Chainsaw and stump-grinder.

Sorry, Garden Lover, but your question to this group is about like asking the Audubon Society how to cook Ivory-billed Woodpeckers. Everybody in this forum is looking for ways to make their trees produce more, not less. If you advertised "free figs" in your local paper, no doubt you'd find plenty of fig lovers willing to come pick them before they fall off and interfere with local walking. Did you ever consider canning them as preserves and giving them to friends as holiday gifts? They go for about $6 per pint at roadside stores, and most people have a high regard for them.

Im with Georgia Jack on this one!

Heck, this could be a business venture for you and your kids......I'd get them involved in collecting them and trying to sell them at your local fruit market.

Im VERY interested in hearing where you're located also!

I'd almost bet grdnluvr is in Southern California. I lived in the San Fernando Valley, in SC many years ago when I was young and dumb, and didn't even know what a fig tree was!! I got a house that had a terribly overgrown tree in the back yard, right in the corner, of a block wall (everybody has block walls in SC in their back yards, for privacy). It was about 10" in diameter, 25 feet tall or so, and it's bark was grayish-white, like a Beech tree, in the East. I pruned it back (drastically) in Winter, when it was dormant, and the next Spring it leafed out and went on to produce at least 5,000 figs (if I'm lying I'm dying). They fell in my yard and all over into the alley behind the block wall. People used to knock on my door and tell me their children (and their cars) were slipping in the mess, and would I please clean it up. Looking back, I think they were Kadota Figs--for everyone in the area seemed to grow (white) Kadota figs(very good canning figs--they have a somewhat tough skin that keeps them firm and intact when canned), or black (Mission figs), at the time. Of course, the SF Valley has a Mediterranean type climate where figs reach their optimum potential; pitangadiego, I'm sure, is aware of this in his area of Southern California--nearly the perfect climate for the U.S.
grdnluvr, if you take pitangadiego's advice and decide to cut the tree down, please let folks on the fig forum know about it; in fact, even if you drastically prune it to keep it SOMEWHAT under control (my recommendation), you'll still have HUNDREDS, maybe, THOUSANDS, of fig cuttings that someone on the fig forum (from your area) could come and get from you--instead of your trashing them all.
My advice, of course, would be to save the tree, by all means. Like I said, you can drastically prune it this Winter, while dormant, maybe half its size--to 15 feet. Next Winter, you can again prune it down to about 7-8 feet, and it will be manageable for you, and won't have so many figs. (I never was one for completely BUTCHERING a fruit tree of any kind--so I would do it in degrees). As Jack and others stated, everyone on this fourm likes figs (and fig trees) so much, that none would want to see such a prolific tree destroyed.

I should have such a tree!!!
Now, to your question - the Japanese spray hormones on their trees to make them ripen in a short period of time (makes picking cheaper), so I imagine there might be something similar to cease production of fruit. Best bet would be to contact your state's Ag service.
georgia jack is absolutely correct, even if we knew how to stop fruit production we probably wouldn't tell you.....Elder

Does anyone have a recipe for Ivory-Billed Woodpeckers in fig sauce?

Maybe try contacting UCDavis???
I bet they'd love to come take a look at it (if nearby) if its unusually large tree for that area???

Hi everyone. I do not know what variety of fig I have, and I am located in central CA. I like this tree and I don't want to cut it down or even drastically prune it. One of the things I love about it is it's large size because it gives some awesome shade. I just wondered if any one knew if there is a way to make it not produce fruit. Anyway, you are all welcome to come gather as many figs as you would like (when is season of course). Until I find a way to make it stop producing, they will continue to drop and I will continue to pick up and throw way so my son does not get fig messy or choke on them. (You know kids, they put every thing in their mouth)

Ok I was holding back for as long as I could.....grdnluvr dont touch the tree, how much do you want for your home? :^)

There are a lot worse things for a kid to put in his mouth than a fig ;)

One thing I have noticed with my trees is that some fruit hold on to the trees very well while others fall when looked at cross-wise. While waiting for an anti-fruiting serum to be developed, try laying a sheet underneath the tree, then shake the limbs you can reach to encourage the fruit that might fall. Once they drop, gather the corners of the sheet and collect the fruit in the middle of the sheet. You can dispose of the figs as you wish.

Granted you can't reach the upper limbs, but this might help reduce the number that end up mushed into the ground. If it doesn't help enough, you might be able to hire someone with a mechanical shaker to shake the tree when you think most of the fruit is near ripe. Heck, you may be able to negotiate a lower rate in exchange for all the figs he/she wants to eat.

good luck,
~james

This whole thread is out of step and totally ridiculous!
Get a chainsaw or plastic bubble...

Figs don't have flowers like apples, peaches, or olives. There are chemicals that can be applied to flowering trees at time of bloom to stop them from forming fruits. Figs don't have an open flower, and you won't be able to do that.
It might be Ironic but you may cut it down to couple feet above ground and graft it with non- fruiting fig or an ornamental ficus.

Bass

I am looking to get my fig tree to stop bearing fruit as well--love the tree but I am renting and cannot get rid of the tree--and don't want to either. have started to get the avocado tree going, and the hybrid lemon/grapefruit is great, but the figs are just a mess. all I need to do is prevent the figs from growing. someone must know a way.

helpppppp

Lot's of nitrogen to get it to push leafy growth over fruit? Just a guess, not sure what it'd actually do....

One copper nail in the trunk should take care of its fruitfulness in no time! You're welcome! :)

The original posters question and last comment was 10 years ago.

Martin

I have the same issue. Lovely tree gross rotting fruit. Bees gnats fruit flies putrid fruit. 😐

I am having the problem with my Ficus rubiginosa. Beautiful tree, already pruned beautifully, but it is staining the nearby concrete and choking off/covering new plants underneath. No uses for the fruit as it isn’t tolerable. Everyday at least 15 minutes needed to clean up the area. Maybe there is a system to catch the falling fruit somehow?