I'm wondering why you bought it in that condition. I guess if I already had a tree like that and planned to keep it, I would remove the upper half of the tree just slightly above a bud and let it reform a top.

When did you plant it (last spring or last fall)?

Brandon, thanks for the response

Why I bought it in that condition... well in retrospect I have no idea. Kind of one of those impulse buys because it was our first summer in our first house and the wife and I thought it would be fun to watch a tree grow from such a young state. Now that I have my head on straight I realize it would be smarter to start with a more mature specimen that has been pruned correctly. It wasn't quite like that last year as it had very little horizontal growth. We planted it in the fall and it only had the three small branches and I was hoping once it took root that some other growth would form horizontally.

I realize my response shows a clear lack of initial thought but again I file it under the its my first house and last year was my first summer and I was a little too impulsive category.

Can you give me a little more detail about where to cut it ? It has 3 branches at this point from the main trunk. Are you saying to cut each one of those off a little above a bud on that branch or should I cut 2 of them closer to the trunk and one just above a bud ?

can you remove JUST A COUPLE leaves around the top .... where all the branches meet the trunk ... for a better view of what is going on there ... JUST A COUPLE ...

i cant tell if it is grafted up there.. if so.. you can do what brandon said ...

ken

From the quality of fotos, hard to tell but there is some pretty good damage right around the branch union* from the bamboo pole that shouldn't be there (both the wound and the pole). The tree definitely needs to be staked properly to give it a chance, as it is struggling with that pole. Then after it settles down and gets happy, decide how to prune then. But I do like the mulch ring and wish more people would do mulch rings like that.

Dan

* I, personally, think it is grafted farther down the trunk but happy to be corrected.

You're in a colder zone than me, but my Yoshino grew like CRAZY the first two years. So it will probably look entirely different by the end of this summer.

Sorry for the delay with a better picture, hadn't been around when the light was good enough to get a decent shot. I appreciate the comments and suggestions so far. I will properly stake it once I figure out exactly what my next step is with it. Any additional suggestions/information is appreciated.

I had reduced the resolution of the previous shots so they loaded faster but I didn't with these so I apologize if they are larger than needed.

Shot 1
Shot 2

Anyone that can follow up based on my second photos, I would appreciate it very much.

Thanks,
Rich

Stake it properly without delay to stop injuring the poor tree so it can grow the way it wants.

Dan

Dan,

Not the helpful info I was hoping for as it was already mentioned above that I should re-staking it, and I specified I would. I need to know now how to recut the tree to allow it to grow evenly.

Thanks,
Rich

You stated above I will properly stake it once I figure out exactly what my next step is with it. Your next step is to remove the injurious stake and stake properly, not to prune.

As I stated above, MHO is [t]hen after it settles down and gets happy, decide how to prune then.

That is: it needs every square millimeter of leaf area to produce photosynthate to try and overcome the damage caused to it. It doesn't need pruning right now.

Dan

One web site on Yoshinos had this info: "Crowns become one-sided unless they receive light from all around the plant, so locate in full sun."
If that's your situation, it may explain a one-sided plant.

Follow Dan's advice. And I see some shade to the right of the tree and if that tree is too near that it can cause the growth to lean outwards like its doing. Can't tell from these pictures though.

Also when you have a tree tied tightly to a stake its not unusual for it to grow out and away from the stake. In the late winter (preferably) I'd remove 2 out of the 4 leaders to keep them from over crowding. You can most likely remove the stake now, since you said it was planted last year.

IF the whole thing gets to leaning to the side from being staked for so long then stake if with 2 or 3 stakes atleast a foot away from the trunk each. Tie a seperate barely taught continuous loop around both the trunk and each stake so it has less chance of girdling. Stake properly if you have to at all.

I would just let it grow out horizontally. I have a yoshino that i let grow 6ft about and before it got too sturdy i tied it over so it would grow horizontally. now its perfect in the spring to sit under and people watch while i enjoy the falling pedals and sake :D