Unusual basal dominance on my Mikawa seedling

[zeejet]

I bought this Mikawa seedling in May and after it recovered form shipping, it start pushing growth - except it was almost all in the lower section of the tree and the apex has not had new growth at all in the last two months. Par tof me thinks this is good and that I should allow the bottom to thicken for taper, but at this young a stage, those basal branches are already approaching the thickness of the mid-trunk and may end up as major scars. I'm also considering pinching these so that I might get growth further up the trunk - but it's already mid-August and I'm not sure if this is the right move.

Any ideas on what to do here?

 

[TrevorLarsen]

At this stage I personally wouldn’t do anything but let it grow wild and thicken up. People often cut off all the branches on deciduous trees with no problems. Any scar smaller than a quarter is supper easy get to heal over. Even giant scars can to healed with time so I wouldn’t consider that until you are closer to refinement.

Next spring right as it is waking up I would repot it into a larger pot or the ground and let it explode with growth. Inverse taper is probably the bigger thing to avoid at this stage.

Also focus on getting the roots right when you repot it in spring, that’s hardest thing to fix down the road.

 

[Shibui]

Mikawa Yatsubusa is a dwarf form of JM. It is dwarf because it has shortened internodes and because it lacks some of the apical dominance of the normal JM. These dwarf JM require quite different pruning and management techniques because they grow differently. Need to 'thin out' instead of 'cutting back' and prune lower sections harder than apex.

I suspect it will continue to display basal dominance

 

[zeejet]

Mikawa Yatsubusa is a dwarf form of JM. It is dwarf because it has shortened internodes and because it lacks some of the apical dominance of the normal JM. These dwarf JM require quite different pruning and management techniques because they grow differently. Need to 'thin out' instead of 'cutting back' and prune lower sections harder than apex.

I suspect it will continue to display basal dominance

I'm assuming "thinning" would mean something like defoliating alternating leaves or every other pair of opposite leaves perhaps? Would cutting back lower shoots not encourage extension at high branches?

 

[Shibui]

I'm assuming "thinning" would mean something like defoliating alternating leaves or every other pair of opposite leaves perhaps? Would cutting back lower shoots not encourage extension at high branches?

By thinning I mean removing entire shoots. These dwarf cultivars have such short internodes that shoots become overcrowded quickly. Removing some branches/shoots allows space for the remaining ones to develop. Defoliating some leaves may help temporarily but, in the end, only thinning entire shoots can provide long term light and space.

Correct on pruning the lower branches helping divert energy to the upper sections. Exactly opposite what we normally do for apical dominant trees.