I chopped this trident down in March, and when the new leader was strong enough, I was able to carve the taper into it. This can be an elusive concept, but Brent’s article on trunk growing made an impact, with an added step, which made sense, particularly this excerpt:
“How to Make the Cuts
I’ve been doing trunk cuts for some years now and can report what I have learned. At first I did 45 degree cuts as recommended by most books. In fact I spent a lot of time carving the crater shapes at the same time. I have come to the conclusion that this is mostly a waste of time. I now just give them a perpendicular whack, and save the angle cuts and carving for later, after the dieback is complete.” –Brent Walston, Evergreen Gardenworks
March:
The cut is flat across the top, but the new leader…
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