All my in ground figs died back to the ground or close to it. But praise God they are all alive and showing green growth. I am not going to cut back the dead looking tops yet, but it does appear all new growth will be starting real close to the ground.

With that in mind, how should I pinch/train this new growth? Should I pinch this new growth at 6 or 7 leaves like I usually do? I want to maximize fruit production while starting new structure.

Any suggestions or experience anyone can share with me?

This Southern California lady isn't really qualified to help you, but when I want more figs, I pinch at 5 leaves.  It appears I have a tree some members would like cuttings from, and it's destined to grow huge.  This year, I am pinching for sprouts to make into cuttings to send next year. 

Maybe you should take more cuttings so you can insulate those trees with hay or whatever you guys in cold climates do.  Member's here may love your cuttings, and if they are gonna die back anyway, why not?

Good luck with your figs!

Suzi

Suzi your right they going to die back anyway. Any how. How do i pinch back to get more figs? Do tell. I live in hot louisiana just to let you know if it matters for this process

Richard, you just wait for 5 leaves, and pinch the growth tip.  NOW you have stopped the branch growth, so the fig puts out new side shoots with more figs. 

Suzi

As Suzi mentioned, simply cut/break/'pinch' the tip of the growing stem to halt growth, which forces lower nodes to shoot new branches.  For me, I begin pinching in early June, when growth is vigorous and the tree has lots of energy flowing.  I limit my growth to under 6' because they all die back every year anyway.  I do believe it helps produce more figs too.

Thanks Suzie and Frank. That is my plan. I will pinch from the beginning. If the winters keep being like the last few, my inground figs will die to the ground each year, so I need to find the best way to maximize their production in that environment. I tried protecting them 2 years ago, but it really did not help much.

I am going to keep 2-3 in big containers and shuffle them in and out of a shed, just so I have a couple with earlier growth. But the majority of my figs will be inground.

Mine all died back to very close to ground level as well  If you pinch at five leaves or so, won't your figs almost be touching the ground?

I'm confused. If I pinch a tip at 6 leaves. What exactly happens to that branch? Will it get more branches? Does anyone have a pic so I can see what happens? This is only my second year with figs. My trees are all small. I'm just hoping for a few fruits this year on my little trees.

Tifany, it isn't rocket science.  You pinch. You stop the main branch from growing, so it sends out side branches with more figs. 

Suzi

Another result of pinched tips.  You can see several new shoots.

 

 

 

Also, when you do this, the tip will 'bleed' white milky sap.  No worries, as it will naturally heal itself within minutes and harden over.

Awesome pics. Thank you for helping me understand.

My Desert King is growing many long new shoots this year.

Should Desert King be pinched when grown in cool climates for brebas only?  And if so after how many leaves or how long should I let the branches get?

My goal is to get the most brebas following year and to limit length and get branches hardened before winter.

Hi Pino,
Here if I pinch, the new growth won't give me brebas the next year.
I'm trying a method of trimming hard every 5 years to control the final height of the trees (see (*) ).
I have a tree, a sport of pingo de mel, that is able to carry brebas down low on the stems. Pinching may work with that one.
The tree is young, and for now all the trimming done on that tree is called "winter damage".
As always you could run your own test. You just need a second tree to compare both ( pinching and no pinching).
I'd rather pinch or better trim back after harvesting the brebas and possibly get no brebas the year after ... but I'd do that every 3 or 5 years.

(*) I tried that this year with one tree. The results are frustrating. I may have to cut the tree at ground level next year- while keeping 3-5 suckers from this year.
The problem is the tree is in ground and since I cut stems but did not work the roots ... The new growth is on steroids - remember I wanted to control the height .
Well, I'll see and decide next year. This is no easy game.

Thanks for the grow tips jdsfrance!

I will try experimenting with a couple of DKs I have in pots but I only have 1 in ground DK and I really want to get it right and see if I can get a large crop of DK figs.

My in ground DK has spent 2 winters in ground.  As large (6'x9'x10') as it has got it only has 7 breba figs coming along.
This photo was July 14 two weeks after a huge hail storm.  You can see it has put out 6 or more leaves on each branch since the hail damaged leaves.  Now July 25 each branch has grown another foot so and it is still growing due to a lot of rain in June and July very unusual for us.

It is going to be a real challenge for winter protection this year.  Attached a photo of how it was protected last winter as an fyi.

At this point I think for winter I will be thin pruning many branches and leaving some stubs for next year's branches.  I will also try pinching 1/2 the branches I leave and see what happens with breba production.