pruning mature fig trees

Question

I have two mature fig trees, one 10 years and other 6 years. Both have about 5 inch diameter stems or trunks. Last year, I pruned the 10 year tree quite severely, leaving 2 major branches and 2 small branches. This year, the fruit was fairly large, purple inside, and delicious (what was left after birds and squirrels enjoyed their fill). But, the fruit was at the tip of branches about 10 feet high. . . too high to reach easily. On the other tree, I left half of the tree with existing branches because the tree produced lots of sweet fruit and trimmed the other half branches half way. The tree did not produce any fruit the first time and some secondary fruit (right now, it has some small fruit but will not ripen). Where did I go wrong? (FYI, not the same type of fruit tree, I do not know names)

Answer 1

Sometimes fruit trees, when pruned – especially if they are pruned at the wrong time, can skip a year in fruiting. As you do not know the variety, it is hard to say when the right time might be, but I would expect that next year it will be back on its regular fruiting schedule.