Advice on pruning a large fig tree
arturo nunez
Posts: 1
Theres a large fig tree in the garden of the house I moved into a couple of years ago. During the summer it creates a fairly thick canopy blocking the sun out of much of the garden, so I'd like to cut it back. I'm not sure what the variety is, but it seems to produce a large number of figs with white flesh - most of them are out of reach and seem to come under attack from birds before they have a chance to ripen. I managed to collect about a dozen edible ones last year..
The trunk splits into about 6 sturdy branches about 6 feet off the ground, but at about 10 feet these turn into a large number of very long and thin branches to extend out and up to a total height of about 20 feet (see image below).
I'm not sure how to go about pruning it. I'm wondering whether I should chop it right down to where the more sturdy branches end, or just thin out the long slender ones, leaving some of them in place. I don't mind if theres no fruit for a couple of years as hardly managed to eat any of it last year anyway.
Any advice would be gratefully received
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Posts
you can reduce the crown significantly in size, cut back to where there are branches - don't leave stumps as they can be the source of infection.
Thin the crown out by removing 1/3 of the branches equally and don't get the sap on your skin as it'll give you a nasty rash
Then, in summer, tip prune to encourage fruiting spurs.
H-C
Fruit can be kept from the birds and bees if you put a parer bag (not plastic) over the fruit before it is ripe.
I wondered one year what was eating the figs on a tree I had. One morning, caught the culprit, a female blackcap. Home from home. I suppose. All the way from the southern mediterranean and found figs!
H-C