I have to admit, it makes it a bit easier to make those hard cuts when you have dozens of other trees to get done!

Now that's the way to do it Daniel. We're hoping we can get a few cuttings started out of this batch to do more of the same.

We're in a near ideal climate for fig trees here in Arizona, so that definitely makes a difference. Like most fruit trees, they need sunshine to really drive root development and overall growth. Sunshine is something we get in abundance down here!

Hey Olga! I'm glad you enjoyed this one. We were wanting to give as many examples as we could this time around.

Amazing how much they take off after pruning, huh?

Glad you enjoyed this one Helen!

Glad you enjoyed this one Elizabeth!

Glad you found this one useful!

Thanks M C. Glad you enjoyed it.

Glad you enjoyed this one and found it useful. Pruning season will be here before you know it!

You're welcome!!

Glad you enjoyed this one!

It will be pruning season before you know it!

Hey Buchan! 4 fig trees is a nice assortment of figs. Many folks keep fig trees in pots, but if you can find the space they'll grow and produce much stronger in the ground. Are you here in the Valley?

The Sweeney Todd of fig trees. Sorta has a ring to it! Glad you enjoyed this one.

Hey Abid. Figs are one of those trees that most people are a little more nervous to prune, but they do really well when you prune this way. Especially when they're young like this.

Glad you enjoyed this one. I'm guessing from your YT handle you know a thing or two about figs!

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm the homestead is named after a single ‘lucky’ fig

@@LuckyFigFarm oh, gotcha. So what is the lucky variety?

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm haha. Good question. I think it’s a black Genoa. I live in an old farming area and a long time ago some farmer must have planted one of these, but now the parrots have eaten it and spread them wild in my area. Basically, when our homestead was vacant one of these figs appeared from nowhere in my paddock. I transplanted it to another spot to start our orchard!

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm my climate would be similar to yours. We are a temperate Mediterranean zone 11. Very hot and long summers.

Hey there Barry. Glad you enjoyed this one. We have folks reach out all the time concerned with pruning their trees and reluctant to make those all important cuts. It's so important to the health and production of these trees!!

These were the first trees that I was really able to test that blade out on and I'm a true believe in those now! We have been very surprised at how strongly that VDB has been growing. I was little hesitant to prune quite so heavy on that, but that strong growth in a year should be a sign of good things to come!

Hey there Margaret. First off, great choices on your fig trees. We grow those varieties as well. As for pruning, keep in mind that the aggressiveness of the roots is what drives the need to be aggressive with pruning. When you have trees in pots they are, by design, less aggressive as the root mass is limited to the pot size. You'll still want to do some pruning, but you wouldn't be near as aggressive as you see us doing here.

Hey Jeanette, glad you enjoyed this one. Fig trees really do best when they are pruned on a regular basis, so I think you'll see good results giving it a bit of a trim!

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm the tree is at least 50 years old so would it be okay to do a relatively serious chop? I’m thinking mostly ground branches and center crossing branches.

@@jeanettehaygood4154 the general rule of thumb is no more than about 30% of total branching in any given season. If you're focusing on lower and crossing branches, my guess is you should be just fine.

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm thank you! That’s a huge help!

Great questions here Ahmad. Most of the figs ripen at different times, but it is a bit of a hassle to ensure we get a harvest as we use organza bags on individual fruit to keep them from birds. Fortunately Lori is home full time and it's a one person job, so we're hopeful she can manage that during the ripening season. I don't know that we'll sell figs as a cash crop, at least that's not on the plans currently. We eat most of the fruit fresh and also dry some, but most of the "excess" we freeze and use to make wine. Most of the branching material is used for propagation, but what isn't used there we wind up chipping into mulch.

Twigs does rhyme with figs! We get so many questions on fig trees and pruning, so we wanted to cover as many types of trees as we could in one episode. As with most fruit trees, they respond really well to pruning and as aggressive as these are growing we're trying to establish good structure up front, so we're not trying to control them later.

Great question Kevin and I should have addressed this in the video. We don't apply anything to the cuttings, but we do leave them uncovered until they're completely dried over. With our insanely dry weather that happens pretty fast, but generally we leave these uncovered for several weeks until we apply new wood chips in the Spring.

Hey Pamela. I'm glad to hear you are seeing some growth after the pig rampage. That still really frustrates me. If you're going to move the orange tree you can do that now. The only time you'll want to avoid is summer when the trees are a bit stressed out already.

Hey Rizwan. We fertilize our fig trees the same as the rest of our fruit trees. I'll link a video we posted about that here for you; kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rNplrKWl1c28mXk.html

Glad you enjoyed this one. I'll link to a video here where we discuss our reason for the paint and our preferred product; kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jbyYkqyirci8o2Q.html

Hey Jordan! There's no need to cover those trees this year. There's debate as to whether or not it makes any difference either way, because covering them only keeps frost from settling on the tree. The cold temp is what usually causes problems with the fruit/flowers.

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm awesome! Thank you again!

@@jordanrobison1827 you got it my friend!

