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Pruning a big old fig tree.

Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
edited December 2023 in Plants
I have a big old fig tree by my vegetable garden. I haven't pruned it since I've been here, 3 years, don't really know how to. It has got too big, difficult to walk past and starting to hang over the veg area.

Please would someone give me some advice. Can I shorten branches? Does it need thinning? What time of year should it be pruned?
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.

Posts

  • floraliesfloralies Posts: 2,718
    We had an old multiple trunk one in our garden which we cut back in the winter, we shortened the branches and took out some of the older ones and it came back very vigorously each year! We had to take ours out in the end as the roots were growing into the drainage system. Maybe cut some of it back this winter as you will lose some fruit otherwise.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    My understanding is that figs respond to hard pruning by producing lots of growth … so best to do it in stages, not removing more than a third of the growth in any one year. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    Agree with @Dovefromabove. We made the mistake of pruning too much one year and the next years growth the fig just ran away and no figs. So now we limit what is pruned and hope one year we will get it right.
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    Thank you.

    It's made lots of growth without any pruning!
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
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