My fig bush went nuts this year, I started getting figs late in the second week of August and am still picking a few pounds a day even though the night temps are dropping now. The leaves are starting to turn and fall off but the thing is loaded with figs which are still ripening. I just picked several pounds this afternoon.
I never much worried about when I pruned or cut back my figs, but I haven't bothered in the past few years. This year's crop was a few weeks late, with a few 'false starts' to summer early on, it took a bit of a hit in May and June. It took off during the heat wave we had. Setting the first batch of figs during those 100°F days. Then before even half of the first crop of figs were ripe, it started to set and ripen the second batch.
In years past, its almost always lost nearly all above ground growth, with only one or two stems surviving each winter, but for the first time in over 50 years its started to build huge, re-occuring stems, with several being close to 3" in diameter now and new growth around the perimeter, and now even on the inner circle of the many stems, where past stems have came and gone over the years.
The bush has spread to over 15ft across and tall enough that even me at 6ft 3in tall can't reach the top without a ladder.
I've had several quarts or more of figs every other day now since August and have processed over 140 jars of fig/citrus preserves, fig spread, and about 12 pounds of frozen, quartered figs. I've also potted three plants that also produced figs their first year, which will likely need to be buried or brought inside for the winter. Each is in a 10 gallon pot after outgrowing the inside potting area they were rooted and grown in. This winter I hope to root 20 or more new plants, maybe even putting several trees in my main garden.
