momtothree, In the bidding process they showed you what form of Palatka trees they were offering you. At the time if they told you the trees they showed you were single trunk trees then compare what they showed you to what they actually planted for you. If you see that what they planted appears entirely different than what they showed in the photos or what they wrote up in their bid, than clearly you do have a solid basis for not accepting the planting that they did. If you already paid them for the job they did, than in most states that establishes that you agreed with the job they did for you. If they clearly led you to believe that they were offering to plant single trunk Palalka Holly trees, then you should certainly communicate with them your lack of satisfaction you have with what they planted. If the landscaper accepts your objections, and agrees to replace those 5 trees in question, then, Great. If not, please post more details for us about the size and shape of those 5 trees. Whatever you can include about the details of each of the trees in question will be very helpful. Once you do that a few others might reply back with instructions concerning if the trees in question can be saved. If so they might even be able to tell you how to prune away any modified main leaders that those trees have and give instructions on how to train them to grow as single main leader trees.

If the label said only acer palamatum dissectum without a specific cultivar name such as Waterfall, Orangeola or Seiryu, for example, there is no way to tell if it is a weeping form or not although most a. p. dissectums do have a weeping or mounding growth habit. It also might mean that this particular plant was seed grown and therefore is no particular cultivar (or that the cutivar label had at some point been lost). Your description does sound like a grafted plant, however. Usually you can find the point at which the graft was made by looking for the slight swelling where the graft was joined to the understock. There is also frequently a noticeable difference in bark color between the understock and grafted material. The stick serves no other function except to keep the plant upright in its pot.

it will need to be hardened off ..... moving from indoors.. to outdoors ... you can not take it straight into sunshine ... you could un pot ... separate.. repot in separate pots... and keep them in dark shade for a week ... light shade for a week ... then filtered light .. perhaps sun at dusk or dawn ... the time lengths also take into account the disturbance of the roots from potting .... and then into the sun ... and you could always keep one potted.. in case you kill the others... you will have a fail safe ... eric.. if you cool the grass around a house ... wind will bring the coolness into the house ... your roof and insulation ... are supposed to take care of what hits the roof ... and with the trees further away ... what will not hit the house.. is the leaves falling off and choking your gutters... seed pods ... roof rats who use trees to get up there.. etc .... ken

No, don't scrape. Put on a garden glove and gently rub off the super loose stuff, maybe, but you don't want to open any more wounds. I'd just leave it, and if stuff flakes off, repaint. A commercial grower told me the following: Keep in mind that peach/nectarines are short lived trees. In commercial orchards they pull them out about every 12 years. This is because wounds (such as got from pruning) on peach/nectarine never heal that well. They heal over on the surface (sometimes) but not inside. This is unfortunately illustrated by your photos. Plums can live 25 but usually not much longer. Stone fruits in general are short lived. The most long-lived fruit tree (setting citrus aside) is the apple. This is because apple has an exceptional ability to heal its wounds.