Trying to understand figs

[yogz]

Hi all,
My parents have a fig tree in their back yard which is around 7- 10 years old. They grew tired of it as it was only producing 2 or 3 fruits per year, so stopped taking care of it. It's too difficult to remove at this stage, so they instead just prune it VERY harshly every year leaving nothing but a bare trunk. I asked them to leave it alone this year, to see if I could coax into producing some fruit. It currently has about 2 or 3 feet of bushy new growth but no fruit. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and confused by info online. Eg, Am I supposed to be pruning it? Will I get fruit next year? Is there any way I can ensure a decent harvest?
Any guidance gratefully appreciated.

[TrixC]

In hot climates most fig varieties set two crops a year - an early (breba) crop which forms in the spring on the previous season's growth and ripens in the summer, and a maincrop which forms in the summer on the current year's growth and ripens in the autumn. Due to the cooler UK climate the maincrop often won't ripen here, so the varieties commonly grown are those that produce a good breba crop.

If the tree was pruned harshly it's likely that all of the last season's growth was removed, in which case you wouldn't expect to get a breba crop at all, and it may be too early for any main crop to have formed. Could you leave it another season without pruning and see if you get any decent fruit?

However, you say that it was only producing a small number of fruits, so it may be the tree wasn't worth keeping. It's often recommended that figs are grown in containers or with some form of root restriction to encourage fruiting, so if your tree is in the open ground it may be that it is growing a lot of foliage at the expense of fruit. You could try feeding it with a high potassium fertiliser and see if that improves things.

[Snoop Puss]

TrixC gives good advice.

Harsh pruning works, but don't take off the ends of branches, as that's where fruit will develop, as TrixC says. Instead, remove all but one or two branches at ground level. If that doesn't work, you can shock the tree into fruiting by taking a spade to the roots. Sounds brutal and I hated the idea when a local suggested it to me as usual treatment. But it does work. Leave a metre or so of roots and then chop down with spade. The tree will survive.

Depending on your local climate, prune in autumn or very early spring before tree shows much life. I prefer to do it very early spring as we usually have very cold winters.