Red Pine - What to do with the lower branch ?

Red Pine - What to do with the lower branch ?

How much farther down is the nebari? Seems to me it's either a sacrifice branch to thicken the trunk or the secondary trunk of a twin trunk design.

I think of it as a sacrifice branch also, As it is the trunk appears to have a near reverse taper.

Pictures of the tree at eye level would be nice to see. That way we can see if the branch has any relevance.

Curtis wrote:Pictures of the tree at eye level would be nice to see. That way we can see if the branch has any relevance.

YES. Why people take pics of trees from the top (where only giants ever see them) puzzles me.

mmehrmann wrote:Red Pine - What to do with the lower branch ?

it totally depends on what you want to do with the rest of the tree.............

1) chop off rest of tree, keep lower branch
2) twin trunk - keep it all and wire it up
3) cut it off and style the rest of the tree
4) keep it for a few more years to fatten the trunk a lot more - let it grow huge though while keeping the top in check - then the taper will recover

what did you see in the tree when you grew / bought it?

cheers Marcus

4) keep it for a few more years to fatten the trunk a lot more - let it grow huge though while keeping the top in check - then the taper will recover

It will be fat and with a protrusion on one side and flat on the other. For the same goal I'd recommend rather use some of this branch to (approach) graft the trunk at several levels. It is at least a 5-6 year long work though.

Alain Bertrand wrote:

4) keep it for a few more years to fatten the trunk a lot more - let it grow huge though while keeping the top in check - then the taper will recover

It will be fat and with a protrusion on one side and flat on the other. For the same goal I'd recommend rather use some of this branch to (approach) graft the trunk at several levels. It is at least a 5-6 year long work though.

Yes, it would be a bit bulgy, but after i'd grown it long i'd opt for my option1 and chop off the rest of the tree - nice big fat trunk and the bulge would flow into the branch / new trunk