Hello,

I asked this question in the forum, but none answered, maybe you will help me.

I have a question about pruning. I have those two plants, which are almost 2 years old. But I do not know how to prune them, I want to make a small tree like bonsai. Here I draw few sketches how they look like.

I am afraid if I would cut, where no leaves or branches, I will kill the plant.


Thank you.

Plantage said:Hello,
I asked this question in the forum, but none answered, maybe you will help me.

Thank you.

I'm might not be the right one to respond as I live in a totally different climate.. but probably you can use my comment as a comparison
for Peruvian guava, do you mean Psidium Catleianum?

Both Coffea and Psidium are growing free in tropic (my climate) and I grow quite many species of both (Psidium and Syzigium are my favorite fruit plant genus)
Both respond well to pruning, as long as the plant is healthy, (establish root), sometimes they are quite difficult to kill here, re-sprout or suckering, both below cutting level, or just above ground.. so I think you could prune it freely. do not disturb root while it is traumatized, keep soil moist. avoid over-watering or under watering and no fertilizing until they regrow.
How ever if you worry, could also use gradual-pruning, first above the branches, with some leaves remains, then... after some month, when the lower stem respond with sprouting, prune again... wait for respond...and prune again... so on.
If you did prune it...please consider photo.. before pruning, upload here, and update after some time,... other with some situation could benefit by reading your post..
happy growing.

Hello, thank you for your answer.

Coffee tree: Coffea arabica
Peruvian Guava (white): Psidium guajava

I attached two photos of my plants, please can you mark, where should I cut?

I thought it was P catleianum, as that species has small ficus-like leaves, and easily grown and fruits in container so it will be suitable for "bonsai like" plant. But I guess, any uncommon fruit in your area will be equally excited to grow..
I will cut them as follow

also for coffee, they do not like it grown crowded, the dominant plant will choked the smaller and gradually decline, it is probably better to separate them with only two plant per container at maximum, that will also give you more number to experiment, if you should fails.

The pruning level I suggest is not final, you will need to gradually prune them as they respond after a while
in my country some farm prune coffee regularly to make it easy for harvesting berries, so pruning is not a problem
and guava even respond better after pruning
I would also repot them in summer to a bigger pots.

Thank you very much for answers.
It's ok if I'll prune them with leaves? In my area, we pruning trees in spring when they are without leaves. Those two plants never drop leaves.
I will separate coffee, not sure how the roots will react.

both coffea and psidium are tropical-non-deciduous tree, perfectly OK to prune them anytime as long as you keep the temp, humidity and light (as near as tropical as you can provide)

It's a month as these plants are pruned. New branches come out and new leaves. Everything grows well. Thank you for support. Another thing I need to graft them, could anybody send a small branch via mail? For Peruvian Guava and Peruvian Anona?