Heading cuts work for most trees. Then come by and prune back 1/3 every year. To me that means cutting the tallest branch back to a collar three years worth of growth ago and getting the next the next year.

Wonder if Google has any ideas. Seems more severe a project than what I do to my supposed dwarf apple tree.

I'm rather new to this - what is heading, and how do you do it?

I found a youtube video where a guy just chopped off the top part of his avocado (and it seemed to work), but that's the only thing I've seen. I don't really want to try that until I know that's not going to kill my plant...

Chopping off a small part, off the top of a small tree will not kill it at all. I did it to my Golden Rain Tree last year. I took off about 3 inches, and immediately branches formed all over the tree. Before I had chopped the top, the tree was a tree "whip", basically a 3 ft stick.

Believe me when I say I am the epitome of the helicopter mom when it comes to my trees and shrubs. I wouldn't do anything if I thought it would hurt them. If you want branches, you're going to have to suck it up and chop the top off a little bit. It's standard practice...

It's not the same thing as topping a mature tree that you hear about that people do to stop it from growing more. This is entirely different....

This post was edited by ilovemytrees on Thu, Jun 26, 14 at 16:49

rather than us tree folks..

might i recommend the houseplant forum.. to see if anyone there grows them indoors ...

and also the fruit forum.. to see if anyone grows them in pots ...

both other forums do things much differently than tree peeps ...

do you have any idea.. what type of A it was... then google to find the lating name.. then jump to IMAGES .. and find out if this is actually a tree that will be manageable enough to grow in a pot...

ken

ps: i also wonder if there is an A forum .... but you can look that up ...