More on the "two dots" before Pinching Fig Trees

This was a question asked by Fleming on Ourfigs.com

"As a newbie I am always learning so Here’s a question. I grafted i258 and Smith onto a very large brown turkey this spring and they are now almost 5’ tall with beautiful foliage. I keep checking for the double dots so I can pinch but I never see them. Will these buds begin to change later or are they permanently blank producing buds?"

Fruit buds will form shortly after each growth point puts out the next 1-3 leaves above it. After that.. you're mostly out of luck. When your tree is in "vigor" mode, it will not form fruit (pinching or not). This is why it's important to look for the two buds beforehand. I would rather not pinch for form and instead prune during dormancy.

How do we get our trees out of this mode? Maturity and or time, but more specifically it seems like the answer lies somewhere around fertilizer practices, the variety itself and the roots having room to grow. In my experience and especially this year with my (7) young and also hard pruned Smith trees, is that they will be less likely to fruit because they are growing too quickly.