University of Florida

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Animation of structural pruning on young upright tree

The clip shows how a young tree with many upright stems can be pruned to improve structure. None appear to want to dominate the structure. Most upright stems will be shortened so that the one stem that was not shortened will grow faster. This faster growth rate will allow the uncut stem to become the main trunk. This procedure needs to be repeated every 2-5 years in the first 25 years in the life of a tree to develop good structure.