I would go ahead and remove the dead wood, down to just above the part that is growing so as not to damage the live tissue. If you don't it could harbor bacteria, fungus, and insects. It's a young plant recovering from winter die back so I wouldn't tip prune it to encourage branching. I'd suggest a little mild fertilizer and lots of warm sunlight to get going.

May I ask what zone you are in as well as if you kept it outside over winter and how and what you wrapped it with?

Thanks! NJ 6a. I over wintered it on the deck, close to the house, wrapped the container with 3 layers of bubble wrap, and the tree itself was wrapped with burlap, an old blanket, then tarp. I did leave a little opening at the very top and covered that with a plastic drink cup to allow for some ”breathing”.

Today, I bit the bullet and cut the trunk back to where there was some green showing under the bark. Fingers crossed!

My guess is that it was just a little too young/small to be left outside through winter in Z6a. It will recover, but may not produce or ripen fruit this season. And then again it might. I'm also in Z6a with a couple currently in 20gal moveable pots but waiting until they have at least a 2" dia. trunk before I even consider leaving or planting them outside. That should be by age 3 or 4yrs. I hope it works out for ya.

I transplanted it into a 20 gal when I first got it home last year. Wanted the roots to develop.

I had an I ground 15 ft “heirloom” from my grandparents back in Brooklyn. Produced huge amts of white figs, very sweet...pruned it in Fall, wrapped well...then a few years ago, when seemingly every Eastcoast fig tree was hit, it completely died! Can’t get it to come back from the roots no matter what I tried. Fortunately, I took a cutting from it and started another tree. This smaller tree is starting to come back from underground now.

This Fall I’ll move the potted fig into an unheated basement...hopefully it won’t die back. Thanks for your help, I miss having all those figs!

Just an update on my PH fig after I loped off it's head.