After studying posts on this forum, I decided to grow figs as bushes and to train them as fan espaliers, pruned by what might be called a cane renewal system, in which the grower removes all "canes" that have fruited and leaves some suckers to replace them.

Does anyone have advice about how closely to plant figs if they are to be pruned in this way? For figs grown as bushes in the South and pruned in a more traditional way, the University of Georgia recommends a distance of ten feet in the row and fiteen feet between rows, but I have supposed that cane-pruned figs could go closer together without a harmful degree of root competition.

I have been leaning toward the following spacings: 8 feet between Desert King and anything else, 7 feet between most figs that belong to the "common fig" species, 6 feet between the two Lattarullas, 4 feet between the two Negronnes, and 7 feet between the two rows. The plants will go into a heavy but open soil here in SW Washington, inside a high tunnel (to provide a little extra heat in summer and to simplify winter protection).

Rather than make a hasty and ignorant decision, I thought I should see if anyone might be willing to offer advice. Many thanks!