Hello Friends,
I just wanted to pose this question to all of you out there because I need your help. I have 2 Rollinia Fruit trees and as you can see from the Pictures below, they both have very different growth habits. From what I have seen and read, there are 2 types of growth habits, and my 2 trees are examples of both.
The 1st tree is only about 4' Feet tall and is almost as wide as it is tall. I have never pinched/pruned the terminal bud, or cut the leader branch, and I still get plenty of horizontal branching. As for the 2nd tree, it is about 7' Feet tall and practically all vertical growth. However, at the top 6" inches of the 2 tallest branches, they are now heavily branching out horizontally.
So here is my dilemna/question - Should I top/prune back the branches on the 2nd taller Rollinia tree to try and induce more and lower horizontal branching, or leave it alone? I have plenty of room to allow it to keep growing vertically, and haven't any real need to top it or prune it back. I know doing so would shorten the tree and hopefully induce more horizontal branching, but would it help to induce flowering more quickly? Or, would leaving it alone help it to flower and eventually fruit more quickly? Being that this is its natural growth habit, should I leave it alone to grow as it wishes? Any information would be helpful.
1st Rollinia Tree
2nd Rollinia Tree
Thanks,
Jacob