I have recently moved into a house that either had a very ignorant gardener or one with some long-term plan that I can not comprehend.

In any case, sun loving things are eking out an existence in the shade, and shade lovers are planted in the only sunny areas of the yard.

Most of the yard was in shade, as a huge acacia tree in the SE corner dominated the yard. It wasn't healthy, as there was way too many dead branches underneath and even some up top. So, my husband and I started pruning off some of the dead undergrowth, and I had plans to cut an entire huge limb off in order to let in some sun, but a recent storm solved my problem, the whole darn tree fell down. (Two days before the storm I had exclaimed, "Oh, I wish the whole darn tree would just die so we could have some sun!"...I'm scared of me!)

Anyway, I'm blathering. My question is regarding a persimmon tree that for some strange reason, had been planted under the canopy of the acacia, and which, in a desperate search for some sun, sent most of it's limbs over into the neighbor's yard, which was mostly out of the acacia's territory.

I would like to have my persimmons in my yard. My husband is for cutting off the branches that go into that yard, which seems to make sense in that then the energy of the tree could go into upright growth. I however, do not want the tree to get too, too tall, necessitating a lot of extension ladder work years down the road.

How much of a persimmon can I prune off without killing the darn thing? Can I remove a couple of good sized limbs altogether and top it as well? Or had I better do it in stages?

I have no idea how old the tree is, but the trunk at it's widest is 14 inches around, and the few branches that go straight up reach about 10 feet.

I know it's hard to prune a tree without seeing it, but do what you can for me. :D