This is a little bit off topic because the specific trees I am dealing with are avocados. But, I think the same question and answer could be applied to most trees, including figs.

 

I have about 70 large, Haas avocado trees, probably around 20 years old. The trees were around 15 feet tall up until about a year ago when they were cut back to less than 10 feet. They have already put out new branches to replace the ones that were cut, and those new branches have already been thinned out, leaving the trees in pretty good vase form. The problem I see is that when the large branches were cut back, they were stubbed, leaving about 8 inches sticking out past the bark-branch collar. If I had pruned these trees, I would have cut right at the bark-branch collar. 

 

So, my question is, now that these trees are already stubbed and the stubs healed over, should I leave them alone, or should I go back and remove the stubs, cutting them back to the bark-branch collar? These were large branches, so each cut will end up leaving a new wound of around 8 inches diameter, with a dozen or so on each tree. That's about 840 saw cuts, so I also don't want to do this unless the trees will suffer by my not doing it. If I am supposed to cut them, is there an optimum time of year? By the way, they are all on frost-free land, if that matters.