This cutting is about a year old, and has some explosive vertical growth recently, but no other branches, just the terminal node.   Should I pinch the terminal to force other branches and possibly figs?

My only concern is that since it's a young plant, could pinching kill it?  

It's under some kind of stress due to leaf droop, but think it's just heat since it keeps growing. I'm still trying to shade somehow for the leaf droop.

     

Pinching will not kill it. It is up to you if you want branches or a single stem tree. I have some figs that I grew in a single stem tree fashion and others I didn't.

What about hardiness...Is a single stem weaker than a multi-branch? 

Multi stem from the root ball gives you extras in case one dies during winter. Other than that no, except it is easier to cover low branches with dirt/mulch to protect them during winter.

The photo shows a horizontal growth pattern so I wouldn't worry about pinching at this point.

figlegacy, I'm kidding with you.
Hopefully Herman, the pinch Meister, will see this post and chime in.
It also depends on how low you want the branching to start once you pinch the terminal bud. The standard is usually from 24-36 inches.
You will not kill this plant if you pinch the terminal bud.
Nick gives good advice on whether you prefer a single trunk vs. a bush.
Are you going to grow this fig in a container? - then single trunk would be the way to go.
Are you going to grow this fig in the ground in a zone less than marginal for fig tree survival? - then a bush would be insure survival of the tree.
Are you going to grow this fig as a single trunk in the ground with protection? - then make sure your branching starts low enough to keep the tree compact so that when you tie all the branches together and wrap in insulation, you will be able to handle the process years ahead.

Hope this helps my friend!
Leon

Leon, 

For this year I plan to keep in pots as I live in zone 7A so I will take them in during the winter.  (plus I have no yard to put them in the ground).  minor detail.  

However, next year I hope to  have a yard and will plant in ground.   So looks like I should let grow vertically for now per your recommendation. 

Now for the real question- how do I get the pictures to show up vertically on this forum? lol.   On my computer they appear vertical, but whenever I insert here the forum turns them 90 degrees. 

Don't know how to fix the photo issue. Has not happened to me.
Last year, I failed to pinch back some of my plants and they grew into 6 foot leggy trees.
This year, I air layered the upper half of some of those trees. Not only have I increased my yield, they're all about the same height now.
As far as single vs. multi trunk, all of the Italian old timers I grew up with, preferred single trunk trees.

Leon, that's interesting about the Italian old timers.  I usually grow mine as a whip the first year and then head back to about 18 inches in the Spring.  I then select 3-4 trunks as the scaffold branches.  So the trees are single trunk but they branch off not too far about soil level.  They end up looking like beautiful trees but take a bit more space than a single trunk that branches off much higher as you sometimes see.

Re photo's,run them through here,

http://www.picresize.com/

specify less than a meg and rotate them,you probably took a
vertical shot.For some reason the photo when posted reverts
to it's original orientation.

The late Hanc Mathies told me that he grew all of his trees as single trunks. 
Steve, sounds like you have some nice low growing trees. The taller ones can take up space too.
Paul, thanks for the lead on picresize.com

Hi figlegacy,
The tree is yours and so is the final choice.
If she was mine, I would let her grow and cut end of this year or beginning next year.
I would then have a cutting + a tree , or an airlayer + 1 tree .
Which strain is that? Was the cutting pricey ? Hard to find ?
As most of that tree is softy green growth, I wouldn't cut now. I prefer to cut in hardened wood.
If you pinch, IMO, the tree will be too high . From the tip to the dirt , at the present size, I would cut that tree by the middle, to have low branching ... But that's me .
You could as well set an airlayer right now at the middle of the height of the tree, and separate the airlayer in a month or two.
I would target 50cm/2' of trunk and then the airlayer just above (in case the pic makes me think that the tree is higher than she really is).

Jdsfrance,

Good question - I think it's a Chicago Hardy as that's what other forum users have suggested.    I took the cutting from my grandfather's tree, so they were free.  But the his tree died this winter due to excessively cold temps, so these cuttings are all I got left.

I like your idea of cutting it later in the season and thus getting another clipping out of it.

Still new to figs and have never tried air-layering.  Would that be a better method of getting another tree/cutting from this one shown?

For size perspective, the tree itself that is in the picture is about 2.5 feet tall.

 

figlegacy, 

Looks like a great tree for starters!  

It comes down to what would you like as an end result. A tree with the branches up high or lower to the ground. If you pinch the top off now that will force branching at or below that point as well as encourage it to fruit sooner.

Your fig trees will usually go through a growth spurt between now and the next couple of month so they will ooze some sap and heal themselves up quite well. No shot at killing it. You could cut it in half and it'll still grow, really, I tried it, it works. Air layering is great way to take some height off a tree and get a second tree as the bonus. 

I pinch my fig trees all year long and they respond by branching at or below where I have pinched and I can coax my fig trees into a more favorable shape.  I don't just pinch everything randomly, I look at height of the growth, where the branches are needed, where they are headed, do they look like they will intersect at some time. But a rule we all follow more often than not is to wait for 5-6 leaves to form and then pinch the terminal bud off the end.

Give it a try. They don't pinch back but the sap will irritate your skin/eyes so wash up afterwards.