Pruning / shaping a gangly White sapote "Subelle" ?

[Pouteria_fan]

I recently picked up this white sapote, grafted Sue Bell variety, for a great price at a SoCal nursery that was closing.

It is around 6 ft tall, thin and gangly, and I'm looking for tips on how to best support it while not weakening it, and encouraging it to get stronger - pruning and / or appropriate staking. Right now it has two poles behind it, with a rope/rubber support near the base, and then one twine around each y limb. If it's not supported, it will bend over and nearly touch the ground.

[K-Rimes]

I'd prune it right back to the lower growth. I was very brutal to my white sapote and it seemed to only make it stronger.

If it really gets bad you can also bark graft it, I had almost 100% success with that.

[Oolie]

That's three years from being a medium tree ready to bear fruit.
I would decide how low you want the initial branch and prune all the growth above it to the nearest branch angling 60-90 degrees. You have to make that call, but as close as it is to the fence, you will have rats invading your tree.

I have made sure to prune off all lower growth on my trees to a height where I can put an apron on to prevent rat ingress up the trunk, but with a fence that close, that wouldn't help.

[ScottR]

It's up to you what size tree you want but remember they can get pretty big 40-60' so I like to start branches low to make tree climbable in future. Check back side of leaves show be fuzzy for it to be true Suebelle.