Seeds need to stratify for 3 months, so now would be a good time to be thinking about buying them & leaving them in some damp sand in the garage over winter. They're a really vigorous tree & respond well to pruning and root pruning. Here's one grown in the ground for 2 or 3 years & then chopped at about 2.5 m. I use a die grinder with a wood bit to hollow the wound slightly, then trim the edges of the cambium with a grafting knife sharp as a scalpel so they are perfectly smooth . Here, I've packed the wound with New Zealand Sphagnum moss to speed up wound closure: Al

I am going to respond to this even though I have not specifically trimmed a mesquite tree but I have trimmed mesquite -like trees ( paloverde, chilopsis linear is (sp?),Desert bird of Paradise,etc.), Xeric brushy trees. What I trim and chop down mostly is Mountain ash Juniper and that is removed by chopping at the ground and will not grow back from the roots like Mesquite. I go for the "Lolipop " form because it pushes the energy into one trunk and the tree pushes up its canopy faster.. I think your first action of chopping it back has encouraged it to grow in a very numerously trunked form. I would pick a few trunks and trim off all the rest and see if it puts its energy into those trunks and not replacing the ones that were trimmed off. I have heard that ranchers will "thin out" mesquite groves in the western arias instead of removing them with poisons by using fire to elevate the forms and allow the cattle to rove through them. It increases light filtration and grass growth underneath the canopy. This is a Holistic Land Management practice that I heard at a seminar. As you found out, mesquite grows back from its roots and yes , a little off topic. I don't know if my rambling is of any help. You have probably long ago taken clippers to it.

hello id like to get some Screwbean Mesquite seeds ill pay so plz let me know my email is pufayes@gmail.com plz let me know as fast as possible anyone thanks these are some pictures of what im expecting so if anyone has plz email me thanks . http://growingwithscience.com/screwbean-mesquite.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Prosopis_pubescens_beans.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2579/3935043335_5bfee6146f.jpg http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3493/4004087758_7d5de50876_z.jpg

It's grafted, which doesn't mean it won't be strong, and keeping the orig. should help fatten the lower trunk, but aesthetics should matter as well. The graft won't automatically strengthen the tree otherwise by being a graft as such... the top will matter, esp. depending on its genetics.