I have 3 fig trees in containers I was planning to take out of storage this weekend. I live in north-central VA and the low temperatures are only getting down to the mid-30's at night and the afternoons are supposed to start getting up to the 70s. We had a freak snow-storm (4") 5 days ago, so the weather has been very erratic...

I had plans to prune one of the trees this winter which has 3 main trunks about 4'-5' long and no side/offshoot branches. I never got to it in January and this morning I noticed that each of the tree's 3 main trunks have 1/4" buds on the top-most 1.5' of the stem.

Can I still prune the tree back to 3' or so (each stem) even though the tree is coming out of dormancy, or will this cause harm? (I'm not worried about impact to fruit harvest as this is the tree's first year in a container and I am still shaping it.) 

Thanks,

I find that there is no wrong time to prune a fig tree. It is always easier to prune when in complete dormancy.

Go for it.

Thanks guys. Will prune this weekend. Plus then I'll have some cuttings to start growing. ;)  (it's a Celeste)  Appreciate the advice.