how big can a 2 year old tree be??? .. maybe 18 inches at best??? ...

i going to guess large transplant.. and in tree time.. one might suggest that it hasnt re-establish its lost root mass ... and one might suggest not to cut off any food making machines ... i.e. .. leaves ...

think in tree time .. and you will realize you have many years to go.. before you should be thinking of cutting on it ...

how about a pic .... it would be a great starting point .... and then explaining how tall you would like to keep it at ....

all that said.. general pruning rules dont change by the type of tree .... so there wouldnt be a specific book on redbud pruning.. per se ....

ken

There may not be books on how to pruned redbuds but there are hundreds of Internet sites. Google 'Pruning Cercis'. You will get sites from near you (Your IP address is the giveaway.)

What are your goals for height with this tree?

In general do you know how to make proper pruning cuts with and clean the tools before hand?

Redbuds here grow in all minds of crazy shapes with and w/o pruning. I love them. None seem intent on outliving me and many get that cool gnarly old tree look pretty quickly though.

My neighbor has a 25 year old redbud which was a new transplant when his now deceased airedale was a pup. Sigmond repeatedly chewed the redbud to the ground. It apparently grow back with a vengence and ol boy wound the sprouts together. It isn't super tall but outlived the airedale. Now the tree is a little past its prime but so am I lol.

So all you have to do is be as gentle than Sigmond! No really, you may as well make proper cuts and use clean tools.