Hello,

I live in the bay area and have acquired a beautiful young fig tree. I
got the tree from a local farmer's market when it was roughly 4 mos.
old. I have had the tree for nearly seven mos. now which leads me to
believe that it is a year old in age. The trouble with it is is that it
was improperly pruned before it was in my care (I think). It seems that
it's leader was clipped too low to begin with. Currently the main
leader stalk raises about 5 inches out of the soil where it was pruned.
From there, a branch forks off to one side and raises about another 2
ft. This would be fine except for the fact that where the fork occurs
only one side (the 2 ft. side) grows off. The other side of the fork
has been pruned, which leaves it heavy and unstable on one side.
Imagine a capital Y with one of it's arms missing.
I have become quite attached to this tree and want to help it. The
longer I wait the worse it becomes. I am not an expert at pruning. I
understand the basic principals well enough, however, I thought some
guidance would be wise.
I guess that my question is where should I make my cuts? Should I chop
off all of it's beauty and start from scratch? Would I make a cut back
at the fork again?
Thank you for your time.

-JBM

Hi Jerad,

You may want to try and take the remaining end of the original 'Y'
branch and
splint it to direct it upwards. This can become your new leader.

Sherwin D.

wrote:

Hello,

I live in the bay area and have acquired a beautiful young fig tree. I
got the tree from a local farmer's market when it was roughly 4 mos.
old. I have had the tree for nearly seven mos. now which leads me to
believe that it is a year old in age. The trouble with it is is that it
was improperly pruned before it was in my care (I think). It seems that
it's leader was clipped too low to begin with. Currently the main
leader stalk raises about 5 inches out of the soil where it was pruned.
From there, a branch forks off to one side and raises about another 2
ft. This would be fine except for the fact that where the fork occurs
only one side (the 2 ft. side) grows off. The other side of the fork
has been pruned, which leaves it heavy and unstable on one side.
Imagine a capital Y with one of it's arms missing.
I have become quite attached to this tree and want to help it. The
longer I wait the worse it becomes. I am not an expert at pruning. I
understand the basic principals well enough, however, I thought some
guidance would be wise.
I guess that my question is where should I make my cuts? Should I chop
off all of it's beauty and start from scratch? Would I make a cut back
at the fork again?
Thank you for your time.

-JBM

I think if you trim back the already lopped fork to leave a 1/2 inch stump as the
tree grows they other branch will become a single leader. Figs grow quite fast and I
think they are soft wood, so forks could be very vulnerable to splitting. I single
leader is a good idea. Ingrid


wrote:

Hello,

I live in the bay area and have acquired a beautiful young fig tree. I
got the tree from a local farmer's market when it was roughly 4 mos.
old. I have had the tree for nearly seven mos. now which leads me to
believe that it is a year old in age. The trouble with it is is that it
was improperly pruned before it was in my care (I think). It seems that
it's leader was clipped too low to begin with.
I have become quite attached to this tree and want to help it. The
longer I wait the worse it becomes. I am not an expert at pruning. I
understand the basic principals well enough, however, I thought some
guidance would be wise.
I guess that my question is where should I make my cuts? Should I chop
off all of it's beauty and start from scratch? Would I make a cut back
at the fork again?
Thank you for your time.

-JBM



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