Prune Avocado Tree – After Harvest to a Pick Height

Prune avocado after harvest, or in late winter, to keep the tree a height you can pick.

Prune after harvest, or in late winter, to a height you can pick

avocado does not need hard yearly pruning to bear. A young tree should grow almost uncut, except for suckers from below the graft. Pinch strong terminals in the second year if you want fruit lower on the tree. [1] If you prune to keep the tree small, take as little green wood as you can. Fruit forms at the tips, so a hedge-trimmer pass around the whole canopy cuts next year’s crop. [2] A landscape tree left uncut can pass 30 feet. A few well-placed cuts each year can keep a dooryard tree nearer 10 to 15 feet, which is a height you can pick. [3]

How to prune an avocado tree

Start with suckers and dead wood, then lower one tall limb at a time.

1. Cut out dead, crossing, and broken wood. Pull or cut any shoot that starts below the graft union.
2. On a young tree, pinch or shorten a few strong terminals so side branches form. Leave the rest of the canopy alone.
3. To lower a tall tree, take the tallest limb back to a lower side shoot this year, then the next tallest next year. Spreading the work over three or four years keeps fruit on the tree. [4]
4. If a cut opens a large patch of bark to the sun, paint that wood with a 50:50 mix of white interior latex paint and water the same day.

Cut after harvest or in late winter, take suckers below the graft, lower a tall tree one limb at a time, and paint newly bare wood.