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Firsty I'm new to the site so hope I'm posting in the correct place!

I grew my avocado tree/bush from scratch as an experiment with my nephew and a few months ago I cut it in half (see last picture below) on advice that it would branch out into a bush. Since then, 3 sturdy branches have appeared at the top (chuffed). However I'm not sure what to do now.

  1. Should I chop back the new branches, and if so where?
  2. Would it be beneficial to chop off the original drooping leaves at the bottom.
  3. Should I repot? - I only repotted it a few months ago but I've just noticed a stem sticking out of the bottom!

Thanks so much in advance for any and all tips!

Cheers,

Sam

closely supervised by grandad

(https://i.stack.imgur.com/qgBI7.jpg)

(https://i.stack.imgur.com/2Dpdq.jpg)

(https://i.stack.imgur.com/uknux.jpg)

  • I came here to ask pretty much the same question! You've given me confidence to chop mine a bit, although I have a much longer stem before any leaves appear. I wish mine looked like yours! – Avrohom Yisroel Jun 13 '19 at 22:35
  • Sorry only just seen this Avrohom, yes it was pretty terrifying to cut it in half but worked out really well. I think this is best done in spring though? Mine has gone a bit downhill recently, had some issues with mites. – user3730657 Jun 26 '19 at 11:04
  • Mine's still looking fine, but I'm not sure if it's too late to cu it down this year. What do you think? – Avrohom Yisroel Jun 26 '19 at 15:53

3 Answers3

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Sorry for the late response.

I would like to mention I have seen many avocados on online forums. This has to be one of the better ones I have seen. You did a good job with the prune the branching is beautiful. I would not prune it again until it has at least one or two more sets of leaves. At this point it will be a multi-trunk tree if left with no more additional pruning. After you prune, you want to make sure the new branches create at least two sets or more of leaves. Always leave at least one set enacted. I prefer to let a shrub get four sets of leaves. Then I remove two of those sets. This is give the nice spacing you are looking for. You can see what it did and the space it now takes up after doing the one prune. This will happen again with additional pruning. With enough pruning you could end up with a big ball of a shrub that you maintain at a certain height.

I would suggest to let it at some point just grow. Maybe one or two more pinches and then let it do its thing. From that point you can prune it to maintain height.
Do not remove any lower leaves, if they are too shaded they will drop on their own. If you ever look inside a shrub you will see there are not inner lower leaves. They all dropped off naturally.

As the other respondent said, you need to repot or give it some food. Avocados are fairly heavy feeders. They make avocado fertiliser for this reason. I would invest in a small box of it. It should be properly balanced for avocado health.
Again, sorry for the late response.

GardenGems
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The pot looks too small for the plant. The yellowich leaves indicates a lack of nutrients I would say. If I were you I would replant in a bigger pot and use a rich soil.

Fatmajk
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You have done a good job at branching this avocado plant.

At this size, it is time to repot. It will keep the plant from being root bound. Well spaced roots make better use of nutrition and support consistent growth.

You can use a light dose of sea-weed in soil when repotting.

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    Hello the-petrolhead & welcome. You make a nice concise answer. Do you think you could expand upon it. Tell them the type of pot they need, including the size. The type of soil you recommend. And why sea-weed over the million other fertiliser on the market. I asked this because the answer is for all the readers, not just this person asking the question. Overall really good answer. Look forward to seeing more. – GardenGems Jan 08 '20 at 20:10