Pruning Old Fig Trees

Question

I live in Nashville, Tennessee and have two Turkey Fig trees. One produces nicely and the other some fifty feet from the other does not produce. I want to move it closer to the other fig and into more sun. Do you advise this? The fig that needs to have more sun is 30 years old. The fig that produces is now 18 feet tall and I want the plant to be wider rather than tall. Please tell me how to accomplish this and not endanger the trees. I also have a little dwarf black fig that has not done well, any thoughts?

Answer 1

The older a plant is, the less likely it is to survive a move. With a tree that old, you would really want a professional to move it and even then they would not guarantee that the plant would survive. It may be better to try to get more light to the tree through other means, such as thinning the branches of near by trees a bit. Also, try a little phosphorus fertilizer like bone meal. It may be a lack of phosphorus that is keeping the tree from producing. Pruning at the top of the tree and any branches that are growing up (instead of out) will encourage the tree to grow wider.

What symptoms is the dwarf fig showing? Is it stunted, not producing, getting yellow leaves? Let us know and we can give further advice.