I'm perhaps a bit more manipulative and daring? I would not remove the branch, but would have a fun time holding it down, taking off some of the lower 'sucker' leaves. I have a few that size and i have copper wire, through bits of clear tubing where it contacts the stems, holding branches in sweeping forms in directions i want. Attached to heavy rocks. One has four holds. Three branches are sweeping left and one i have water falling forward. I remove all leaf forms directly on stems, about the lower third of the overall plant. Such a flexible and satisfying plant to shape...the earlier the better. They seem to like it. Just my opinion. Sagging stem? I would roll it forward and twist it in a half circle forward and around to the left. Tied and held by stake or two. (i've never kept one in a pot) Is it common to keep JM's in nursery pots for long? Just does not look natural or very organic to their obvious need to be connected to the soil and surrounding green.

I'm no expert, but I believe that one effect of the hornet sprays is that they're extremely cold. You might have frozen the plant where the spray hit.

Hi Al! I bought a hass Avacado tree for my mother it was already grafted, what I learned about it was that they are very succeptable to wind burn so they need to be planted with a wind break , like maybe a building on one side and or another tree to protect it so thats what we did also the trunks are very suceptable to burn so you should keep them white washed , and I did cut out the cenrtal leader because of another hass avacado tree not far from her house if you don't cut out that central leader you wont be able to reach the fruit they are extremly tall trees, vase shape would be good bring the fruit down to a manageable height. Hers is about 3 yrs old I will be doing a secound pruning on hers this year, did you know that Avacados don't ripen till you pick them . Oh my aunt grew one from seed when I was a kid It didn't produce for about 9 years as I recall she eventually pulled it out it was really tall and taking its toll on her porch roof. Good Luck Happy New Year SuzyQ Here is a link that might be useful: Aditional Avacado Info

Thank you all for the awesome ideas and links!!! The artists that paint the trees, WOW! Their work is beautiful and also gave me some more ideas. I'm thinking I might both paint it and plant the crossvines at the base. I'll likely trim off the top 1/3 of the tree though. The branches are pretty thin and brittle and will likely break. And then I'll probably paint the cut branches and use those somewhere. Wheeee! I'm curious, if anyone can answer this, I certainly don't want to send out an invitation to termites. Would painting the tree deter them? Wouldn't the paint act as a seal of sorts?