That is a shipping stake and it should be removed as it is too tight. Mine grows upright on its own. If you did want to help it, use a 14 inch piece of bamboo with the bottom attached to the old growth and the top to the new growth…called a splint.

tj

Hello B, I think your expectations are a little high. Since you stated this tree is a recent addition you have to realize it's gonna take a couple few years to get established before your gonna see 'peak performance' .
Unfortunately your leader and possibly a side branch have been removed and your upper side branch is trying to take its place. Like tj said above...remove the stake and reassess what the tree is doing on its own. If you decide to stake the new branch be very careful you don't break it.
Under normal circumstances those trees are known to not need staking at all and will eventually releader on there own. Here's a photo of one of mine, never been staked .

Super Nice Jordan !!!

Maybe the moderator thinks you stole this pic from disneyland ...TOOO nice , jordan !

Thank you all for your advice, and for sharing pictures of your lovely mature specimens :)

I removed the nursery stake, and I think I'll let the tree get established & grow naturally for a couple of years and at that point if it hasn't re-established a leader, I'll apply a splint stake like tsugajunkie described.

do it gently.. even if it takes you the rest of the year to splint it upwards ..

dont want to admit how many i simply snapped off.. trying to do it all at once ...

ken