Sounds like a pruning problem. I have had a friend whos trees used to produce a truckload of figs every year. Last year they fruited terribly. I went to take a look and the tree had about 100 trunks, instead of 4-5 good ones with lots and lots of suckers.

Can you post pics please?

Your last repot was . . .?

Al

Dave,

I assume from your post, the tree is planted in the ground. Either way, you should check the roots of your tree for rootknot nematodes. If you pull the soil back to expose some of the roots, the gals the nematodes create will look like a brown pearls on the roots. I am convinced that most ficus carica will root faster than nematodes can keep up with... especially when the weather is cool enough that the nematodes are largely inactive, but it is warm enough for root growth. Being in zone 10, however, the ground may not cool enough for RKN activity to slow down. Or, as is the case sometimes, the infestation in the ground is broad enough to be everywhere the roots grow. In these cases, the number of roots blocked with gals may be high enough to kill the tree.

It is possible the weather was sufficiently different to effect your crop. Last year was a very wet summer in Houston. The figs which were already beginning to grow before the rain hit, split. Most of the trees defoliated due to rust and did not recover enough to produce fruit afterwards. All in all it was an extremely poor year for fig production. Pruning the crown of your tree to let more light and air through will help deal with moist weather. In zone 10 it is probably too late to do any major pruning. You should consider only pruning what is absolutely necessary now. Then plan for a more significant pruning after this season.

~james

Duh! ;o) My bad.

Al

Hmm, well this one now has 6-8 main trunks with lots of little side branchlets. The branches all come from a center node right above the soil line, the shape of the tree/shrub is rather reminiscent of a leggy spider on it's back. So perhaps this winter I will prune and shape it, seems a shame to let it get to tall so we can't reach the fruit anyhow. Do I prune off a lot of the small side shoots along the main trunks so the whole tree is more open, or just remove smaller thinner trunks entirely, leaving just 3 or 4 main ones? Just interested for future reference.
Yes, nematodes are a problem here, I mulch heavily which they say helps discourage them somewhat, but this tree has always looked healthy, huge green leaves and always very well leafed out, just didn't get much fruit at all last year. Thanks, Dave