Restoring lions-tailed trees

Treatment: To restore a tree that has been over-thinned or lions-tailed, allow sprouts to develop along the branches for a few years. Your goal is to eventually develop a few sprouts into permanent branches. Remove some of the sprouts and shorten others two or three years after the tree was over-pruned making sure that the ones you leave are more or less evenly distributed along the branches. Make a special effort to keep sprouts toward the base of the main branches to develop good taper in the main branches. Some branches might have to be reduced to encourage sprouting.

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