Detailed Explanation of Key Techniques for Fig Tree Planting and Pruning

Fig trees are easy to cultivate and high-yielding. Most fig trees can set fruit parthenocarpically and bear fruit multiple times a year. After planting, the tree begins to bear fruit in 2 to 3 years, enters full production in 6 to 7 years, and yields increase year by year. To promote high, stable yields and good quality, pruning work should be done well.

Fig trees have very strong growth vigor. On young trees, new shoots or vigorous suckers can grow more than 2 m in a year and have a habit of multiple growth flushes, but the bud-break ability and branching ability of the branches are relatively weak. The tree has many latent buds with a long lifespan, and it very easily forms adventitious buds on the scaffold branches. Therefore, fig trees are relatively easy to renew. Based on the above growth and fruiting habits of fig trees, the following points should be noted when pruning:

1. Use heading cuts sparingly when dealing with branches: Fig trees bear fruit on new shoots of the current year. In addition to differentiating flower receptacle primordia in the leaf axils at the top of new shoots in late autumn, which continue to differentiate the following year and bloom to form spring fruit, fruit receptacles can also form successively from the base of the new shoot upward while the new shoot grows, developing into summer fruit and autumn fruit. This is the reason fig trees can be high-yielding. Therefore, when pruning fig trees, heading cuts should be used cautiously and as little as possible.

2. Different thinning methods for different purposes: Branches should be thinned according to different purposes. When thinning branches, different pruning methods should be used according to the pruning objective. Almost all first-year branches of figs (except vigorous shoots) can become fruiting mother branches, and fruiting branches grow on the fruiting mother branches. Therefore, following the principle of selecting the superior and removing the inferior, overly dense branches and thin, weak branches should be thinned out. In order to stabilize the fruiting area and slow the outward migration of the fruiting position, weak lateral branches and auxiliary branches should be thinned from the base of the branch upward, promoting the sprouting of new shoots. For cultivars with weak bud-break ability, first-year branches should be thinned less; heading cuts can be used to promote new branch growth and fruiting from the middle and lower parts of first-year branches. This pruning method can also prevent the fruiting position from moving outward. The purpose of thinning weak branches is not only to promote new shoots but also to help rejuvenate and renew the branches.

3. Timely renewal pruning: In fig trees, except for especially vigorous shoots and vigorous suckers, almost all new shoots can bear fruit. However, after entering the full fruiting period, growth gradually weakens, new shoots gradually transform into fruiting branches, and when the fruiting branches age and can no longer produce vigorous mixed branches, renewal pruning of the aged fruiting branches should be carried out promptly.

4. Pay attention to summer pruning: Pruning fig trees helps increase yield, but it should be noted that winter pruning alone cannot achieve a large yield increase. Fig branches grow vigorously and continue growing throughout the annual growth cycle. Without summer pruning, branch growth consumes too much nutrition, affecting the second crop. For cultivars with weak branching ability and those mainly harvested for autumn fruit, even more attention should be paid to summer pruning.

To make vigorous new shoots grow solidly, around mid-May, leave 30 cm of new shoot and pinch the tip to promote secondary branches and flower bud formation. For new shoots that have reached the predetermined length, pinch the tips promptly and do not let them continue extending, so as to favor early ripening of fruit set on the lower part of the branch and ripening of the second crop. The timing and amount of pinching and the amount of fruit retained must all be moderate, benefiting both the current year's fruiting and the tree's growth and fruiting the following year.