Tropical and subtropical fruits (2+1)

Training and Pruning

• Fig can be trained on single stem or multistem, multistem is most commonly followed.
• Pruning of fig is important, fig generally gives two crops in a year, the first borne on previous years growth is breba and the second crop on current season growth and therefore, pruning intensity and its type will depend on bearing habit and type of crop desired. The trees are headed back to about 2 buds of previous growth regularly to keep them dwarf. This reduces the production but improves the quality of fruits. In Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra (Pune), light pruning is practiced which gives higher production but poor quality fruits.
• Notching is also practiced to force new fruit bearing shoots from the lower portions of the branches; For this purpose, 0.5 cm wide notch of bark is removed above two buds on the middle portion of the branch in July.
• Application of HCN (Hydrogen Cyanide) at 1.5-2.0 % advanced the date of bud burst.