Pruning the apical bud

[schampag]

If, after a tree has entered dormancy, one leaves the apical bud on the leader or side branches, will they usually resume growing when the tree wakes up in the spring?

[TNJed]

Usually, not always. Figs do what they want.

[jrdewhirst]

Yes, assuming the bud isn't killed during the winter.

[acerpictum]

It happens in different ways, but there is a point of view according to observations in the Nikitsky Botanical Garden that if a fig in the first year or two grows according to a monopodial type (like a sequoia), and in the following years the type of growth and branching changes to false-sympodial, with a change in the leading shoot to every branch every spring. This is so that in the summer there is a slight turn of the branches along the axis and the sun better illuminates the figs and falls into the depths of the crown.