Atemoya Pruning?

[Droshi]

I've heard atemoya will start new branches if you pull off some leaves. I've just bought a geffner atemoya that came with a bunch of leaf damage for shipping so I pulled most off.

I'm thinking I should just pug the tree to get it to grow a bit more bushy, right now it's pretty lanky and not much for leaves on it anyway. What do you guys suggest?

[Droshi]

Hm, maybe I should say "aggressive pruning" to around 3ft. Was hoping to encourage lower branches to start, or should I just leave it alone and see what happens in 6mo?

I've read most people say they prune in April-May time, so maybe I'll wait till then to do anything drastic.

[sunworshiper]

I'd wait, since the trunk is strong enough not to need staked. Probably wont branch until next year, but they seem very apt to branch on their own. Mine was snapped off about 6 inches above the graft last year in a wind storm. I selected a new leader, and trained it up about 4 feet. It grew no branches last year. This spring, it branched readily, I didn't even need to top it. It new has 8 or 10 branches, and has naturally stopped growing up.

[bangkok]

My Pet Pakchong looked the same as the one on the pic. I pruned it many times, the tip and next leave of each branch and now i got many new branches. Also on the stem.

[gnappi]

My Geffner wanted (and still does) to grow fan like without any branches on the sides. I gave up, trimmed the tips and planted a sugar apple that was also growing fan like nearby with the branches forming an "X" they look pretty cool now!

[Droshi]

I'm getting a lot of buds breaking now, so I'm guessing it must be doing well. Hopefully they become nice branches.