central NY state, zone 5a