think of it this way .... if there is some inherent structural issue... wouldnt you prefer they fall apart now.. rather than when they are bigger ...

its great topic to discuss.. but i wouldnt waste time worrying about it all ...

i presume... you had a goal on planting them there... and you should be excited.. how fast that other house is disappearing ...

with those prime lawns... these trees are getting plenty of fert.. they will NEVER need to be fed ... period ... it might be part of the reason why they are growing fast ... that ans perhaps.. extra water from a moist spring ....

i cant see where you are ... MW??? storms??? .. midwest??? ... are we talking hurricane??? ... tornadic ??? ...

it would be interesting.. if we could see the structure of the multiple leaders ... see if we can ID any issues ...some are worse than others ... might be a pic you take.. next time its leafless ... which is also the best time to make a pruning plan ... its easier to figure it all out... when you can easily see it all ..

my inclination is with mike in the aesthetics of single leaders ... but on the other hand.. ive seen some really cool multi leader trees.. though usually in nature ... if you did prune one out.. the tree will appear lopsided fro many years.. but eventually.. in tree time... would assume a more upright appearance ... note i said appearance ...

there is nothing you can do .. thru pruning... to slow them down ....so why bother ... let it grow to its own inner muse ... how or why do you/we think we can improve on genetics??? ... its usually us.. that mess it up ... creating even worse problems ...

imo .. make a decision on the dual leader thingee.. but otherwise.. just enjoy them.. and dont mess with them ...

ken

I wouldn't worry about fast growth, but concentrate my concerns about the form of the tree. Decide if you want single leader of multi. If the former, then pick the most likely leader, put a splint (an 8,' 1"x2") on it to straighten it up (as best as possible) and then reduce the competing branches by 50% so they do not become leaders. If you want multi leaders... just get out of the way.

Thanks for the thoughtful and experienced comments, all. And yes, Ken, I'm very excited to see them growing like this, especially after 8 years of rather unimpressive growth. The apparent dual leader in the first tree is mostly a trick of the picture angle, but the primary leader is indeed leaning after growing perhaps 3' just in the last several months. The far tree doesn't have any that I would select as a primary leader right now, but seems quite content to be a very large shrub ( :-) ). Anyway, thanks again for the words of wisdom, I will give it some time and see how it continues, and will perhaps come back in the winter with pictures of the structure to get some pruning advice.

Those are super healthy looking trees! I've pruned my Dawn Redwood to single leader but it is much smaller than yours and I have done it from day 1. I wouldn't do anything to yours at this point other than keeping an eye on the crotch of any double/multi leaders. I love the rings around your trees as well....smart to make them as large as you did considering the precociousness of your trees.

Thanks, yes, I learned about the "precociousness" of my trees via wilting needles, etc., but added the larger tree rings two years ago and switched "yard guys" (I've tried taking care of fertilizer, etc. myself, but I keep messing it up) last year and they've been much happier.

Are those the normal species, or a hybrid or ?

Because those 3 trees are very atypical of the norm.

I’d say train them while young and maybe they will improve.

Call me if you want to discuss. My info is on my website.

Here is a little about me :

Studying and growing the species since 1967.
In 1967 I regularly watched and studied one of the first Dawn Redwoods planted in the U S A. Seeds given to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, one of which was planted near my home, in the late 1940’s. Even in 1967 this tree was over 60' even though it hadn't been brought to USA but a couple decades.
Since then I have studied and planted many in Tennessee. My biggest DR now approaches 90 feet high and 3 feet dbh. I have five here at my estate Arboretum (www.WhiteHouseArboretum.com). Two are the Goldrush / Ogon types. Give full sun and perimeter room to grow. If growing an individual specimen tree, never trim branches above thigh high. Likes moist well drained soil just like most trees. A slight north slope is loved in Tennessee.
My 53 years of records and studies reveal that in TN, on an average to good site, you should expect these growth rates :
Year 1 to 15 = 2’ to 3.5’ max per year,
Year 16 to 25 = 2’ to 2.5’ max per year,
Year 26 to 40 = 1’ to 1.5’ max per year,
Year 41 to 60 = 1’ or so per year,
Then commensurately lowering for future years.
If you push for extreme buttress and distorted base with dominant low limbs, then height growth may be less than I stated in my table.
On Dave’s Garden I posted some pics of some of my favorite local middle TN DR's. The big DR that I am standing beside the trunk, was struck by lightning around ten years ago, leaving a scar almost to the ground. But it was not phased at all, and has healed over since and never slowed its growth. Since 2000 it has reproduced numerous progeny throughout the neighboring forest. It is impeccable.
I love this prehistoric tree. Tons of Dawn Redwood fossils have been recovered in North America. Known to exist during the dinosaur eras. I recently purchased a fossil DR recovered in USA.

Thanks for the remarks, Randy. Alas, I don't know the details of their lineage. All I know is that we visited the nursery in 2011 and fell in love with these trees. We were told that they would likely not get as tall as 60', so perhaps they are a hybrid. They have been slow growing until the last two years ... last year pretty much everything in our yard grew explosively, including the DRs, and they seem to be keeping it up this year as well. Also, it's worth noting that we have solid rock not very far down, and most of the soil is heavy with clay, the combination of which I have always assumed is having a stunting affect on how tall they will get.