Hello -

I copied an original post (below) from Jan 2010 that showed a picture of a pruned tree and discussed how to prune. Ricortes could you please repost the picture so I can see it? Do you have a picture both when it is leafed out and when it is dormant?

Diesler - in a reply on this thread I believe you have a tree pruned in the same way. Do you have a picture you could post?

Thanks and have a great day.

Brian

Posted by ricortes (My Page) on Wed, Jan 13, 10 at 13:45

I want to make it clear that there are many ways to prune a tree. My family were involved in commercial farming so I just happen to like that technique. Obviously people will have to fit trees to spaces and existing landscaping.

To get this look is relatively easy. Remove all suckers and low hanging branches. Remove all branches in the center of the tree. Along the remaining branches remove anything that is straight up, straight down, or crosses another branch.

The reasons I was given for pruning this way.

All wood and suckers not producing good fruit is a waste of money. Consumes resources like fertilizer and sunlight that could become profit.

Wood that is vertical has fruit that will be blemished from rubbing against the branch. IIRC: We were only allowed ~10% blems before the cannery would drop the price in half. If you had 5% blems, the price they gave you directly reflects this.

Branches that cross rub each other raw. This can introduce disease and insect infestations. Note this is probably not a problem for a fig but my family were fanatics about it. Wasted sap, bark, energy as the tree tries to repair itself.

Not sure if form follows function or function defines form. You end up with 3-4 main limbs hip high that grow at a steep angle and spread like a fan. The fruit is borne on laterals that are 'forced' by removing all the vertical and crossing wood.

Rick