Reducing these Fig trees for the third year running. They were getting so tall that the upper branches were becoming unreachable even with a stepladder and pole saw. A standard piece of advice for hard pruning overgrown trees and shrubs is to do it over the course of two or three years rather than one drastic chop.

 I have reduced their height by about a third in total as well as thinning out some of the voluminosity. Figs grow very quickly but I think from next year I will be able to maintain them from ground level using the pole. The saw is interchangeable with a pair of loppers operated by pulling a cord which should be sufficient to trim new growth at the top.