A. Cutting ixora back to 1 foot in height is radical pruning and hard on the plant. Never remove more than one-third of the total green growth at one time . I normally recommend summer pruning as we usually have cloud cover. This protects the plant from sunscald and the plants recover quicker because summer is the major growing season. A. Trees should not be staked for more than one year .
Bare rope can girdle the tree.
Many new staking arrangements are available including staking straps that do minimal damage. Staking is needed only until the tree is established. I have seen and heard of many cases of tree death in the past few years from weedtrimmers. The combination of excess watering and trimmer damage set the trees up for an attack of Armillaria root rot. Wounds at the bases of the trunk can girdle young trees and provide an entry point for the spores of this fungus.