They can be pruned quite hard......they are even sometimes hedged, although that might affect flowering and fruit production. But most broadleaved evergreens will take well to hard pruning.

if you do in fact you do run it over with a tractor.. or say.. truck ... how soon will it refruit???

ken

I'm so glad to read they handle hard prunings, thank you! can't wait to fix the appearance of the one at our new place.

How well it comes back depends on why, exactly it looks poor in the first place.

I will try to describe the situation, but tomorrow can share a photo.

It appears to be two shrubs, side by side, limbed up into small trees. however, the canopy has been sheared into a weird formal cylinder with little to no regard to branch structure. they are maybe 10-12 feet tall.

I would like to possibly remove one as they seem about 4" between trunk bases, then thin out and encourage more of an open vase shape

Edit: kind of reminds me of this picture but there are only two trunks and the canopy doesn't look natural at all, it has been sheared into a cylinder that has a flat top and the sides are all clipped. i would say it's the ugliest pineapple guava I've ever seen.

i think it's suffering from being planted too close to the house, as are many of the shrubs in the yard. everything is sheared into formal shapes and is too close to the house, but i was hoping to work with things rather than tear them out.

I don't know how soon it will refruit exactly but it is a fast grower. I don't happen to care for the fruit so I have piles and piles of it on the ground under the shrubs. I find it rather tasteless. I think that mine are straight species, though, and maybe some of the cultivars have more interesting fruit.

Mine dies to the ground about 3 out of 5 years from cold. Comes roaring back.

Update: haven't done a thing to them, hoping that time would help. I'm very tempted to chop both of them down completely. They looks less sheared but not at all lovely.

crazy branching, don't know that exposing those contorted, criss-crossing branches will improve the appearance.

It's probably just me, but I find that (those!) quite attractive. But I've never been one to yearn for symmetry. Will happily swap it for my own struggling, 18" high Feijoa.

ETA...how is that too close to the house?

being a hardcore MI boy.. i always find myself thrilled by the exotic .. and of course these are.. for me ...

and i agree .... they appear gorgeous.. in their exotic form ... go figure .. lol ...

but if they dont make you happy.. firewood it is .. if of course.. you could burn in CA .. lol ..

ken