HFP! Let them be for awhile. All of my figs died back to the ground. I pulled the mulch away from the trunks this week to find all of them showing growth at root level. My peaches, plums, pears and apples are all green, fruiting and buku growing. I am beginning to understand that figs are a different beast. I pulled figs other years that I thought were dead and probably weren't. I have 6 in the ground and 2 in pots. All are just beginning to show signs of life. It was a tough winter... (I have excuses for everything...)

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

1) Since I am happy with main crop figs only, I routinely prune 10' bushes to 18 inches (I don't want to pick fruit from tall trees on my hill). I will typically leave only 2-3 leaf nodes of current years growth on a any branch. So, you can prune them as much or as little as you want, to control size. If you are relying on Breba crop for your figs (formed on prior seasons wood)you can only prune lightly. 2) If the cold is not a problem, and the trees don't need protection, you can prune early Spring beefore budbreak. 3) If cold/freeze damages/kills portions of the tree, and you want wood for propagation, take it in the Fall. otherwise wait till you prune in late winter/early spring. See http://figs4fun.com and read the Festival of Fruit Handout for some basics. I hope to add accompanying pix soon.

I think they leaf out late (or mine do), so it might not matter much. I do wait and prune around the last frost date and that seems to work well. I don't know if pruning encourages them to push out early growth, because I always prune them later than other things, lol. But if plants push out tender growth in response to pruning and it's done too early, frosts will just zap the growth and waste it.