the guide the local orchard gave me was specific to prune during the first year. this is why I did this. there was specific directions on what to do when, but I didn't do it when I first planted and now I'm not sure if I need to chop the header or what. All I know is that it isn't growing new branches like the other trees are.

redhairing... I understand how daunting pruning an overgrown fig tree can be. But, you are in luck. There have been a number of recent threads that cover this very topic. Search this forum, and you will see plenty of photos of hard-pruned fig trees. Also, You-Tube has some pruning videos. You will need a good, tree-pruning saw to establish the basic structure of the tree. I would not be too worried about "murdering" this fig tree, as they do with crepe myrtles. But you will have to decide where to make those initial pruning cuts to prevent this. You already know the basics of pruning. If you can, post some photos of the tree, and maybe forum members will suggest places for the pruning cuts. You have plenty of time. Major pruning should be done in the Spring, before tree breaks dormancy. You will also want to do this, gradually, over a number of years. Even if you screw up...and I am sure you will not...the tree will put out so much new wood that you will never know within a few seasons. Figs are one of the few trees that can be drastically pruned back, with few worries. It's done all the time to control rampant growth. Good luck. Frank

Aesthetics at that age, mostly. However, since in citrus fruit is carried at the tips of new growth, pinching will delay fruiting. But that is a good thing for a young citrus tree imo, as their trunks and branches are not strong/thick enough to support the weight of the fruit, and there are usually not enough leaves and roots to devote to developing the fruit without expense to the overall growth of the tree. But if a tree has a very small canopy of leaves, I would leave them all and prune later if I wanted to. Instead I would pinch off any fruit that formed. Pinch the fruit off, not the flowers though. Take off the flowers, they will usually just make more, and flowers don't stress the tree. Enjoy the flowers, then pinch off the fruit after. I would do this for a couple years. The shape you prune/pinch it to is entirely up to you though. A "tree" shape is what most people think a fruit tree should be, but most citrus want to be more of a shaggy bush like tree. A citrus tree in the ground will often carry it's branches all the way down to the ground. Older trees can shade out lower branches and so as they age, some citrus will lose lower branches and look more tree like. Some exceptions to this are true bush types like Meyers. The above is only true if the growth on your trunk is the same variety you want and not root stock trying to take over. Always pinch out root stock growth. To tell check the trunk, there should be a thickened line where the bark is slightly different above and below the line. Above the line, it's the variety you want, let it grow if you want to. Anything below the line would be root stock and needs to be taken off.

The comments about under-watering issues when using the 5:1:1 are unfounded and misleading. Undoubtedly, plants in a 5:1:1 mix with pine bark as the primary fraction are going to meed watering more often, but that is a very good thing. Since we all know the 5:1:1 mix is very productive, and, the grower is 100% responsible for seeing the plant's water needs are met, any under-watering issues would rightly be considered grower error. It's not reasonable to think one can grow in a highly aerated, fast-draining medium without comparatively shorter watering intervals, and no matter what medium is being used, if the grower isn't watering appropriately by way of stretching watering intervals out too far, there is going to be an issue. If we give it some thought and really identify the reason growers have so much better luck with highly aerated and fast-draining media, we'll see the purpose is to rid our growing experience of the limitations imposed by perched water. As long as there is perched water in any medium, it is a limiting factor; so, from the plant's perspective it's always a good thing to eliminate as much excess water as possible. In the extreme and all else equal, media that actually NEED watering twice per day will offer much better opportunity for plants to realize a much greater of their genetic potential than even a well-made 5-1-1 mix, and far more opportunity than other media based on large fractions of fine materials. The growing experience often involves compromise. Assuming, arguendo, we agree plants that need watering twice daily have much better opportunity to realize more of their potential than plants that need watering only every 2 weeks, we'd almost all agree we're not willing to water twice daily, even if it does serve the plant better. Somewhere between twice daily and every 2 weeks is a compromise watering interval that suits our priorities. What's important isn't whether or not everyone goes all in and waters every hour on the hour, what's important is understanding there is a compromise to be made and how to make it. It's not uncommon, even within the span of 2 consecutive posts, for grower A to pooh pooh a name brand medium known to be very water-retentive and hard on plants, and grower B to pooh pooh the 5:1:1 or gritty mix because it doesn't provide at least a 2 week watering interval. No one can tell grower A or B what is better for them because we don't order their priorities, but we can say with a great deal of certainty, if all else is equal, that the grower who has to water and the medium that supports the least amount of perched water is capable of providing much better opportunity for the plant to realize more of its potential. What the grower actually decides shouldn't matter to us, no matter how much it matters to the plant. That's the view from here. Al