I got the baobab about five years ago. It is over a meter tall, clearly too tall but I was hesitant to chop it off very short. The time to hesitate is through.

It is now summer here, highs pretty hot. It has not been repotted in two years, so maybe that should happen first.

This winter the weather was extremely wacky, with lows below 50F/10C into April, a month longer than usual, so it stayed indoors until April and leaves did not come out. The leaves started to come out nicely after it moved outdoors. Then I wasn't paying attention and the temps dropped to about 5C one night and the leaves stopped growing for over a month.

I was a little hesitant to do anything with it, like repotting, but it appears to be healthier now.

Choices:
1) wait until next year and see if it leafs out better.
2) Chop it off now - how tall?
3) Repot
4) Both 3) and 4)

Have you considered air layering the tree somewhere near/slightly above the middle of the trunk? This time of year you'd get new roots in 6-8 weeks. Make sure you leave some of the lower leaves and the bottom will leaf out. You'll have two trees instead of one.

I agree, airlayering it could be a great idea.

Actually, I thought of air layering but didn't put it on the list. Thanks for thinking creatively. That's what I'll do.

Hey Ivan!

That depends also on how happy you are with that thickness, I have no experience with baobab, but I would like to thicken a bit more, so I would keep it high for now, and up pot it for a while to thicken a bit more, then, yes, I would chop it back (or do an airlayering not to waste the top of it...

If you're happy with that thickness, or want to work on that later, go for it, either way, I would consider a bigger pot for a while so it can develop better ramification on the lower (future canopy) part better, that also helps closing the scar.

I would cut on the red or the orange line, after your airlayering succeed if that's what you're aiming for.

Cheers!

Albas, good points. I was thinking it is thick enough, but maybe a little thicker, which means do the layering next spring. I would feel more comfortable doing that since it won't be as hot.

The pot is another question. I have a dozen or so sitting around and I don't know that I want another one.