The old growth will be brown, look shriveled, or will branch off from the branches with the newest fruit.
It’s important that you don’t make the cut flush with the intersecting branch. You want to leave the branch collar, so the cut heals properly. If the branch is too high for you to reach with your hand shears, you can use a lopper. Loppers look like hand shears, but with very long handles that allow you to reach higher branches.
Guavas grow in clusters of 2 to 4 fruits. You should remove about half of the guavas in the cluster, unless more than half look very small. Doing so will help the tree direct its energy toward growing large fruit, as opposed to a bunch of small fruit.
Guava wood is soft, so you should be able to cut through the branch on the first try. If you find that your pruners are not getting through the wood easily, you should upgrade to a larger size.
When you’re finished, soak your pruners in rubbing alcohol for about 5 minutes to disinfect them. Make sure you wear gardening gloves when you remove a diseased branch. After you’ve removed the branch, take off your gloves and wash them. Otherwise the disease can spread.
You can use whatever pruning shears you want, but the best are anvil pruners or bypass pruners rated for branches up to 2. 5 in (6. 4 cm) thick.
