Pruning The Fig In To A Fan

Fig 25th March 2015, It Looks Like This Again 3 Years Later!

Whilst it is still dormant the large fig in the garden is in need of its annual prune but this year support wires will be put up on the wall behind it. The fig was last given a hard prune three years ago as it began to exceed the confines of its gravelled corner, see above photograph and blog entry 24th March 2015 'Pruning The Fig (Ficus carica)' and it is now filling the corner again.

Removing The Dense Old Wood

Every year it produces a reasonable crop of delicious figs on the end of the younger wood but is its size has to be controlled every few years. Removing the large, almost horizontal wood the wall becomes accessible for the new support wires to be put up. From the remaining wood the youngest and strongest are selected to be tied to the six new wires, three on each wall and, over the coming years, the fig will be trained against the wall as a fan. Annually the oldest wood will be removed, the not so old wood shortened and the shoots produced during the year tied in to the wires of which some will be shortened to encourage bushier growth. The fig will probably not have a large crop of fruit this year, fruit is produced at the tips of the previous year's growth, but by next year the fruit should be plentiful and accessible.  

TIed In To The New Wires

The Youngest Wood Tied In (Stone Wall)

The Youngest Wood Tied In (Brick Wall)