I need major help! i have a tree that grew from a clipping, a brown turkey. its on the side of my house,So the sun will beat on it and keep warm, But it is SO huge now and we're afraid the roots will go through the side of the house into the basement,anyway.. Can someone tell me if i can dig it up now? or will it die, i have tons of green figs on it.Alsooo   do i dig  15 from stump thing.. ? hellpp pleeaasseee...
           Madison

My guess is you will lose all or most of your figs if you attempt to dig up an in ground fig at this time of year, plus you may well lose the tree. If it were potted that would be a different story. Are you seeing some evidence of the roots coming into the house? That seems pretty drastic if so. 

Someone told me it is ok to plant figs near the house because they have a shallow root system and they don't have a strong tap root like other trees. I have a brown turkey and it is 2ft from my house. It has been there a few years with no problems.
If you have to move it wait till you harvest the figs, even better when it goes dormant.

You can also wait til fall dormancy. Then you can take lots of cuttings and replace at your will. 

My 10' Vista has been within 18" of the house for 25 years. Hasn't been an issue. If you want to move it, to it when it is dormant, and take a lot of roots - a lot of roots - did I say a lot of roots!?

The Ficus genus as a whole is very well known for having several species that will decimate/devastate plumbing, foundations or anything else.

Yes, it is possible.  Under what conditions I cannot speculate, but I have read horror stories about fig trees either here or on the GW forum.

Madison:Cut the roots with a spade,all around at about 1.5 foot radius.
First water the soil well and then push spade down and cut roots.
If need sharpen spade first before you start pushing it in the dirt.
Roots are at the surface ,on adult younger trees.
After that leave it alone till after leaf fall,when you will take it out of the ground and plant it farther away from house.
If you do it this way,no harm will be done to house nor the tree.

Would the leaves fall off soon after cutting the roots or do you wait until fall?

No they will not Fall,because the plant still has some roots going straight down,so,it will just continue growing fruits and everything till Fall,in Nov,when it drops leaves.
That is the time to move it.

Can you wait until fall then cut the roots and dig it up or do you need to give it time in between when you cut the roots and them dig it up?

I think Herman is suggesting to cut the roots now so that the tree adapts to having less root material, and maybe cut again before dormancy.  If you do this, it would probably be less invasive of shock on the tree because it has already adapted to having its roots cut.

I could be wrong, but that is how I understood it.

Sorry Herman, if this is not what you mean to say.

That makes sense Jason, i was just asking out of curiosity.I am still new at this so I feel like I need specific instructions.

I believe you are correct Jason, but also a factor for this person is the concern that the roots are possibly damaging their home. Cutting them now will prevent any further damage as well.

Jason:That is exactly what needs to be done at this point for this reason.
You got it right.

If you cunt some roots now, and some in a month, and so on, it gives the tree time to form new roots closer to the trunk, meaning you will have more root mass in a smaller space when you dig it up.

Attached is a pdf from Penn State that covers the topic well. They recommend actually digging a trench that will be included in the root ball.

if i dig it up, how deep should i dig with the spade.?