Hey there Kamyar. It sounds like you had a very aggressive pruning session last year which may be the reason you were seeing less production this year. Although the weather being a bit different may have caused some of that lack of production as well. With our trees it's very common to see a few feet of growth in a single season, so it's one of the reasons we are so aggressive with our pruning cuts. You may find that you'll need to change that if you're not seeing the same growth. New shoots from existing wood is where your main crop is formed, so the more branching you have, the more production you'll see. As for timing, it's best to get these pruned in the middle of your Winter season, but any time after they go dormant and before bud swell in the Spring is just fine.

@markstanleywinemaking ah, very good to know. Thank you for note!

Sounds like your brother has great taste!

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm yeah!!!!!!!!! There my 3rd favorite!!!!!!!!!

@@helloiamjunie1712 and you're 1st and 2nd favorites are??

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm I love Mulberrys! And Pasta hahahahahahaha

@@helloiamjunie1712 ok, so now to find a pasta tree!!

Great question. I'm going to link a video we did a few years back on one of our established fig trees that may help answer that; kzfaq.info/get/bejne/n69lq5WGzpquaGw.html

Hey Lukas. Glad you're finding these useful. One of the great things about figs is the different ways you can prune them and they still remain productive. Keeping that in mind, you can really treat your tree however you like. If it's a slow grower you'll want to be less aggressive than you see us being here. For us here in AZ most of our trees grow very aggressive, so it's easier for us to make larger, more aggressive cuts. With that, we have a VDB and Panache that both like to grow more vertical. For those trees I'm always training the tree to grow more horizontal. With those I remove any branches in the center of the tree and any branches pointing in towards the center of the tree each pruning season. Also, as I make my cuts for size reduction, I am sure to make the cut about 1/2" above an outward facing bud. Strong growing fig trees will push growth from the first several buds after a cut is made and even push growth from the branch where there isn't a bud, so this helps direct that new growth outward in subsequent pruning years as well. Hopefully this makes sense, but it may also help to watch our fig pruning video from this year as well where we address some of these issues. I'll link it for you here; kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mN-EramGxK3UioE.html

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm thanks a lot, some of mine are also growing pretty much vertical, so I'll prune them to be more horizontal, but how many main stems would you let it grow if it's already more like a bush, cause some don't have one real stem like the others and I'll cut the center back so light can reach all branches, thank you very much!

@@grozny00 our Olympian fig is very similar to that and we actually go over what we're doing with that particular tree in this year's fig pruning video that I linked for you. That may help with figuring yours out as well.

We'll be sure to do a follow up on these bad boys soon. They're exploding into life right now!

Great question. We don't use any sealer on the cuts. Our extremely dry weather keeps us from having any issues with cuts not healing over as they dry within 24 hours. We do fertilize regularly. I'll link to a video we put together on fertilizing for you here; kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rNplrKWl1c28mXk.html

Hey there Rene. Sorry to hear that fig tree is not producing like you're used to. There could be several reasons why you're not seeing production. From watering to fertilizing to pruning. All of them can effect the tree's ability to hang onto figs until they're ripe. Pruning is where I would start and I'm guessing since you're watching this episode it's what you want to consider. This helps reduce the amount of branching the roots need to support, so it can focus on fruit production. Be sure to water the tree deeply, especially during the summer months and keep an eye on the tree. We water once a week for the most part, but at the peak of summer you may need more than that. Just be cautious with frequent watering (more than twice a week) as this can cause other issues. Also, be sure you have a heavy layer of wood chip mulch around the tree. This helps keep consistent moisture and soil temp to keep the tree from getting stressed. Lastly, be sure you're fertilizing in February, May and September with a fruit tree fertilizer. Fingers crossed, this will help.

Great question and it really depends on the young tree and your preference for tree height. Most of these trees were cuttings we rooted ourselves, so most of them broke about 6 to 8 inches from the soil line from the start and they grew from there. If you have a taller plant to begin with it's really up to you. In a perfect world our preference is to keep the open center at around 24 - 36 inches and develop horizontal scaffolds from there. Similar to what you see me cutting to at around 6:50 in this video. As for the cut, we always cut at an angle, so the tree heals nice and dry regardless of precipitation. Over time it heals over flat for the most part. I hope this helps.

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm I have a brown turkey that arrived with a very straight stem two feet tall above ground when planted. The other is Celeste which I have received as a potted cutting with two leaves worth of growth. I have allocated just six feet wide and tall for the figs so I want to use aggressive pruning to keep them contained in that space. I have the pruning method for pome and stone fruit trees to keep them small just not looked at what differences and similarities the figs will need to keep them small.

@@pd8559 Ok, thanks for this detail as it helps with direction. I would say you're probably going to use a similar approach to your fig as you're using with your stone fruit. They grow very similar and the brown turkey should be nice and aggressive for you (I.E. you can usually prune aggressive also). The major difference is you're not having to worry about "sucker growth" as there is none (the growth from the roots is still BT fig). With this you can easily maintain it as a multi trunk bush from the ground. The biggest thing for you will be taking it down quite a bit each Winter to maintain that more compact form to fit that space. It's going to want to really take off each year!

