Pruning/ Pinching avocado plants?

Question:When you pinch or prune an avocado plant, do you just pinch off the topmost leaves or do you pinch off the stem that the leaves are on too? Help, please. Thanks =]

Answers:
Cut the stem just above a set of healthy leaves at the height that you want the plant to branch.
If you just pinch off the leaves, you only get a bare area of stem and it won't help promote the branches because the growing tip is still producing a growth inhibitor (an auxin) that holds down the branching below it.
Once you remove the auxin-producing growing tip, the branches will grow, and they'll start producing auxins that slow the growth of the branches below them, so pick the place you want your main branches and cut the stem above a set of healthy leaves there.