Crabapple
- tubaboy
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I am not set on any one side being the front... right now I want to thicken up the trunk some... unfortunately I have no space to put it in the ground.
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- Tropfrog
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That is one of those dilemmas we always fight with.
Eighter you accept the Y branch and get a nice tree with a nice canopy with one flaw in short time. Or you cut one of the branches and start to build a new canopy. That will give you a better tree but will take longer time.
I dont think Y branches is that bad on Apple trees. After all we are aiming at a miniature of an old tree. Crabapples often have Y branches. I would go for option one and think of it as a feature, not a flaw.
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- tubaboy
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- Tropfrog
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I think I can see that any of the two Y branches can be made to new leader. But of cource not if you want to go for formal upright.
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- Albas
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It's a nice feature on your tree.
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- Ivan Mann
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OK, seriously, I see no problem with the Y shape. There are lots of trees in nature with that shape, and lots of apple, cherry, etc. In fact, I have two cherries and a pear tree in my yard, growing naturally with a Y shape.
What I would do is cut a couple of branches off down close to the fork of the Y shape, and prune the rest back to make a reasonable canopy shape, depending on what the branch structure looks back - this means in the winter without all those distracting flowers and leaves.
BTW, for those metric users 1 yard = 1 garden.
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- leatherback
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Deciduous trees are judged bare. If all you want is a flowering "treeshape" the underlaying branches do not matter

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- tubaboy
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- Tropfrog
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Judging from the photo, I think I would keep the Y for a very small tree or cut one and go for a taller tree. It just seems missplaced on a tall tree to me. But it is a question about personal preferences and it is your tree.
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- tubaboy
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Tropfrog wrote: The Y seems to be quite low?
Judging from the photo, I think I would keep the Y for a very small tree or cut one and go for a taller tree. It just seems missplaced on a tall tree to me. But it is a question about personal preferences and it is your tree.
any ideas on which angle could be the front? I have some and will post them later this week.. just wondering what you all think too.
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