Figs seem to be one of the biggest challenges folks face when it comes to pruning. I think it's because there is so much variation between varieties and growing conditions. We water our fig trees on the same schedule as the majority of our trees. Right now it's about 60 gallons every other week, but during the peak of summer it's usually twice a week with a total of about 90-100 gallons/week. The key we've found is consistency, especially during the growing season as they will react to irrigation changes quite drastically.

We may do so in the future, but for now it's not something we're trying to take on. We donate our cuttings to a local nursery who roots them out and sells them to folks here in town. Getting everything in order to ship them commercially is really tough. We're a registered farm here in AZ, so we have to stick to the rules which can be quite arduous, especially with shipping live material in the mail.

Oh man, this is not good to hear! We no longer use tanglefoot on any of our trees, but a tried and true method for us that worked for years was to wrap the tree in flagging tape first and then applying the tanglefoot on top of the tape. We would only leave it up during the fruiting season and then remove it for the rest of the year. Keep in mind, this was in 100+ degree summer heat, so it should me safe for most folks. At least, if it's a dry heat like we have here in AZ. 😉

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Thanks!!!

Hey Alberto! Yes, I (Duane) have nightmares of pruning our large Palo Verde for years when we lived in the city. Those trees have a tendency to get very top heavy, so I would focus on keeping the height low. They also can tip over easily in the wind if they're watered with drip irrigation, so keeping the branching lower will help keep the tree from falling over in monsoon storms. Pruning during the dormant season (Winter) is best, but you can also prune them during the growing season also. They're desert adapted trees, so they can survive just about anything it seems!

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Thank you the shears will be use today than! lol. And will try to make it a multi-trunk too for better support than thanks again!

@@albertomendez6715 be careful with those thorns!!

Hey Martin! Fig pruning seems to be one of those things that most folks just need some encouragement on. I'm not sure what it is about them that makes people shy away from pruning, but it seems to be the case. I'll have to see how the fig cuttings do this year to figure out whether or not we'll wind up sending these to folks in the mail. Spring planting is almost upon us!

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Your trees do fantastic, so you should have no problem selling cuttings. When you have only a few trees, you tend to baby them. Like Little Johnny they need correction but it hurts to cause Little Johnny pain. :) Good film and I can see why you don't have a ground squirrel problem. they got jealous of how fast you move in the planting films, and left in a snit :)

@@marschlosser4540 funny you should mention that. I caught a mouse running away as I was dragging the old pig area yesterday!

Hey there! I'll try to help as best I can. You can find our email on the About tab on our channel here on YT.

Oh my goodness!

Hey Stan. We actually donate all of our material to a couple of local producers. We've tried shipping cuttings and other things in the mail and it's just more hassle than it's worth for us.

Hey Jim. This is always tough to decide with older trees. The key for you is going to be taking the tree down in stages. You mentioned multiple trunks and that will definitely help. I would try bringing one of the trunks down to a manageable height and see how the tree responds this Spring. From there you can repeat over a few years until you have the tree back to a manageable height. The other option is taking the whole tree down by about 30%. You can do this by just topping it, or bringing 30% of the branching down by 40-50%. This is usually the approach we take on consults for older trees that need to be brought down to a manageable height as it can be done with either single or multiple trunks.

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Thanks for the quick reply. Duane I will send you an email with my number. Thanks again

You didn't mention where you live, but if it's in a more temperate climate it may just be too early. Our fig trees are one of the last trees to break dormancy for us here in Arizona (usually some time in March), but our peach and apple trees break in January (first trees to come out of dormancy).

@@EdgeofNowhereFarmI live in new York my zone is 7 thank you

@@yuliyanozhnitsky815 ah, ok. You are much cooler than we are here, so I can only assume it should be breaking dormancy soon.

Hey Max. That's a tough one to answer as it can be quite subjective. We like both "figgy" and "berry" type figs, so it's hard to narrow down to 1 variety. We prefer either the Panache or Violette De Bordeaux for fresh eating as they have a wonderful "berry" flavor. We have an unknown white fig (or green) that has an incredible "figgy" flavor as well. That being said, we're only limited to what we've tried which is just a handful of varieties. There are a LOT more options out there!

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Thank you. At some point I want to start grafting different varieties of figs onto my Black Mission Fig tree.

@@maxsmith5984 Sure thing. A lot of folks use either Black Mission or Brown Turkey for grafting!

Glad you enjoyed this one Stan!

Bingo Kelly!

Couple things. These are young fig trees and we're trying to establish a low, wide structure for maximum fruit production and ease of harvest down the road. As for production, take a peak at the production we get on trees that are initially pruned this way in the video I'll link for you here. These were 4 year old trees that had been pruned this way; kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bMl5pc57q8yaonk.html

Uh, we've been growing and pruning trees here in the desert for the last 12 years and have had great success with these methods. Here's a shot of the harvest we had a few years back on our Brown Turkey figs pruned this way for 4 years; kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bMl5pc57q8yaonk.html