I planted this Styrax Japonicus "Evening Light" in early 2024 in my front yard (east-facing, Philadelphia suburbs, 7a) planning to grow it as a single-trunk tree. I babied it for the first year, and last winter I pruned off a few rootstock suckers + some small side branches that were growing lower than seemed appropriate (~2.5 feet and lower).

This past year (2025), however, I wasn't able to make it out into the garden too much for health reasons. Now that I'm back out there, I see that it shot out a pretty significant limb while I was away that may even start to compete with the leader. (On the right side in the photos; circled in red on one.) Leafed out, that limb makes up a good quarter+ of the total foliage.

This is the first time I've really cultivated a tree from this small a size, so I'd love your advice and experience—am I OK to prune this limb off at this point, given that it's such a significant potion of the tree, or did I lose that chance when I wasn't paying attention last year?

Thank you!