Yes, bamboo and/or other sticks never needed in tree pruning......ever. We must "leader train" some two to three thousand youngish trees a year. What hilarity would ensue if we started taping little sticks up in these growing sticks! So no, I isn't laughing at your expense, just I find that whole thing amusing, when people do things with plants which, if you stop to think about it, are completely out of line with what these organisms did for the first several hundred million years before us monkeys showed up, and managed very well, thank you! No, a lead branch basically never needs to be pulled, pushed, pried, or otherwise mechanically forced into proper orientation. That's what those same hundreds of millions of years of natural selection has done for these plants. They've figured out how to grow on their own. I applaud your recognition of a problem in modern landscaping that even many pros seem to be blissfully unaware of: As houses get bigger, the plant material has shrunk in scale. Giant house-little ornamental tree, maybe some black-eyed susans and a clump of Russian sage, but no maples, elms, basswoods, oaks, spruce, pines, etc, all of which would eventually grow to be in scale with the giant house. So I get that. What you've got to realize is trees actually grow fast. Plant a tree which is well-suited to your environment, plant it properly, water adequately when needed, and you're quickly going to have nice tree. It goes much faster than people are inclined to believe. The type of pruning you want to do can be described as either "leader training" which I referred to earlier, or better still, "subordination pruning". There's a guy down at U of FL who has done as much as anybody-Ed Gilman-to describe and refine these methods. Maybe take a visit to some of those web pages-it sounds like you're ripe to learn. And if you do, you'll know more than half the people on this forum right now about young tree pruning and care. +oM

Thank you both. Yes, new parent syndrome. I just lost a 20 year old mountain hemlock and a vine maple beside it (and I can't figure out why they died) and am sick about it, so I guess I'm being a nervous nellie about the rest of my trees. Ken, yes it's close to the fence but won't outgrow its spot before the fence rots and I'll likely be gardening in heaven by then. My son will inherit the house and will take out all the trees and plants and plant lawn, I'm sure. My friends are instructed to get Plant Amnesty and/or other gardeners in here to rescue what they can when the time comes. The fence was supposed to be different, but the fence man didn't understand and had about 1/3 of it built before I saw it. This design was a compromise to having him rip it all out. One last question: If I want it to bush up like this pic (thanks for the links, Ken) should I nip the new growth? Is it too early (young to do that)? I want it to look like this, if possible: Bushier tree

Ok here goes ; ) Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Fernspray Gold’ (I'm going to try to get all tree names right!)... bought as a teeny tiny bonsai starter back in 2010 I think- one of the only plants I brought with me to this house when we moved 4 years ago. Developed a leader shortly after the move, I kind of like it. Pinks in front. Acer palmatum dissectum 'Red Dragon', in front of a Chamaecyparis nootkatensis ‘Green Arrow’ that a buck rubbed autumn before last... someone here might remember helping me figure out why the middle portion was dead! As suggested I decided to keep it, after cutting off the 3/4 that was dead. I don't know what kind of tree it looks like now but it's still interesting to me, and I don't have enough other stuff out there yet to justify ripping it out anyway. Ah well. A bright yellow barberry gifted by my mom behind the maple. Still want to grab some big rocks for around some of these guys. Picea pungens, 'Globosa' from westernevergreen in my first online conifer order, in spring of 2015. So exciting to see them all getting a little bigger; seeing the new buds in spring are one of my favorite things in the whole wide world. Right up there with watching the kids sleep and smelling the dog's paws, that level of good. Next are the other 2 from that order, Pinus parviflora 'Adcock's Dwarf' and Pinus parviflora 'Goldilocks'. These things are all obviously still very small but I've loved watching them, especially this spring. Then I have some decent growth on the Picea abies 'Pendula' that I also bought 2 years ago, from a nursery here. And this spring we splurged on a nice sized Picea pungens 'The Blues'... (I went a tad crazy this spring with big deal favorites). Then of course I have the curly thing that was the subject of this post-- I can't remember now exactly what variety it is, have to find the tag in the garage. Next I have my two most exciting plant purchases ever, the Tom Thumb and Kohout's Icebreaker I mentioned initially, which part of me thought I should wait until I had more space filled to buy, since they are so tiny and will remain that way for such a long time... but the other part of me thought I kind of have to get them early if I want to see any growth whatsoever! These two are my second online order, from coniferkingdom. At first I felt a little bit sick spending so much on such tiny little babies but then they gave me a free Picea omoriko 'Pendula Bruns' on top of it and while I have no idea where I'm ever going to put him, it made it all OK from there on out. And then when they arrived, I was so pleasantly surprised with the size of the Tom Thumb, though the trunk itself is pretty skinny. (Oh my gosh how cute is that tiny little thing? Can barely see it.) We've got a couple teeny tiny maples out there too, sprinkled in some. It's all still a little pitiful looking from the street but once things grow enough to sort of disguise gas/electric boxes and rainspouts and such, I think (hope) it's going to be really something. : ) thanks for asking Ron... feels good to be remembered!! -Nicole

pruning is very easy to do.. when you can actually state a GOAL to achieve .. you dont prune.. just for the heck of it ... and the lack of goal.. is why you are struggling to figure it out ... if you eventually want a taller tree .. you will take one of the new top branches.. over the main trunk .. and splint it upright.. and it will eventually become a new leader .. and grow the tree taller ... you can not take one of the older big branches and force it upward .. i have tried that.. and broke it... because you cant bend them back ... yes.. as the new growth extends.. it will droop .. its genetic .. nothing to fix there ... now.. the caveat ... these things can get huge ... and one goal.. will bo to keep it off the hosue.. and the window ... as time goes by .. you should train it away from the house ... thru judicious prunign.. that will be a goal ... with trees.. we talk in tree time .. decades .. the above goal. will need to start in 3 to 5 years.. and it might be 5 to 10 years ... before you have a problem.. but now.. yu have a future goal ... imo.. for right now.. leave it alone.. watch where it wants to grow.. and when the time comes... start encouraging it away from where you dont want it ... when researching trees.. its best to use the latin name.. as the higher quality sources of info use such ... white pine is Pinus strobus ... and i think you are right ... and the cultivar is 'Pendula' ... sooooo.. Pinus strobus 'Pendula' is your beast ... and here is how i look into the future for pix on what you will be dealing with .. again.. in decades... https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=Pinus+strobus+%27Pendual%27&iax=images&ia=images now.. some of those were pruned and trained.. but i would suggest most were just left.. over the decades.. to just heap upon themselves.. and do their own thing ... but again. note size.. and think about your window and house ... you might want to think about moving it .. and there is a certain time of year when that can be done easily.. and its not usually the beginning of summer ... if you want to think about that.. you would probably start a new post.. and include your big city location .. and finally.. note the new growth.. and that is your ANNUAL growth ... and as the tree matures... it will probably increase .. meaning this isnt some slow growing tree ... welcome to the forums... ken