Young Redbud: Pruning problem?

16 years ago

Hi folks. I havent posted here in a few years... but always gound good advice here, thought I would try again.

I have a young redbud, maybe 3 years old. I tried to kill it once by accidentally hitting it with a weed wacker and it came back. Then, last winter - the main stem I got nibbed off by a deer perhaps. It has been through alot - and now I am intent on keeping it and turning it into something if I can.

What I have is this (wish I could post a small picture)...

1 main stem, 6 feet tall, topped. as bug around as my thumb.

8 or 9 side stems eash maybe 6-7 feet long shooting out horizontally from the main stem - left and right... all in the same plane. They are alternating and equidistant on the main stem and form long arcs drooping downward.

Wierd. or maybe not... I do not know much about this tree. Question is: what can I (if anything) do with it? I was going to see what happens in the spring before deciding but wanted to get your thoughts on it. I hope that the side stems will produce vertical offshoots or give me some hint as to how I should deal with it.

Any help or comments appreciated. The tree has gorgeous big heart shaped leaves so I am starting to really like it.

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Comments (7)

whaas_5a
16 years ago
Get a picture so you can get better advice.
Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
16 years ago
My neighbor has a redbud he says 20 years ago when his airedale was just a pup and the tree a sapling the dog just kept attacking.

What happened is the main leader died and it sprouted many times from the ground. My neighbor trained them to grow up fairly straight somewhat wrapped together.

It really looks good now. Supporting so many trunks the tree is only fifteen feet tall but it is more thickly leafed than your average redbud.

I would think in a natural wild setting with large herbivores this type of thing would happen often.

Oh, to post pics join photobucket,upload them and copy their third line of code into your message.
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srichardson
Original Author
16 years ago
Here are a couple of pictures of the Redbud.

Note in the snd picture, at the very top you can see where the main stem was cut off. The entire tree is about 5 feet tall.

What do you think? leave it alone? Try and make one of these side branched into a main stem?

Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures of Redbud
markstrees
16 years ago
This little tree looks fine to me, these are a good tough native. I have many on my place. They come in almost every shape. I would leave it to its own design, keep an eye out for weak (included bark) branch unions and try to keep those(poorly attached branches) pruned out. and let it go otherwise.

good luck,
mark
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
16 years ago
hmmm .....

3 years in place.. yes ????

if so ....

i would probably cut out the old leader completely .. and then tie the next highest branch to the stake to encourage it to become the leader ....

and then i might shorten by half... the lowest 3 or 4 branches .... as i would be planning on removing them next fall anyway ...

or do nothing...

your choice

if its new this year.. and you are guessing its 3 years old.. cut nothing ... clarify this

otherwise.. it looks like a firework.. cool pic ...

ken
srichardson
Original Author
16 years ago
Thank you for the replies....appreciated.

Ken - it is 3 years old I believe...4? Got a 'twig' from Arbor Day a few years ago. 1 year later I mistakenly hit it with a weed wacker like a moron. Next year it came back but only put up a single 8 foot long main stem. The following spring, it had either snapped off in the snow of an animal nipped it off... hard to tell.

This year, it sprouted the side branches you see.. all of them. In that respect it appears to like where it is sitting. If you note the highest branches on the left side in the closeup - there are actually 2 branches there... one sort of like a sucker. I thought maybe to try and make the higher branch of that pair a new leader, but Im usually pretty careful about cutting and not sure how it would react to that. What I am trying to avoid is a tree that bushes out at 5 feet tall but I suppose it doesnt matter.

So - it is yes about 3 years old, but has had a couple of setbacks. It looks to be settling in however and I bet the root system has progressed nicely.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
16 years ago
exactly .... it should be free range in regard to the roots ...

so all that is left now.. if for you to shape it into what you want... BUT NOT WITH THE WEEDWHACKER ... lol ..

if you want it shrub form.. and it probably wont be pretty .. leave it be...

if you want it in tree form.. its time to start taking some of the lower branches off ...

i prefer to do it.. when they are small.. and heal quickly .. rather than ignoring it for a decade .. and having to saw off 2 inch branches ...

as you are aware.. you probably cant kill the thing.. so just go to it ... in fact i would take those lower ones off right now.. so that it does not waste energy next spring leafing out a branch you plan on cutting off ...

ken