Third Avocado Plant - Third Pruning on 14 May 2015

My third avocado plant is now sitting in my study room near the window. It has catch the western sunlight every day but not strong light. The leaves have all moved to the direction of the light and you need to periodically rotate the pot to let the leaves expose to equal amount of light.

I have let the avocado plant to grow at least 5 leaves before I prune away the rest. Today, I notice that the new branch has grown 5 leaves. It is time to prune the third avocado again. This will be its third time.

Third avocado with new branch

I have used a cutter to prune away the new leaves.

Using a cutter to prune the branch

Third pruned area

A small branch can be seen at the 2nd pruned area but from the lower leaflet.

A small branch from the 2nd pruned area

New avocado branch bending towards the light

New bud emerged and soon grew into a new branch. This is on my third avocado plant and from the second pruning. The shoot is red in colour and bends towards the window. I rotate the pot to face the shoot at the opposite direction. The shoot will straighten up and continue to grow upwards.

Branch bent towards light

I will let the new branch to have four leaves before I do the third pruning. The browning on the leaves seemed to be in control. I think it is due to insufficient watering that caused the browning. Another reason may be due to the water that I used. I didn't let the chlorine to escape from the tap water before watering. Now I will fill one 1.5L of tap water and rest it overnight before watering the avocado plants. Also, you need to make sure that water drains from the bottom of the pot when watering. Do at least one draining of the water per month. This will keep the browning of the leaves at bay. Another thing that I observed is that the second and third avocado plants have leaves that are drooping instead of leaves spreading out horizontally.

Pruning my fourth avocado plant

The last time I pruned my 4th avocado plant is 14 March 2015. It has a new branch growing from the cut area. It is not branching out horizontally but instead it grows upwards. It has grown 6 leaves already and I think it is time for its 2nd pruning.

4th Avocado Plant

I'm not sure what will happen after I nip off the top two leaves and leave the remaining 4 leaves on the branch. I hope there will be new buds growing out from the other areas. I'm thinking of achieving a bonsai effect with regular pruning. I'm not sure how this will affect its growth and maybe its ability to bear fruits after 7 years. I have the patience to wait that long just to prove whether my avocado plants will bear fruits.

Thick branch from cut area

A thick branch growing from the cut area. It is thicker than the main stem. I hope the main stem can support the new branches' weights.

Pruned on 7 Apr 2015 - 2nd pruning

Pruned the top leaves, leaving 4 leaves on the branch. This is the second pruning for this 4th avocado plant. This plant does not have any browning of leaves and I think the browning of leaves is caused by either lack of water or accumulation of salts. Draining of the soil will be done once a month to remove excessive salts and watering is done every two to three days.

Time to prune my third avocado plant

I had pruned the 3rd avocado plant two months ago. The pruned area has grown 5 leaves and now new leaves are emerging. I think I will prune away the top leaves and monitor its progress.

New leaves appearing - time for pruning

Prune it today, 13 Mar 2015

I had also pruned my fourth avocado plant on 14 Mar. I had also done draining to the plants. I kept a bottle of overnight tap water to remove the chlorine and watered the plants until water drained out from the bottom. This will help to dissolve the salts in the soil.

Pruning avocado seedling to keep it dwarf

I planted the avocado seedling on 1 January 2015. After 10 days, I think it is time to prune the seedling. The third avocado seedling had seven leaves and I thought I would leave only 3 leaves after pruning. However, I did not want to over-prune it so I just cut away the top 2 leaves.

Third seedling

I used a sharp penknife and cut at an angle to remove the top two leaves. In the internet, some people recommended not to use a pair of scissors because the cut would not be clean. Most recommended a razor blade or sharp knife. The cut area will be able to heal faster and less likely to get an infection.

Sharp penknife to cut the stem at an angle

The cut area is clean and there is no juice or sap coming out from the cut area. I did not clean the area. I hope this is the correct way and will monitor the health of the seedling for the next few weeks. If everything goes well, new buds will appear at the base of the leaves and new branches will grow from there. Some people recommended to remove the small leaves along the straight stem. I'm not sure about this so I just keep them.

The cut area of the seedling

I will update this in SG My Garden Is Good blog. Come and visit the blog to see the progress of the seedling. I will also show the pruning photos of the second avocado seedling.