the base issue .... is ....

do you want a tree form ... or shrub form ...

or would you like to encourage it up a couple feet ... before you let it go into its basic shrub shape ...

compare here: https://www.google.com/search?q=Magnolia+%27Felix%27&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjSv725pK_KAhUCYyYKHca3C6EQ_AUIBygB&biw=967&bih=745&dpr=0.9

the dichotomy ... the use of the 2 words ... is how i differentiate between the 2 forms ...

pruning is up to your whim... proper pruning never hurt anything ... but until you come up with your plan.. your form ... your dream .... the light at the end of the tunnel ... i.. we.. can not really tell you what to do ...

what do you want ... all tree froms were pruned from what you got ...

ken

ps: if, when it blooms.. and it happens that that branch blooms a different color than it should.. then you have an answer to embos issue ... i dont see any indication of a graft ... you can use google to find out if the plants are grafted ... rooted or seed grown... if no one here knows offhand ...

Thanks for the answers!

I think the graft line is flush with the ground as I've removed suckers with different leaves earlier and the line/swelling is visible when moving the mulch aside.

I think I much prefer a more upright, tree form than a shrubby form, so I guess I might remove the branch then! I could even try air layering it so I don't feel so wasteful, ha.

"So then it's just a matter of if you want a specimen that forks almost at [ground] level"

You don't want that.

Cut the competing shoot off in the fall, when the leaves start to go dormant. For now it will be contributing to the plant's root growth which is necessary in a young transplant.

Mind if I ask where you are - vaguely - in Australia? I wonder how far north these are sold there. Surely they would be ok in Melbourne and Sydney but I wonder if places like Brisbane have enough winter chill for them.

I think there's a whole lost art (or maybe never very widespread art, outside a few storied horticultural institutions) to pruning certain grafted or cutting reproduced trees. Now that I have my eyes open to it, I'm convinced that certain genus are more susceptible to issues with plagiotropic growth than others. And that what becomes the accepted standards for their appearance are in fact based on these growth defects from asexual propagation, and are not what that grex would have looked like when it was first grown out from seed. Because the scion of your magnolia almost certainly didn't come from the very top of the mother tree, it's still programmed to grow in a more bushy pattern. And therefore...what do we often see in arboretums? Many bushy or ill shaped magnolia cultivars. Some of the ones at say, the National Arboretum, are pretty hideous looking. Same with hollies. My 'Venus' or 'James G. Esson' threw out lots of waterspouts in their first 5 years. Unassisted they would have had hideous multiple trunks. Now that they have been forced into a columnar form, they finally seem to be giving up on that. Likewise I'm 'steering' my Gresham magnolias away from being blobs; something that a botanical garden almost never has the time to do at least in this country.

cf: http://image.slidesharecdn.com/whatcanbeachievedbytreedomestication-110915235618-phpapp01/95/what-can-be-achieved-by-tree-domestication-21-728.jpg?cb=1316412274

"I think I much prefer a more upright, tree form than a shrubby form, so I
guess I might remove the branch then! I could even try air layering it
so I don't feel so wasteful, ha."

Unless you've air layered one before, I doubt a Magnolia is going to be a walk in the park. There's a reason they are usually grafted. Let us know if it works though. I think you are better off letting it feed the plant until fall, then cutting it off.

Thanks for the comments, really useful information for a newbie like me! I think I might follow your advice and prune it in autumn then.

I live just a little bit north of Sydney and the winter seems to be ok for the deciduous magnolias. I've seen a few around here with nice flowers over the winter. I do feel like the summer here gets a little bit hot for them though, most of the ones I see here, even the ones at the plant nurseries seem to get leaf burn in the summer.

The issue you mentioned about plagiotropic growth is really interesting as well. I wonder if using rooting hormones (auxins) will affect these plants in any way, since I think auxins promote apical buds and inhibit axillary buds?

While on this topic any way, do you know if deciduous magnolias put out more leaves in mid-summer? I have a deciduous magnolia that I bought a few months ago and lost most of its leaves as I planted it in very bad, sandy soil, did not mulch well or condition the soil and damaged many of its roots in the process (my bad!!). The buds still look nice and green, and it has a few leaves left. I'm hoping to take it out and repot it with nice soil soon though and hope it will recover.

I drew a blank on 'Felix' so I looked it up. Apparently such usages are contractions of 'Felix Jury'. So now I wonder if your plant is even true to name as there is little sign of Campbell magnolia in its foliage, at least in the plant's current state of development.

If it were mine I might now suspect I was growing a clonal or seedling root stock in place of the named variety I wanted. This would explain the lack of an apparent graft union.

If there are 'Felix Jury' on offer nearby you could go look at those, compare their stems and foliage to those of your plant. You will probably find they are not the same.

I think Embothrium could be onto something; he knows his magnolias.

I would check with the nursery and see if you can get the name of the wholesaler. Ask them whether it was grafted or not. The graft union for me at least, has always been easy to find on young magnolias and it would be odd for it to be under the soil as you seem to have indicated. Though I think they can be micro-propagated in theory, that is uncommon here and seems like it would be even more uncommon there.

It definitely has the 'Felix Jury' name on the back of the tag with the Tesselaar company/distributor name which I think is the only one who distributes Jury magnolias here in Australia? I have another Felix Jury I bought from another nursery with the same tag and same leaves, but the graft union is visible and slightly higher, but it's still pretty low to the ground. I'm away at the moment but when I get back I can try and part the soil near the base to see if a graft union is visible and post the photo.

The leaves do look similar to the ones on google images too though:

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=magnolia+felix+leaves&client=safari&hl=en-gb&prmd=ismvn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi4rvmR-7PKAhWG2aYKHYMOBbcQ_AUIBygB

What happens is scions die and fall away, while the stock is allowed to grow on in their place - the presence of labeling means nothing in this regard. Also the wrong labels can get put on entire batches of scions or finished grafts. If nobody at the production facility notices such a mistake specimens can be grown to significant size and shipped to retailers, still with the wrong names - comparatively recently some maybe 7 ft. tall, obvious Kobus magnolia were circulated here as Yulan magnolia, one of which ended up in the gardens of an internationally known plant celebrity who had apparently failed to notice the incorrect habit, leaves and flowers of these. As soon as I pointed out the problem the dawn came.

The pictures at your link show the same Campbell-magnolia dominated foliage traits as I have seen on 'Felix Jury' here. And do not look like the leaves visible in the picture of your plant. But the best way to check your example is to take sample leaves from it and hold them up next to the leaves of other, labeled ones elsewhere that are at a similar stage of development (a much older specimen perhaps having rather different leaves).

Of course, if there was a group labeling mistake and the other ones elsewhere are from the same incorrect batch as yours them looking the same will certify nothing. If I was working on this myself I would look at multiple different instances of the plant to see what it was supposed to look like.

A consolation is that since - as can be seen in online photos - clonal stock of this one blooms quite small, you shouldn't have too long to wait to see if yours is true.