Advice on pruning an odd branch/stem on my Avocado

9 years ago

I bought an avocado from a produce stand and was told it was a Mexican variety of Avocado (no exact name for it).

It is now flushing quite a bit, but I'm not sure what to do with this funny branch or stem to the left of the picture here.

Picture 1:

The branch to the left of the picture looks more like a branch to me than the central trunk. The odd thing is that it's larger and thicker than the central trunk. Is this normal for it, or should it be cut off, leaving the central trunk only?

Picture 2: showing the split which begins about 2 ft off the base of the tree.

Picture 3: There's a lot more leaf growth on the larger curved branch to the left, making the tree looks off balance.

Picture 4: Here's a full view of the entire tree. It's hard to

see with all the green vegetation behind it, but if you look closely you can see there's a lot of new growth on the left side of the tree here.

Any advice or suggestion what to do with this lop sided huge branch, or is it another stem? Would greatly appreciate your help.

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Comments (2)

Francesco Delvillani
9 years ago
I think would be better to cut it...it seems very asymmetric and that branch seems to prevent the correct development of the others
bananafan2 thanked Francesco Delvillani
bananafan2
Original Author
9 years ago
Hi Francesco,

Thank you so much for your suggestion. I've just chopped that branch down. It's looking much better now. Although I felt a little heartache to see such a huge piece of the tree removed, but like you said, it's really for the good of the tree as a whole. Here's a picture I took of it yesterday:

The tree looks thinner, but it definitely has branches that are more symmetrical now--a more nice looking tree and a happier owner too :)

Your location said you were from Italy. Actually I was guessing along that line when I first read your post. What planting zone in Italy are you located in? I heard people there grow a lot of olive trees? Do you have one? I've an olive tree which I've planted at least 4-5 years back. It hasn't bloomed yet. I'm not sure if it's going to in our climate here. I'm in 9b, FL.
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