Pruning 'Gefner' (and Annonas in general) . . .

[Epicatt2]

My 'Gefner' has finally dropped all its leaves and with all the recent cool weather –and now lots of rain, too here in Tampa– it is just beginning to push/swell new leaves at all its nodes.

My tree is in a five gal. pot and is itself about 4 feet tall.  It has about 8 or so lateral/horizontal branches that are about 1 to 2 feet long and all of them are about 1/4-inch in diameter, or smaller.

I'm told that it is important to prune these side branches back to create sturdier growth for the coming season –but, trim off  about how much??  I'm thinking about leaving 6 to 8 inches after pruning all the side branches.

Does this sound about right to all our Annona fans out there?

TIA

Paul M.
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PS - Should I prune my biribá, sugar apples, and my Ilama the same way once their leaf buds start swelling?
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[Seanny]

We trim trees with few big branches back to anywhere from 8-16”.
Your small tree has many branches.
If you trim back to 8” you get a small tree with many more branches bunched up.
Leave it alone.

[Epicatt2]

Thanx Seanny.  Your suggestion about not pruning this Spring makes sense. 

Maybe next year when it starts to bud out again it will be time to trim this tree.

Regards,

Paul M.
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