The following was receieved via email: I have a fig tree that has been fruitful in the past. The bush is getting to large and I would like to trim it back. Could you tell me when,how much and location I should trim. Your help would be greatly appreciated.
fig trees need to be cut back hard to encourage new shoots....cut back to a replacement shoot lower down on the shrub or cut back to 2 or 3 buds. Remove badly placed branches, ie crowded and crossing, to open up the tree.
My reading tells me that figs fruit on last year's shoots, which seems to contradict what I see in my Italian neighbourhood, where all the fig trees appear to be hacked back practically to stumps every winter and they all seem to do great in the spring. Comments? I have a Desert King tree that is really too big and I am dithering about how severely to cut it back. (It isn't even thinking of budding yet.)
