I planted a Navel Orange tree in March of 2008. The trunk is not growing at all except for gaining a little thickness near ground level. The aluminum foil around the bud union has been removed. The main trunk is only 20" tall. From it has grown 3 big branches, one of which I directed to grow straight up which is now 30" tall . The left, 27" and right 34" lateral branches I plan to completely prune off in March in hopes of adding to the main trunk during the next growing season. Is this a good idea? If I prune the main vertical branch there would be almost nothing left of the tree. I would appreciate any advise you might have.
Seems like an awful lot of pruning. Should a tree this young have so much of itself removed? My most urgent advice is to remove the dead tree in the background. Yikes!
Thank you for your reply. If I don't remove the two lateral branches it seems they will eventually be too much weight for the short trunk. As you can see I now have them braced up with posts. I can't think of anything else to do to get the trunk to grow. I know that dead Juniper looks terrible, but the picture was taken in July and has now been replaced by a Mexican Red Bird of Paradise Plant.