Defoliating a Fig ...again

[Bluearrows]

HI Everyone,

I did a hard cut back of a few of my figs earlier in the year which pretty much left them with just a few leaves.They now have a fairly nice crop of new leaves so my question is should i defoliate again or leave it. Im on the south coast of NSW. Also one of my figs which always grows at a slower rate for some reason than the others has just been pushing out new buds but the leaves look like they are going to be large.Should I pinch these out or leave them.

Cheers
Justin

[kcpoole]

I tip prune all my figs all the time, to get rid of the large leaves as theybgrow
Several times a season if they are healthy is no problem

Ken

[shibui]

Figs have the growth habit where the first leaf to open is small. Each succeeding leaf on the shoot is slightly larger until they reach full size. To maintain smaller leaves I just tip prune leaving the smallest leaves. New shoots will start from the remaining leaf axils and the process starts again. Regular tip pruning will leave a crop of smaller leaves on the tree. Complete defoliation too often can leave the tree weak. Leaves are required to make food.
I don't defoliate young, developing figs. Leaves are required to make food to feed the tree. Without leaves growth slows a lot. Put up with larger leaves for the sake of better development and only worry about leaf size when the trees are well developed with good ramification.

Young figs will usually have larger leaves because there are relatively few shoots on the tree so leaves need to be larger to provide food for the tree - solar panels. With proper pruning and good growth the tree should develop many more shoots - ramification. Now the leaves tend to be smaller because there are many that provide the same food for the tree. If you have one tree that consistently has larger leaves that's probably genetic difference, possibly a different species (Moreton Bay fig?) and it may not be possible to maintain leaves quite as small as some other trees.

[Bluearrows]

Thanks guys,yes I think I’ll stick with the tip pruning,sounds like the way to go