First, thank you all for the great links. They helped me a lot during the purchase and planting stage. Meanwhile, since the loss of the leader, there are now two twigs at the top of the tree that are growing in the shape of a 'V.' Should I clip one of them, in an attempt to train a new leader, or should I leave the tree to figure things out for itself? Leaving things in the hands of nature, by the way, is my present strategy for the rest of the tree, especially since aforesaid bird also pruned another twig (about the same size, i.e. about a foot long) from the interior. (I am resigned to a certain amount of avian pruning while the tree is young. Also, any attempts to remonstrate with the bird might lead my neighbours to think the heat has gotten to me at last...) Notes:The trunk of this sapling (a bloodgood purchased last year) is about 1 inch in diameter at the base. It's a little over 5.5 feet tall. I planted it last September, and have not been too concerned at the apparent lack of new top growth since I presume the roots are still establishing. The drainage is okay, the best I could manage without raising the bed too much (which I feared might cause problems of its own.) By the way, I see a tiny leaf coming out at what I suspect is the rootstock of the tree. The rootstock appears to be about a foot high. Should I clip this bud, since otherwise it might help the rootstock to start 'taking over' the tree?
Check out the articles on pruning at www.mountainmaples.com. If the tree had a leader, you could certainly remove one of the sides of the V-shaped emerging twig. However, I thought 'Bloodgood' had a more open shape. It may be that the blue jays will be doing more pruning, so with each pruning 'cut', you will see two new twigs emerge, which will fill out the tree a bit more. It sounds a bit odd that the graft is 12" up the trunk, so feel free to attach a photograph.
Laurie First, my apologies, I failed to find your reply until now! I do hope you are still around so that I can give you my belated thanks. My husband seems to think the graft is more like 4 inches up the stem. When I figure out how to scan in a photo, I'll post one. The twigs at the top of the tree aren't new - they were there before. I was trying to decide if there was a way to encourage one to become the new leader but as you say, bloodgood is supposed to be a more open style of tree. Thanks for the link, I am checking it out.
