Help: Desert King Fig seems to be dying, pls advise

[saramani99]

I live in San Diego, CA.
I planted Desert King Fig tree few months back. It dropped all its leaves during fall and there were no signs of new growth yet. My other fig (Black Jack) already started sprouting. I scratched the lower trunk and they seemed to be dry and not greenish. I cut one of the twig (see photo attached). One of the branch showed some green patch. (attached). Is the tree alive, should I need to wait few more months to see new growth?
soil is slightly acidic (pH close 6.7 - 7), hot humid climate (typical San Diego weather) with ample sunlight, watered twice a week.

[Harborseal]

Welcome to the forum! I would try to root the cuttings in the first 2 photos. They look alive to me. It's hard to be sure about the first photo since it's blurry. Given that the cuttings look alive I'd guess the plant they came from is, too. If you would show us a clear, in focus photo of the buds of the in ground plant I could tell you with more certainty.

[Taverna78]

Agreed. Root cuttings and leave big tree be.

[Noel Goetz]

I live in Banning CA and my DK hasn't pushed buds yet. In my unexperienced opinion I'd give it a couple more weeks and if it doesn't bud when others are, maybe dig it up, check the roots and plant in another location if it's still viable
.

[Altadena Mara]

Is it a Dave Wilson Nursery DK? I bought a Dave Wilson DK two years ago, planted it in the ground, and it died on me also. I haven't lost any other rooted fig trees. When I saw it was dying, I dug it up, planted it in a five gallon pot and placed it in afternoon shade with a lot of TLC. Nothing helped. The local nursery where I bought it refunded my money when I returned it dead and had no DK trees to replace it although they had many other Dave Wilson fig trees. They originally had lots of DK trees and either sold them all or had theirs die also. Strange. I haven't tried to replace it from anywhere else and am experimenting with several other early breba trees that may be better here.
Best of luck with your tree. I hope it makes it.