Little Trident Maple Input Needed

Hello!
I've been lurking on this site for a while and finally decided to post. You fellas have been an inspiration and wondered if you could help me out.
I recently purchased a small trident. After looking at him more and more I am a bit lost as to what will become of him in the future. I don't think I will touch him till spring to assure he is healthy and growing with me. What do you guys think? Opinions are welcome!


Front


"Apex" from Back


Back


Note the ugly scar... Opinions on what to do?
Thanks,
Victor

Victor,, I found yor post and wanted to suggest.. the trunk looks good to me.. it does look like where the branches are there are 2 or 3 in the same place,,, chose the stronger 1 and remove the rest.. the chop looks stright across you could carve it down to taper with the trunk.. i am not the best but offer these suggestions..take care john

Nice start. I would also suggest pulling the branches down before they get too thick. You will probably want to let a sacrifice branch grow from the apex to help heal the wound. With any luck it will grow a meter or more and start to heal the wound. You can then cut it off and grow a different sacrifice to keep healing the wound.

I have a similar tree that I only grew one sacrifice and the wound did not close well (I wanted to get on with finish styling too soon). I am now back to growing sacrifice branches to close the wound and get the upper trunk section to the correct diameter.

Thank you guys for answering. I'm letting it grow a bit first to promote it to be more vigorous. Will pulling the branches down hamper its vigor. Since those pictures where taken I have let the top grow and I chose the sacrifice branch and will let it grow till the cut is healed over.

Pulling the branches down will slow them a bit. Wiring does the same. However, that will force more energy into the top sacrifice and help keep the lower branches from becoming too big. The upper sacrifices on one of my tridents has keep the lower branches from thickening as much as I would like, but when the come off over the winter/spring to start developing a good apex I am sure the lower branches will explode so I can develop them.