@SoCalGardenNut .A well fruiting fig tree grew in the center of where aunt Maria kept her 7 laying hens when I was just a child....a VERY long time ago. It was in one of the corners of her yard in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. I suppose that it could be considered zone 10 a or perhaps slightly warmer even. The fig tree only received chicken poop underneath and covered the full area of 6x6 sq ft. In winter it lost its leaves. My aunt would prune it lightly and kept within the perimeter of the hen enclosure. Outside a grapefruit tree and an navel orange tree grew as well. I never noticed that my aunt felt competition with these other fruit trees. Nor that the fig tree had very aggresive roots. We had our fill with brebas by Xmas and later she would show up with delicious fig preserves made in February of the main crop. She did prune always short. That is the highest breba ought to be reached from a simple stool. That fig tree stayed alive for many decades until Aunt Maria passed away...
Arturo
