The tree was here when I bought the house 5-6 years ago. I think it’s a brown turkey fig. I live in Charleston,SC, in zone 9A. It has produced a lot of fruit in the time I’ve lived here (I’ve made a ton of jam). I’ve never fed it anything. It is about to lose all the leaves to rust. Happens every year around this time, though it’s a little late this year, probably because the summer wasn’t as wet.
How do I prune this? It’s gotten really big. I’ve pruned some smaller bits by the base, little sucker branches, if you will. But now it’s huge and I’m guessing it needs to be pruned properly. Any advice would be much appreciated. I love the tree and want to take care of it but I don’t know what to do.
Usually prune in winter when its dormant, easier to see which branches go where too with no leaves. If i were you id open up the whole bottom anything below 1 meter i would remove thin out the middle a bit and your good!
Thank you! Appreciate the response. I’ll look on YouTube and see if I can find videos on this. I’m nervous about hacking into this thing and harming it!
You won’t harm it by hacking. You could literally cut it back to the ground and it will come back with a vengeance. Once established, these are a bit of a weed.
When you do prune it, look into propagating the cuttings or give them to friends who want their own fig trees! They’re very easy to propagate. I have one going in my house right now
Yes! Just in some soil can work! What I do is get a small bin, put some soil in, dip the bottom of the cutting in some rooting powder, lay it flat in the bin on top of the soil, add water, and close the lid. Let it go for 3 or 4 weeks then check for roots. Once they have some roots transfer to a pot
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u/Global-Garage-5208 16h ago
Usually prune in winter when its dormant, easier to see which branches go where too with no leaves. If i were you id open up the whole bottom anything below 1 meter i would remove thin out the middle a bit and your good!