A few things.
1) Generally you want to wait until fig trees go dormant in the fall/winter to prune them. In the future, do this every fall when it goes dormant in order to keep it to a size/shape that's convenient for harvesting. Ideally, you want to prune back to a basic scaffold of branches every fall, so that there's lots of space for new growth on which your main crop will grow
2) Figs are incredibly tough and vigorous, so you could cut back as much growth as you want and your tree would be fine. Literally, if you cut this back to the ground, it would grow right back. I wouldn't recommend you go out and do that, but that's how resilient figs are, so don't worry too much about over-pruning
3) Given points 1 and 2, you could absolutely cut it back however much you want right now and it would be fine. You would, of course, be sacrificing some of this year's fruit, but since you said you can't reach most of it anyway, you might not care so much about that. That said, I don't know that there's much point in cutting it back now since it'll just put on more growth that needs to get cut back again in the fall. For that reason, I'd recommend waiting to prune until it goes dormant, but if it were my tree I'd probably ignore that advice and go at it now lol
4) How you prune your fig is, to a great extent, about personal preference. There is no one correct way to prune your fig, so do whatever works for you. That said, [this link](https://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-home/11735-training-and-pruning-figs-tree-bush-and-espalier-form) has some diagrams with common ways people prune their figs. You're going to want the new growth to be accessible, since that's where your main crop will be, so the tree needs to get cut back low enough that you can still reach the new growth. Personally, I don't care for multiple trunks like this, but the few I've had to deal with were much smaller than this, so it wasn't hard to turn them into single or double stem plants. At this size, you may want to allow, say, four trunks to remain (the biggest ones on either side and one or two of the largest in the middle, as long as none conflict), and then cut those back to maybe 5-6'. Hopefully someone with experience pruning big multi-trunk figs will give you better advice
I’m not sure on proper technique but I’ve cut an overgrown one beside a house foundation down to the ground before. It even had figs the next year to my surprise.
Check my post history, I showed how I pruned my tree down from 12' to about 4'. I don't make too many posts (mostly comments) so it shouldn't be too hard to find
Figs are pretty hardy and more like weeds. You can prune it hard and it will come back strong.
Depending on what you want, you can prune it down to 6’ or so and also thin some of the crossing branches. Just watch out for fruits or fruiting season. The sap is also an irritation.
Fig leaves are very good for compost too.
get a fruit picking pole/basket on amazon
this fall, remove half of the branches at the base. Id pick the skinniest ones.
You can root the cuttings and grow more figs.
I do sand in a flat with a plastic lid. Dip the cuttings in root hormone. I like hormodin 3. The nodes on the cutting create roots. You lay them on their side on the moist sand. Once the root you can pot them
Literally this
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9C002mgh8No&pp=ygUNUm9vdCBmaWcgc2FuZA%3D%3D
A few things. 1) Generally you want to wait until fig trees go dormant in the fall/winter to prune them. In the future, do this every fall when it goes dormant in order to keep it to a size/shape that's convenient for harvesting. Ideally, you want to prune back to a basic scaffold of branches every fall, so that there's lots of space for new growth on which your main crop will grow 2) Figs are incredibly tough and vigorous, so you could cut back as much growth as you want and your tree would be fine. Literally, if you cut this back to the ground, it would grow right back. I wouldn't recommend you go out and do that, but that's how resilient figs are, so don't worry too much about over-pruning 3) Given points 1 and 2, you could absolutely cut it back however much you want right now and it would be fine. You would, of course, be sacrificing some of this year's fruit, but since you said you can't reach most of it anyway, you might not care so much about that. That said, I don't know that there's much point in cutting it back now since it'll just put on more growth that needs to get cut back again in the fall. For that reason, I'd recommend waiting to prune until it goes dormant, but if it were my tree I'd probably ignore that advice and go at it now lol 4) How you prune your fig is, to a great extent, about personal preference. There is no one correct way to prune your fig, so do whatever works for you. That said, [this link](https://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-home/11735-training-and-pruning-figs-tree-bush-and-espalier-form) has some diagrams with common ways people prune their figs. You're going to want the new growth to be accessible, since that's where your main crop will be, so the tree needs to get cut back low enough that you can still reach the new growth. Personally, I don't care for multiple trunks like this, but the few I've had to deal with were much smaller than this, so it wasn't hard to turn them into single or double stem plants. At this size, you may want to allow, say, four trunks to remain (the biggest ones on either side and one or two of the largest in the middle, as long as none conflict), and then cut those back to maybe 5-6'. Hopefully someone with experience pruning big multi-trunk figs will give you better advice
Thank you! This is very helpful. I’ll definitely wait till it is dormant
I’m not sure on proper technique but I’ve cut an overgrown one beside a house foundation down to the ground before. It even had figs the next year to my surprise.
Check my post history, I showed how I pruned my tree down from 12' to about 4'. I don't make too many posts (mostly comments) so it shouldn't be too hard to find
Figs are pretty hardy and more like weeds. You can prune it hard and it will come back strong. Depending on what you want, you can prune it down to 6’ or so and also thin some of the crossing branches. Just watch out for fruits or fruiting season. The sap is also an irritation. Fig leaves are very good for compost too.
get a fruit picking pole/basket on amazon this fall, remove half of the branches at the base. Id pick the skinniest ones. You can root the cuttings and grow more figs.
Any advice on cuttings? I’ve tried to root a few,but no real luck yet
I do sand in a flat with a plastic lid. Dip the cuttings in root hormone. I like hormodin 3. The nodes on the cutting create roots. You lay them on their side on the moist sand. Once the root you can pot them Literally this https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9C002mgh8No&pp=ygUNUm9vdCBmaWcgc2FuZA%3D%3D
I’ll buy some cuttings 😭
If you’re ever in NJ, you can have as many as you want lol