All you need to know about pruning fig trees

Leestijd: 2 min.
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A fig tree in the garden is a true blessing. This biblical tree can regularly produce a good harvest even in our regions, allowing you to enjoy fresh figs, dried figs, or fig jam in late summer and early autumn. It’s important to plant the right varieties suited to our climate and to provide them with proper care. The pruning period of a fig tree spans across three seasons. Pruning correctly greatly influences the yield, shape, and health of the tree. In this article, you’ll learn how, when, and why to prune.

Tom
1 June 2023

Pruning in Spring (April)

During the early years, focus mainly on shaping the fig tree. Through pruning, you create an open structure that allows maximum light and warmth to reach the branches. This type of pruning should be done in spring, around April.

Remove branches that rub against each other or cross. Also prune those that grow too vertically. Personally, I always consider the weather and the moon phase. If the fig starts to bleed during pruning, it’s best to wait a few days. A dry eastern wind and a waning moon are the most ideal conditions.

Pruning in Summer (late July)

In the next phase, during summer, assess which branches produce the least. These are usually vertical branches with just a few figs at the tips. It's best to mark them so you can remove them in winter.

Also, selectively remove some five-leaf shoots at the ends of branches. This summer pruning is important: too much vegetative growth can make the fig tree uncontrollable and overly vigorous.

Autumn and Winter Pruning (starting in October)

In autumn, cut away dried-out branches—you’ll notice that the fig sometimes sheds a few itself. Sometimes this is already visible in summer. In fact, dried branches can be removed at any time.

Maintenance Pruning for Older Trees

The fig is a fruit tree. On older specimens, it may be necessary to step in occasionally to maintain the crown’s shape, keep it open, or remove tight or interfering branches.

More intensive pruning is best done in autumn and winter. However, removing a few branches can be done year-round, including in spring and summer.

How to Know if Figs Are Ripe

When the stem starts to droop, when the fig turns purplish, or when a sweet drop appears at the bottom—it’s ready for harvest.

Holmoak and diseases

Leestijd: 7 min.

Sometimes we get questions about diseases on the holm oak (Quercus ilex). But let me reassure you right away: in almost all cases, the holm oak is not diseased. Like most valuable trees, the holm oak is a tree where several organisms feel at home. You can't call these inhabitants a disease, and besides, the oak doesn't suffer from them at all. Do the leaves of the holm oak turn brownish and/or fall off? If so, this may well indicate an underlying problem. In this article you can read about the most common causes and solutions for brown spots, brown leaves and leaf loss in the holm oak.

Quercus ilex | Pruning Holm Oak

Leestijd: 5 min.

When and how should you prune holm oaks? A question frequently asked by both private individuals and professionals. Holm oaks (Quercus ilex) are evergreen and can be lightly thinned throughout the year—except just before or during frost periods. This type of pruning refers to interventions that aren’t too drastic for the tree.

Planting depth of trees and espaliers

Leestijd: 2 min.

Trees are still planted too deep. For example, to accommodate height differences but also sometimes out of ignorance. When it comes to planting trees remember this: Better 10 centimetres too high than 2 cm too deep. Planting too deep is the most common cause of tree mortality after planting. Sometimes trees do not die but there is inhibited growth at best and delayed dying at worst. It happens that the planting depth or plant height is not respected to match a hedge or wall. In the case of umbrella trees to match the window height. Espaliers and its collaborating companies have the widest choice in trunk heights and sizes, planting too deep for these reasons cannot be an excuse. We prefer to take a project-based approach to avoid this. It also happens that planting is done correctly but a thick layer of soil cover (e.g. bark) is applied afterwards. In that case, make sure that in the nearby zone of 10 cm around the trunk the layer is very thin (max 1 cm)

Update

How to prune parasol plane trees correctly

Leestijd: 4 min.

Roof plane trees are easy to prune. The most important thing here is not to be too late. Because when a plane tree is in good conditions and starts to grow, it can go fast. In many cases, the pruner is a little too late, resulting in a lot of pruning work. But if you are on time, the pruning work is orderly and also done quickly. So the focus when pruning a plane tree is mainly on timing. In this article, I won't go into so much detail but will give you an idea of the right pruning approach.

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