Let's see how you're notching ............ an image?

On small trees up to 3/4" diameter, the notch should be centered above the node where you want the branch, and the width of the notch should take up 1/3-1/2 of the circumference. You should remove all the bark to make a slit 1/8-3/16 in ht, and you should remove all tissue at the deepest part of the notch - all the way down to bare sapwood. So, after you carve this 1/8-3/16 high groove, use the sharp edge of the knife to remove all cambial tissues from the surface of the sapwood. Auxin acts to keep lateral/axillary buds inactive. If you leave part the cambium, the wound closes very quickly, restoring the pathway for auxin's polar flow past axillary buds to roots, when what you want is the flow of auxin to be stopped or diverted around the latent bud you're trying to awaken from quiescence (rest).

Al

This is so much clearer an instruction than I have seen. Thanks! My fig is relatively young and the main stem is not 3/4”. That makes it hard to show you a photo, but what I’ve done, incorrectly, is simply make a cut about halfway into the stem. I haven’t actually removed any of the tissue.
I’ll try to send a picture when there’s more daylight, but in the meantime, thanks again for your help.

Once you get an image posted, I can probably tell you how to force branching with 100% certainty and maybe even improve your trees potential (future) eye appeal in the process.

Al

Ok here’s a pic of the plant, of where I made the notch (I took out more than I realized) and how far from the top of the plant I notched. Thanks again for your suggestions.