You need to be more forceful. A better way to do it is to drive sturdy pointed stakes (sharpened 1x2) into the ground, leaning outward at an angle roughly simulating where you want the trunks to be, and then tie the trunks semi-snugly to those stakes at 3 places or more along their length. Then they will have something to conform to. Leave it in place for at least a year, maybe two, and then the redbud will have conformed. Don't worry too much about trunks being close near their point of origin. Eventually, they're all going to fuse together at the base into one trunk. Within the free trunk system only worry about things that are ugly -- such as a trunk starting out at one side but then crossing over to the opposite side, as that's basic schematic disorganization. Trunks should be, with relative uniformity, going upward and outward, not upward and inward.

Here's a similar situation. The back trunks were leaning toward the shed. They would have had to re-curve frontward in order to clear the roof overhang. I wanted them to grow straight up and clear the overhang without the ugly swayback curve thing going on. I drove stakes in the ground only for the main back trunks. Yet I've used them to lightly tie off other trunks that needed a little tweaking in their position or spacing from other trunks. BTW, this is a Pittosporum purchased as 3-gallon and installed July 2018, when it was 16" tall. Now, a year and 3/4 later it is over my head and I am 6'. It's loving my discipline. :-) The plant before it did not. :-(

I have seen trees that were trained to twist around each other, so that is an option. If you want them to stay apart I'd say you're doing it right.

@Yardvaark Lovely! Is this a Pittosporum Tobria Variegata? That one is on my list, and I love seeing it in a real setting vs. stock/nursery photo. Thanks for the tip, I plan to use this on a new tree in my yard that is curving oddly.

what is the big wound at ground level?

is this cercis canadndensis??? .. i suppose you wont want to hear its 10 to 15 feet too close to the fence/structure ...

is there any reason you want that many trunks???

i guess i would make a 3 or 4 year project out of it.. and start reducing the number of trunks ... starting with the small one growing directly to toward the fence ... and in fall probably take another one ...

i would properly prune them.. rather than CHOP them ... lol ...

ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=cercis+canadndensis&iax=images&ia=images

Yes. Is Pittosporum. Here, before the last trim.

"is there any reason you want that many trunks???"

3 question marks indicates some incredulousness. Therefore I must ask, why WOULDN'T one want many trunks?

Thanks everyone! This is Cercis occidentalis or CA redbud. it tends to be described as a large shrub or small tree that is typically multi-stemmed. I know the pictures are lousy!

What Ken is seeing isn’t a wound exactly. When I got this tree, it had grown a single trunk, but then been chopped all the way back, leaving a small stump. I have read that this is a method to get multi-trunks, which I now have. Or perhaps it was damaged or something, I have no idea. But the new smaller trunks have grown up and around the stump to no ill effect so far. it has a really beautiful fan shape right now, which is not captured well by my pics.

Based on the input here, I think I need to not worry too much about whether the trunks eventually make contact and fuse. I guess they will or they won’t. I think I need to take Yardvaark’s advice and work on training the higher trunks away from each other. thanks for posting the pic your pittsoporum, it’s beautiful and I see what you are talking about!

And Ken, you’re right about that trunk that is close to the fence. I have taken quite a few of its branches, but it’s probably time to just lose that whole trunk, and it won’t affect the shape to be honest. As for the spacing, I think it will be reasonably happy there as long as I keep it flatter in the back, and closer to the large shrub end of the spectrum.

-m

@Yardvaark I'm sorry if this is a very unintelligent question, but are you training the branches to fan out like that so that will eventually be their shape and you can remove the ties and stakes? It's so beautiful and I would love to train an upright form like this in an area of my backyard, but would I always have to keep it tied up? I don't mean to hijack this thread, just got pulled in by the plant!

"... but would I always have to keep it tied up?" No. That's there for a year or two, depending on the exact circumstances, in order to guide the overall long term trunk structure. All new growth is born flexible and willowy and is easy to shape in its young stage. Surrounding influences -- especially shade producing influences, like a nearby wall -- cause future trunks in their formative period to lean in ways that may be outside of their desired character. The temporary splint is just a guide to keep things going correctly (according to the ideas of the owner.) Once the trunks develop enough stiffness, the splints can come off and the structural form will be retained. This is predicated on the idea that the one doing the maintenance is catching errors before the trunk becomes too woody and cannot be easily reshaped. The more out of whack it is, the harder it is, or impossible to correct

There are people all over the globe training trees into all kinds of things before the growth has hardened. It's a fun and fascinating concept but takes dedication and time. I don't have enough of either, now, to do more than just try to develop a decent landscape form.

Bottom of redbud looks strange. Is the tree a stump sprout?

It can look really fantastic if you wire it correctly. This one was wired for a few years and now it stays like this… I just prune it every year to keep the shape similar

This makes me miss Yardvark. Any idea where he’s gone?

I have not seen anyone post anything definitively about yardvaark. He just stopped posting one day. I take that as a bad sign.