Probably an exercise in futility. All my yellowwoods have horrible crotches and included bark, and the others I know of in the area do too. The only single stem trees I've seen have been in closed canopy forests, with a crown so high so as to not be able to see the blooms. My oldest is around 30 yo and has never suffered any damage, and we have world class tstorms and periodic ice storms. It's the nature of the beast, which is native here. For a new transplant, I'd give it a year or 3 before any corrective pruning, and then to gradually lift the crown, they are notoriously low branchers in the open. The more foliage, the better.

wheres the pic ed?

how newly planted??? .... how big???

ive been sub pruning a 15 foot oak out back.. im on year 5 of the program ... whats the hurry???

ken

Planted late last Fall. About three feet tall. I've heard this tree is notorious for bad crotch angles so I'm trying to get ahead of it.

But the good news Ed is that you've got plenty of time to set things right. Sure, sure, that's bad structure, but it's such a itty-bitty thing. No rush, just gradually apply the concept and the tree will be, if not good, as good as it can be.

I would do it in the winter (January/February)