Last year my hubby 'pruned' our avocado tree as it is getting quite large and is quite close to the house. His definition of pruning is generally taking a chainsaw or pruning saw and flat-topping at the desired height (usually before I have time to run from the kitchen to the garden screaming in protest ). He will definitely not be allowed near the new Feijoa.
On the upside, the tree is looking very happy and healthy with an absolute ton of new growth. On the downside, we didn't get any fruit at all this year (excellent crop last year), and I'm sure the tree is almost back to the same height it was before pruning.
I have done some reading but am not sure of the exact cause, so, questions:
1. Did we prune too much and just trigger massive vegetative growth at the expense of flowering?
2. As the avocado is terminal flowering, did we just lop off all the fruiting 'zones'? (although no flowers/fruit at bottom of tree either, so perhaps not this)
3. This part of the garden gets irrigated 3-4 times a year with water from the pond (i.e. during pond cleaning/maintenance). Could this be too much nitrogen, also encouraging vegetative growth?
4. A combination of the above?
5. Did he do the right thing and I owe my hubby and apology?