It's hard to tell much about this from just that one picture, but it appears that you need to make a proper reduction/drop-crotch cut just above a branch. That branch will then take over as the new leader. For more info, post a couple of pictures showing the overall form of the tree in the main Trees Forum and I'm sure you'll get plenty of feedback. Not many people review this sub-forum.

A few years ago I had planted eggplants too early. They had grown a bit, and then a freeze was forecast. What I did to protect them might be useful for some of you. I garden in on a ridge which was forest before I began clearing. I tied a rope from a tree over to a stump, with the rope being over the row of eggplants. I then laid plastic sheeting over the rope in tent style, throwing dirt on the edges of the plastic to hold it down. Under the "tent" I placed jugs of hot water, just before going to bed for the night. I made sure the plastic did not touch the eggplants. They came through the freezing weather just fine, and we had a good crop that year. I believe that was the first year I ever grew eggplants. Now, to adapt that to your circumstances. Take t-posts or some other type of sturdy post and drive them in at the end of each row. Tie a rope between them, and make a tent over that rope. Put jugs of hot water in late at night or a couple of hours before daylight when the frost is most likely to occur. If your rows are too long, add additional post in the middle. Sheets may work as well as plastic sheeting, at least for frost danger. Alas, I myself have too big a garden to do as I have just described. My rows are fairly long, and there are a lot of them. But, I live in southern Oklahoma, and on a ridge. The temps may not get as low here, and being on a ridge helps in that the cool air sinks and goes down into the valley and thus often spares the garden. I'm going to see what tonight's temps get down to, and then decide whether I need to attempt some saving measures tomorrow night. For where I am, I believe tomorrow night will be the potentially dangerous time. Being on a ridge with steep hills on both sides has been the saving grace more than once here. While t-posts are not cheap, all of these things, (posts, rope, heavy plastic) are things which can be stored and re-used year after year. If you have a small enough garden, and are willing to go to the effort, it might make a difference. Good luck everyone. Okieman

Seedmama, See there, I really can read your mind. Now, I hope you're taking care of yourself and not wearing yourself out too much helping everyone else. You have to save some energy in case one of the next weather monsters hits y'all too. By the way, I saw your thread on 'alerts' and agreed with every word. I like it when the severe weather threads stay high on the page long enough for everyone to see them, but there are times we need follow-up info from folks who are seeing new alerts or new developments and want to share them. It seems like a fine line to walk, doesn't it? Today, I am going to keep posting new alerts as new threads for as long as I can. It might not be all that long if the storms develop here first and move north/northeast. I have watched huge amounts of moisture stream overhead from Texas, across the Red River, above and beyond us and towards all of y'all. I don't like that. I am afraid all the Gulf moisture in the air could contribute to significant storms. It is so nice that your shelter is open to your friends and neighbors. Ours is too, but it is just one of those little in-ground ones that is about 6' x 8' so it doesn't hold huge numbers of people. I've already touched base with some of the neighbors to make sure they know they're welcome to climb into the shelter. I urged them to just come over, open the door and climb in, even if we aren't at home. I've been in the kitchen baking cookies and muffins so I'll have something to feed hungry firefighters if they go out on search/rescue/recovery missions during this round of storms, in addition to their usual fire and accident calls. Hopefully, we won't need the cookies and muffins and I can just freeze them and save them for another bad day. The earthquakes here surprised me a tiny bit when we moved here, but not a lot. We even have occasional earthquakes in parts of north central Texas, although they are less frequent than the ones in central OK. The large number of quakes the last 18 months or so in central OK does seem a tiny bit excessive. We moved here in mid-April 1999 and didn't have a tornado shelter. Then the May 3, 1999, tornado outbreak occurred and we didn't even know it. Because internet and cell service were almost nonexistent here then (later on, the addition of new cell towers fixed the cell phone issue but internet access was much slower) and local TV reception was very poor (DirectTV saved us), we didn't even know tornadoes were occurring in the OKC area until our phone starting ringing with folks from Texas calling to see if we'd been hit by tornadoes. That year, you couldn't get a tornado shelter here because of the huge demand in the OKC area, but we had a shelter put in early in 2000. Prior to this year, we probably hadn't been in that tornado shelter but maybe once or twice a year and some years not at all. We've already been in it at least 3 times this year because of storms. It does make a great root cellar too. I'm hoping none of us have to flee to the shelters today or tonight, but know it is likely some of us will. I think I am almost more afraid of the hail which they keep describing as potentially larger than baseballs than the possibility of a tornado. Neither one is a pleasant option though. I won't blame you for the earthquakes because you redeemed yourself by creating a whole new method for lasagna vegetable composing/bed building and strawberry gardening. : ) I think the genius of what you did there gives you redemption for causing the earthquakes in Oklahoma. C'mon, on a day like today, we have to find something to laugh about..... Dawn

the stake it came with.. is probably a shipping stake ... in case the box got inverted.. hold the pot from crushing the plant ... rather useless once shipping is done ... it has no use.. if it doesnt reach into native soil ... sometimes i used to pull it out.. and replace it in the same hole.. with a longer stake ... anyway ... let the soil dry a bit ... dig away from the lean... a bit ... then go to the lean side.. and lever it upright ... and then refill the hole on the lean side ... clear as day to me.. do the words mean anything to you?? ... lol ... then put some real stakes in a couple feet from the plant.. and tie that sucker up ... by fall.. you can probably release it .. was it bare rooted.. and planted into native soil ... is the potting media left.. wildly divergent from native soil ... summer heat is starting .... if you somehow decide bare rooting is necessary.. i might wait until fall to do that ... btw... you dont mention how big it is.. if its small.. it might change my answer ... somewhat ... ken