My experience with mature "in the ground" trees is that the roots are very near the surface, and would be damaged by a tiller. A much better plan would be that of mulching heavily to prevent grass and weed growth. The strength of the tiller motor is less important than how you use it. If you hold the tiller in one spot, it will chew away, deeper and deeper! I would use a hoe, and cut the weeds off at the surface, then cover with mulch. A layer of black plastic might be worth considering, before placing the mulch. Good luck!

Skip the tiller and the black plastic! Cut the weeds with a hoe or a string trimmer (careful not to hit the tree). Use a 6 or 8 sheet thick layer of newspaper to smother existing weeds, and cover that with mulch. I also wouldn't recommend landscape cloth / weed barrier because that often escalates the problem if weeds are allowed to grow down through the mulch and anchor into the cloth. A systemic herbicide like glyphosate would also be safe to use as long as it is not allowed to come in contact with (including being blown onto) your fig trees.

I would agree to not till around your trees.

I have a two year old kadota that is seven feet tall. It has only been in the ground a little over a year. I was digging 8 to 9 feet away from that tree and it had allready put roots out that far, and they were only an inch deep in the soil under a couple of inches of mulch.

Ditto.....no tilling around any fig tree because the feeder roots are just below the surface. If you use Round Up......use a plywood shield next to the tree trunk to keep "over spray" from touching the trunk. Round Up can kill a young fig tree when it hits the trunk.

Dan

I like the newspaper and mulch method...