Fig tree pruning

[melwig]

I planted a new Janice seedless fig this past spring. It looks very healthy but has only sprouted one central branch with no lateral branches. It has doubled in height and is now about seven feet tall. Is there anything I should do now to encourage lateral branches or should I just wait until winter and heading cut the central trunk? This is my first fig tree. Any advice on how and when to prune would be most helpful. Thanks

[JONA]

Hi
You can cut that centre leader and you should get side breaks below the cut.
Figs are very fast growers if the soil they are in is at all half decent. That's why they need root control by some form of barrier if your soil is rich. All the time a fig can grow ....it will. It just needs a little persuading to for a branch or two.
Cut it at the height you want your side shoots to start from....it will continue growing from that point though ..so don't worry about stopping it at that point.
Good luck.

[applestar]

Almost any Fig cutting can be rooted if you would like to have another plant.

[imafan26]

To get a fig to grow laterally instead of vertically get a fig grown from a lateral cutting. Lateral cuttings have no apical dominance and they grow more like a bush and less like a tree. Roots do need to be contained and pruned to keep them in their space.