Hi, my friends!  Thanks for coming and checking out my next blog pots on how I prune my Dwarf Avocado tree.  This dwarf fruit tree is now a few years old and over a meter high and is in its second succession of flower set.
Flowers are set on the old wood, which means that wood that grew last year.
I like to prune just after flower set so I don't remove any flowering branches before they appear.  This year I have only removed deadwood and branches that are pointing inwards.

When pruning your Avocado tree you need to think ahead on what shape you would like.  Many years ago the vase shape was extremely popular as farmers believed if the tipped the plant and created more branches they would get more fruits.
The problem with this is a the trees got taller the branches grew out to the side leaving the inside of the tree bear and also branches are able to snap in strong winds more easily.
These days farmers have changed their methods and many now prune their trees and keep them short so they can pick by hand.  This means they don't have to bring in machinery such as Cherry Pickers that are heavy and compact soils.  So, most trees are now kept to about 6ft (2 meters) tall and produce a truckload of fruit, tactfully the same as the old large trees.

Below I have added some bullet points to guide you with some tips that I use and learned in College when I studied this subject.

• Keep your tree in a Christmas style shape this way the tree will always have maximum light and bear more fruits.
• When pruning keep on central leader to help form the Christmas tree shape.  Train up a stick and tie to it for the first year, this get the central leader nice and straight.
  
• Use your Avo tree that is in the container as a Chrissy tree next year,,,hehehehehhe,,,they look cool!
• When removing branches use a nice sharp set of secateurs and use in the blade inside the cut, so you don't squash the branch.
• Always cut slightly away from the main branch and leave a butt so this part can heal.  If you cut up against the branch you may bring in disease.
  
• Remove deadwood after flower set.
• Remove branches that are moving into the center of the tree or curling down.
• Remove suckers that appear below the graft for grafted tree.

There you have it my friends.  This is how I prune my dwarf Avocado fruit tree.  I will have more videos about this subject over time, so please come back again to find out how my trees are doing and pick up a few tricks and techniques along the way!

Happy Gardening
Marty

This photo above was provided by http://www.avocadosource.com and if you are searching for more information on this topic just click on the photo and you will be directed straight to their website.