It's real hard to give spot on advice when far removed from the subject matter. A hands on 360 evaluation is a must. Without that we shoot from the hip. I suggested cutting the 2nd branch back to the foliage line with the bottom branch blocking the cut off. My thought was it would regenerate new foliage for better balance. With the bottom branch gone by all means remove the stub. My Ginkgo b. 'Princeton Sentry' limbed up to 12 ft. It had a few wayward out of character limbs. It took me a long time to muster the courage to get out the saw and go for it. Glad I did. It was planted in 1988 with no thought of conifers needing light or for that matter anything needing light. Now my conifers receive the needed light and the Ginkgo remains the yards stalwart protector commanding all the attention it deserves. Barbara. in time your ginkgo will sort itself out. Just be patient Dave

I also have a tree in my front yard that has lost its bark however it is still growing very slowly mind you. Not sure how it happened but it is almost 3/4 around. Can the bark grow back or should I start looking for a new tree. I can't even remember what kind of crab it is purple leaves with pink flowers. The strange thing is the bark was still there but just loose. I peeled off the loose stuff and it has a nicely healed edge I wonder if it was damaged when I bought it but never noticed.

sawemoff - That's a beautiful variegated small cultivar! Thanks for posting about it. I was mistaken when I suggested to dee that there weren't any dwarf varieties. Maybe that's what she has. Apparently there are several dwarfs and more being hybridized all the time. That Metromaples site (in Fort Worth) is a feast for the eyes! I sure wish I had the right soil to grow Japanese Maples too. They are gorgeous. Here's just a sampling of the Ginkgo varieties out there (large and small): 'Anny's Dwarf': dwarf form 'Autumn Gold': better fall colour and/or modified broad spreading growth habit, compact form, male, tall. 'Barabits Nana': small bushy form, up to 2 metres. 'Beijing Gold': shrub form, 4 m, yellow leaves also in spring and summer ( in summer somewhat striped) 'Bergen op Zoom': small straight up to 4 metres. 'Chase Manhattan': small, tiny darkgreen leaves, compact, ideal for bonsai and rockgarden, 1.5 m 'Chichi (Icho)': smaller leaves and a textured trunk, bark has breast-shaped protuberances 'Chris's Dwarf' (or 'Munchkin'?): see 'Munchkin' 'Chotek': weeping form of 'Witches Broom'; cultivar from Czech Republic; found by Mr Horak, Bystrice pod Hostinemin. Named to tribute the house of Choteks, the family of archbishop F. M. Chotek. 'Eastern Star': female, bears abundant crops of large nuts. 'Elmwood': vertical columnar form 'Epiphylla': female. Max. 4 m h., more wide. Seeds form on rather young plant. 'Elsie': upright growing, female. 'Fairmount': slender form, big leaves, dense pyramidal crown, male, 15 m. 'Fastigiata': architectural vertical accent, nearly columnar form, slightly wider at the base, big leaves, male (also available as female). 'Geisha': female, long pendulous branches and dark green foliage which turns lemon-yellow in fall, heavy crops of large nuts. 'Globosa': Graft on stock, bulb-shaped, compact 'Globus': Bullet-form, big leaves. 'Golden globe': Full head and spectacular yellow fall color. Trees are unusually densely branched for Ginkgos. Young trees have full crowns that mature in a broad, rounded head. Male. (from a seedling of Cleveland Tree Co. ) 'Gresham': Wide spreading horizontal branch habit. (from Gresham High School Ginkgos at Gresham, Oregon) 'Hayanari': female. 'Heksenbezem Leiden' (Witches broom): quite compact, rounded, dwarf form, branching closely grouped, up to 3 metres. 'Horizontalis': tall and wide form, many side-branches. Wide crown. 'Jade Butterfly': dense darkgreen foliage clumps, shrubby outline, vase shaped, semi dwarf, about 3 m. 'King of Dongting': slow growing, very big leaves. 'Laciniata': large deeply divided leaves 'Lakeview': compact, conical to broadly pyramidal, male. 'Liberty Splendor': broad pyramidal form with strong trunk, female. 'Long March': Upright growing, female is cultivated for heavy crops of tasty nuts. 'Magyar': uniform symmetrical branching, upright narrow pyramid form, up to 19 metres, male. 'Mariken': more compact than 'W.B.', tall about 3 ft, w.6-10 ft, branches more or less pendulous, graft on about 5 ft stock (P. Vergeldt; from a tree in Nijmegen). 'Mayfield': Narrower form than Fastigiata, tight upright, short branches, 9-12 m. 'Munchkin' (or 'Chris's Dwarf' ?): Upright habit and numerous slender branches, it has a tendency to be more regular in shape. Most leaves do not exceed the size of a quarter and are very dense on the plant. May eventually reach 6 ft but growth rate is around 4'' a year. 'Ohasuki': up to 4 metres, halfround big leaves, female. 'Pendula': branches more or less pendulous ("weeping"), slow growing, decorative. 'Prague or Pragense': low spreading and parasol-shaped. 'Princeton Sentry': well known cultivar, slow growing, big decorative leaves, upright conical form gives very formal focal point, male, 30 m. Improved "Fastigiata". Name derived from tree in Princeton Cemetary. 'Rainbow': striped with green/yellow leaves, about 3 m. Improved 'Variegata'. Remove green leaved branch immediately. 'Salem Lady': female from Oregon. 'Santa Cruz': female, low, spreading, umbrella-shaped. 'Saratoga': dense branches, small yellow-green leaves, slow growth, rounded outline, male, 10 m. 'Shangri-La': fast growing with compact pyramidal form, 14 metres, grows somewhat faster, male. 'Spring Grove': dwarf, very small and compact, about 3 m. 'Tit': = Chichi (Icho). 'Tremonia': small, pyramidal form, very big leaves, female, 10 m. 'Troll': compact 'W.B.', leaves vary from normal to rounded (Johann Wieting; from a tree in Krefeld, Germany. 'Tubifolia': slender leaves form sort of tub shape, slow growing, decorative, small tree, fairly compact branching, about 3 m. 'Umbrella': compact, densely branched, different leaf-forms and sizes. 'Variegata':shrub form with variegated foliage, some leaves 'halved' green and gold, others striped and others half gold/half striped, up to 3 metres, female. It often reverts to green (see 'Rainbow'). Half-shaded position. 'Windover': broad oval outline, shade tree, 17 m. 'W.B.' ('Witches Broom'): dwarf form, compact, rounded, lightgreen leaf, closely grouped branches, about 2.75 m.

I second the others advice. Clean back the dead material, clear the grass back from the base as its only stealing available nutrients. I would also lightly cultivate the top inch or so around the base. My ginko's did a lot better after I added some time release osmocote and your tree needs either that or perhaps adding some composted mulch around it too. Both will help get it going stronger. They're not difficult to grow and I'm never seen any that were grafted trees. The ground around the tree might well be light on nitrogen so adding some type of fertilizers should help out too. :)