My vernon white sapote is putting out a lot of flowers unprotected in zone 7A/7B North Carolina. I bought it this spring at an Indio, CA home depot for about 40 bucks. I gave it a 10 inch chop around July when it was about 4 fwet talk to try to make it bush out since it was growing straight up. It seems to be sticking with it's upright growth habit. Here's my question. Should I clip the flowers? I have it in a 5 gal pot and it has regrown to about 4 feet tall. I don't know if flowering at this size is precocious or not but I doubt the fruit will survive the winter unprotected. We are at an unseasonably warm 75 daytime high/45 nightime low period. Any advice would be welcome.