I have an adansonia about four feet tall, which is at least two taller than I think it ought to be. I could chop it off about a foot high where some leaves are coming out, or higher. Or, I could leave the crown as is and strip all the lower leaves. I am leaning towards one foot, but last time I chopped drastically the tree died. Advice?

A detail is that the tree had a lot of trouble over the winter with spider mites and other bugs. In March it had one leaf with green, and I was just about bathing it in safer soap. Would chopping it off be too much stress?

I could chop now, August, December, or anytime.

Ivan Mann wrote: Would chopping it off be too much stress?

I guess so.
IF the tree wasn't healthy in the first place, chop it down will make it worse, for sure.
But...
IF you chop it, WHEN you chop it, do it way down, so you don't have to do it twice.

Only style I can imagine for this one is chinese literati.
No sense to make this thin trunk smaller - no taper, too straight etc....
If you put some slight bends in it it might work.
Some inspiration from around the web.
(Qingquan Zhao and other chinese artists made these, couldn´t find the names).

What would be the best time to chop it off? It just doesn't seem right to do it in the middle of summer, but it doesn't have a standard dormant time. This winter it dropped leaves, but that was more mites than dormant. I haven't found anything online that tells me when the equivalent to dormancy is.