After observing this plant in my location for a number of years I’ve decided to try a different approach to pruning. Being a shrub, it had several basal shoots, now 3" to 4" diameter and easily 15’ high. There was one though somewhat central and vertical. So I removed all the others along with seedling shoots in the planter bed.
I pruned the central trunk up to a 6’ crotch and then topped those short scaffolds at 7’. This year I’m expecting no fruit but instead a dozen or two 5’ to 8’ whips above the crotch. I’ll also have growth start along the trunk but rub them out from now on. The topside whips will bloom next year and the weight of the fruit will lower most of them to around 4’. If next year the plant also grows new above-crotch whips then after harvest I’ll thin out the old whips, otherwise just shorten the existing whips a bit.
