I am interested to hear what other experts have to say on this question.

Other than being a little low, I think it looks pretty good for that elm variety and you did a great job getting it to grow upright as far as you did :)

Here are a couple of links that may be helpful.

Valley Forge Pruning Example - Great website you may already be familiar with.

Link to Great Book On Pruning Young Elms - Awesome book that I own and have found to be very helpful.

all trees will establish a leader ...

could you take a pic w/o turning your gizmo ... which ever way you held it.. hold it the other way ...

looks like you took enough for this year ... there never really is a hurry ...

i dont understand what this means: debating if I have to cut half of it and find a leader

ken

Sorry Ken - Here's another shot. I figured out how to make it work so the pic comes out correctly. What I meant was that this thing forks upwards with three or four limbs now, so I wasn't sure if I needed to cut them all off and train the straightest limb to grow even higher before letting it flare out - or should I just live with this guy's shape as-is.

Thanks longtee81 - Seen that pic and tried to emulate it, but it developed a good crotch a lot lower so I went with it. But I have been second-guessing myself for doing that. That book looks cool!

The only other thing that bugs me is I didn't know about elm yellows so now I'm worried about that. Fretting over this goofy tree too much, I guess...

http://cdn3.bigcommerce.com/s-wzl5vx/product_images/uploaded_images/american-elm-1a.jpg?t=1408137399

See picture from the Morton Arboretum in Chicago. I believe these are the most photographed elms around (have seen them myself in person and they are beautiful) and they start to form multiple leaders around the same spot as yours. I would leave it be.

Elm yellows are scary. I live in Michigan and much of the outdated maps/info on the Web shows them not being here yet, but when I checked with the the local Extension they confirmed that they are indeed in the area.

Here is what they told me on this subject.....

The following is from the USDA Forestry Service: --- "Epidemics of elm yellows, which can cause great losses, are geographically localized, spreading slowly (if at all) into surrounding areas. The disease can be endemic in an area for many years, so once an outbreak occurs, most of the elms in a locality die. Yellows epidemics proceed more slowly than Dutch elm disease. The disease is prevalent in stands having large elm populations, but very likely the symptoms and the significance of elm yellows is overshadowed by the presence of the more aggressive Dutch elm disease. "

Thanks much! I'll leave it be - that pic gives a great indication of "what could be."

Good luck and keep us posted with pics ;)

Well, my Valley Forge Elm got hit pretty badly with Dutch Elm over the last three years. Quite a few major dead branches I have to chop off - it was looking pretty good but now it's a mess. I'm debating whether I should chop back all the major branches halfway and see if vertical leaders develop again, or tie the remaining branches together to "train" them upwards.

The truck also has a massive split in it It's almost like the tree was growing too fast for its own good and swelled at the base, or maybe so much water couldn't get up to the leaves due to the disease.

I'm not that familiar with Dutch Elm Disease so I don't know if the trunk injury is typical. It looks to me like this tree had an injury known as sunscald.

https://www.taddikentree.com/sunscald/

I have had this in my red maples and it set them back for several years where they tried to hold on while the bark healed itself.

Do you know for sure that it was Dutch Elm Disease that caused the die back or could it have been the trunk injury?

I’m not totally convinced that that’s DED.