I am debating the same same thing... I think the old branches are better at producing because all my suckers dropped their figs. Hmmmm...

Here's a picture of my tree with the central new growth. Curious what others think I should do? Thanks a bunch.

I think you should leave it growing, I leave mine and prune them in the winter.

We are in the same position. Our fig tree was about 20 feet high and just as wide until this past winter killed most of it. The main trunk started generation shoots so we cut the trunk back to where the shoots are and cut all of the other bare dead trunks down to the ground. We left a few of the larger shoots coming out of the base and cut off the rest of the suckers. We figure we will see what starts to take off while trimming out the new suckers over the summer. Hopefully we will get figs next year.

I just discovered a fig tree on the side of a new house I moved into recently, but it also has no leaves or buds and apparently has had winter damage (I'm in NY). How can I know whether it is still viable or has died? And how do I prune it properly so that the live branches will grow again? If I should post this as a new thread, I will, but I was interested in your thoughts since you've been discussing this topic.