Pruning is better to do when dormant in winter. Pruning delays the next season's figs. You can prune a few inches above the soil to anywhere you please to force a more open vase growth. Just about anything you prune off that isn't new growth will root.

More lateral branching = more places for figs = could get very difficult to move that container with branches in your face. No clue what your goal is. If you love figs that much, plant it in the ground if possible.

Thank you for your reply!

I wish I could plant in the ground but I am currently renting. I know I won't be renting forever and figured that if any fruit tree could tolerate being in a pot, it would be the fig tree.

I will follow your advice and wait it out til the tree goes dormant for the winter til I prune the tree back. I figure the tree is about a 1 year old, so I don't really expect figs on it this year even though it would be awesome if it did!

So your suggestion is that if I keep it in a container, it is better to keep it in a tree shape form for ease of movement and for more figs? My ultimate goal is a healthy tree that produces lots of figs so I am totally okay with any shape it is in as long as the end result is that.

My question is do I have to prune a fig tree to encourage branching or is this something a fig tree does on its own?

the plant will grow nicely in the pot until your ready to plant it in ground, but it's still important to think of the eventual shape

i usually form mine to a sort of half standard meaning it has one trunk and branches about a foot off the ground, in this case you need to prune for low branching in order for the figs to be at a reachable height

but if you leave it without, it will still branch, you will get a much taller tree and as A J said, less figs

ma_delgobbo, I would love a picture of your fig tree if you have it easily available to share!

I am new to gardening in general. My husband and I started a mini vegetable garden this year and I have a couple of house plants. I just love that all of your hard work gets rewarded with figs TWICE a year! Especially since you can never find truly tasty figs at the grocery store.

Pruning and pinching is something that still confuses me even with research. I know that with more experience I will be more confident but I find that I am unsure how it effects the tree as far as branching and fruit production.

I have the brown turkey in the picture and two more trees. My other small fig tree was sold as a BT but I am almost certain it is a Celeste. I also bought another tree a couple days ago. The garden center I was at was having a 40% sale on fruit trees! I got another Celeste already with figs on it for $22!!

For right now I am telling myself NO MORE, but it is hard..haha

I will try to get you a pic tomrw

trust me I know it's very hard to stop! Figs are very rewarding to grow

btw I would put that taller plant into a bigger pot

i know pruning can seem daunting but with figs you can literally cut it down to half its size and get lots of growth, in fact in the first few years I do

but if you're still uneasy, you can do an experiment; just pinch one branch and you'll see the results

Take the tree-like plant you have there for example

if you don't pinch the top soon, the branches will be lanky like so...

That's not one of mine but I usually prefer this style (neither are mine I just found pics cause it's dark out now :)

But you can se how pruning makes a big difference

Yes! I truly can!

Thank you for the quick reply. I can see that in the first picture the tree is very lanky and think and the next picture the tree is full. It makes a lot of sense that pruning is so very important in the beginning stages of fig trees because all the fig trees I saw at the big chain garden stores were very lanky and some of the trunks were even shooting straight out to the side!

With my lanky BT I plan to leave it be until it goes dormant in the winter and then cut it back to half of it's size. Unless of course it is safe and better to prune it now?

With my biggest fig tree I got the other day, I wanted to re-pot the plant but was afraid it was going to drop its fruit if I disturbed the plant to much. When I re-pot I bare root the tree and replace all the old soil with new soil. I could always just pot-up the plant and move it to a bigger container. It is currently in a 5gal. container and I think 10-15gal would be a nice size for now to go up too.

Which brings me to another question...soil.

Currently I have my lanky BT and baby Celeste in a 2:1:1 mixture of pine bark, perlite and compost. When I told the lady the other day at the nursery my mixture she seems concerned that my mixture was to sterile. She told me that fig trees needs to be in a raised bed potting mix. Basically lots of compost, with vermiculite and peat moss. I wanted a very airy soil because everything I have read on ficus trees tells me they love well drained soil. I also love that I can water my trees in the heat of the day (currently in Texas today it was up to 90 degrees in March).

I guess my question to you is what do you plant your trees in? I know everyones answer will be different because we all live in different areas and water differently. Is my mixture too sterile? Or are fig trees truly that awesome that they can thrive in ANY media we put them in?

Thank you for all the advice!

I feel so much better about my mixture for my young figgies and better about putting the tree in a bigger pot without disturbing the fruit.

Now if I can just find a lightweight 10-15g pot with hands...lol

Hi. I have a fig tree, about 5 years old (?) in a pot. It's about 4 feet tall and has only a skinny trunk (about 3/8" in diameter) with leaves, no branches and has never borne any fruit. Should I prune it to get it to branch out? If so, where on the trunk should I cut it (ie: how short)? When should I cut it? If it has no fruit, can I do it now? I live in Northern New Mexico so it's too cold in the winter to plant it outside. It will have to live indoors in winter, outside in summer.

Can you share a photo of your fig in pot?