M...any idea if this is a grafted tree? What variety? Avocados can be pruned to shape. As with all pruning...do not leave "stumps". Prune back to the connecting branch (flush). Your tree looks like it is healthy.

Pugluvr, Thanks for the advice. Your tree looks identical to what my tree used to look like except yours has a thicker trunk, which i'm sure is why it did so well. I'm seeing much more cold damage with the Glenn then some other types. I think i'm staying away from Glenn next purchase. HappyFlGardener, I'll try that. The are still a bit skinny to graft so i'll have to wait. I'd love to have a tree with multiple cultivars. That would be great! DGHays, I was hoping you'd stop in here. I emailed you a while back asking for some advice on selections, don't know if you remember. I'll most likely end up taking the top few feet off the Choquette. I want to get a good structure for a large tree with the biggest yield possible. I'm not worried about being able to pick them, they usually fall off when ripe. If i have to i'll buy a picker. I have family and neighbors asking for avocados so i want to have plenty to go around. I'd like to see pics of your tree if you could. Thanks everybody

OK, it's nice that you're done but again, like Kat, we're sharing our space with our plants. So we do have to consider our brain's response to the light and the plant's. Which is not "misinformation" if you took the time to read the scientific study above. Alas, given the response, I'm going to assume you haven't done so yet but will later. Red light in the 5:1 dominant ratio to blue or 10:1 ratio to blue tends to do best. Not with blue dominant. I do have plenty of other studies with other types of plants that pretty much show the same and, of course, can quote the solar spectrum to no end (at Earth's surface, of course, in space it's somewhat different). We also weren't discussing repotting or potting up in this thread, we're discussing cutting, so I'm not entirely certain where that confusion is coming from without making some perhaps unpleasant assumptions. I'll avoid doing so for now. Cutting would, of course, not precisely be the best to be doing in December either, but fortunately...well, this is January, for starters. Nearly February. And of course, the plant will simply wait and send leaves at the proper time. Normally I'd say to leave the leaves, but... As noted, I do enhance light. A great deal. If Kat does so--following moving the plant as both of us suggested to the window, plus enhancing light with her plant light and increasing wattage--that will increase growth. Perfect? No. But it'll work and I've certainly done it many times, so if Kat has a reason she needs to cut things back now, she can if she has to. Now, as to "misinformation," no, it's simply not the way you do things. And perhaps not optimal, but entirely workable. I used my shears again yesterday. It will, as always, work out fine. One would expect misinformation to misfire. It doesn't. I can't say I appreciate the invective, but at least compared to some around here, yours is minor.

First rule of pruning potted trees: You can always cut it off later, but once it's off ..... you can't put it back. You think that would be an extreme haircut? With F elastica, if your tree is healthy, you could cut every stem back to just above the soil line and the tree would back-bud profusely from whatever was left, so you really can't prune the top of a healthy elastica unless the tree is quite weak. I think you'll find that everything you can see is supported by a single root system. IOW, there is only 1 organism in the pot. What you marked in red is attached to what you marked blue, and yellow is attached to red. I could be wrong, but that's my guess. What you have on your want-to-do list is fine, but again, how the tree is actually put together might trump that list. If the 3 branches/trunks of the main part of the tree (blue) are pretty much in a line from any angle, one should be removed from an esthetic standpoint. If you make an imaginary cut-through of the 3 trunks a foot or two above the soil line, looking down you'll see the 3 cut ends. If you draw an imaginary line from 1 to 2 to 3 to 1, it should form a scalene triangle. Reason: how many times have you seen 3 trees side by side in nature ..... that weren't planted. I only mention this because you have interest in not only manipulating the tree, but you want it to be as appealing to the eye as possible. 1. I plan on doing some root trimming when I repot. Should I prune at the same time? I've seen it suggested to repot, then prune a month or so later to give the plant the best shot at bouncing back from a hard prune. But I've also seen it suggested to prune top and bottom at the same time, so the plant's reduced root network isn't overtaxed. I almost always do SOME pruning on trees that I'm repotting. If it's their first repot, or I'm doing a serious reduction in the volume of the root system, I prune quite hard. If I'm repotting or lifting a deciduous tree from the landscape to a pot, I often defoliate entirely. The reasons are, if you get wildly out of balance between the volume of leaves to roots, the tree is likely to collapse. If it doesn't collapse, trees are shedding organisms and they will shed leaves and whole branches in a desperate attempt to do their own balancing. The problem with that is, it might be a key branch the tree decides to shed - there really is no way to tell. The experts who tell you you should never prune the top to "balance" the root:leave ratio are not at all familiar with the repotting process. It's easy to say NEVER, when the only thing you've ever worked with are B&B trees or trees in nursery cans, which already have a balanced root:leaf ratio. Proper planting of a tree should include bare-rooting and correcting root problems at planting time. This will occasionally require some reduction of the canopy of deciduous trees to prevent the tree from simply collapsing. Broad leaf evergreens like Ficus other than carica, the hardy fig, simply shed leaves (if the tree doesn't die) when roots are pruned by a maniac who once has a start cannot be stopped. 2. Should I just do some light pinching on #1 (or #2) to encourage backbudding rather than a hard chop/prune? It depends on where you want the branching to start. Wherever you pinch or prune, you'll likely get 3 or more branches from nodes most distal after pruning. 2a. Or should I just repot this year and wait until next summer to prune? You can repot and prune this year with no concern about the tree's well-being. Elastica is very tolerant and would make a perfect tree for bonsai beginners if the leaves were smaller. 3. Any other suggestions for shaping? Overall I'm happy to have some existing branching and seeing (some) signs of backbudding but the current three-prong, long-stem look of #1 isn't something I want long-term. Why don't you lift the tree from the pot and scrape off enough the soil so you can see what you're dealing with so there aren't so many variables. It won't hurt the tree if you don't gouge the roots too seriously. When bonsai workshop participants get their trees (usually by way of a drawing), the first thing they do is rake off the soil to find where the main roots begin. Often they have to remove up to 6" of soil because the nursery trees are planted so deep. Al