I'm curious as well. My tree is over 50 years old and has produced loads of fruit year after year. This year all the leaves fell off during the winter and now there's some new growth coming up.when I break off some of the dead stuff it still looks green inside. I am in Memphis tenn. I sure hope I haven't lost my tree

jgraham, I believe new shoots should come up from the bottom. Do you see any? I have a lot, even though the whole thing looked dead in the spring.

jgraham, I believe new shoots should come up from the bottom. Do you see any? I have a lot, even though the whole thing looked dead in the spring.

I have been "caring" for a neighbors fig tree for years. I say caring because I really don't know much about figs but when I met her about 7 years ago the trees bore no fruit and after a little basic attention they started producing.
This year it looks like the trees are dead but there a suckers coming up at ground level. What do I do with the tree? Should I cut it back?

I cut my dead trunks off flush with the ground.

I would prune away all dead wood on your tree. you don't want beetles boring away at the dead wood and laying eggs. as for the suckers, pick one, two, or three that look good and seem to being growing vertical. prune away the rest and concentrate on getting your choice suckers to grow. they will grow fast because you have an established root system pushing them. I prune away the bottom leaves up to about sixteen inches as the sucker grows and do it carefully. allow the sucker to grow to about a foot before pruning any leaves.
I normally leave three suckers to grow up and after a couple of months I either train the tree to be a single trunk tree by pruning off the other two or let all three grow and make a bushy tree. I stake them and prune the leaves from the bottom up to as high as two feet so I can cut the grass close to the trunk and keep the future branches from getting too close to the ground.
this is a perfect opportunity to shape and train your tree to the way you may have always wanted it. don't be scared to over prune because fig trees are hard to kill by pruning. if your choice sucker dies, another will come along shortly to replace it.

jgraham, I believe new shoots should come up from the bottom. Do you see any? I have a lot, even though the whole thing looked dead in the spring.

Thanks, Fernando! Will cut out all the dead wood.