Fruits and Nuts: How NOT to prune a Tree 2: Take me to your Leader, 1 by pollengarden

pollengarden wrote:
Here is how NOT to do it.

When I picked out this Redbud at the nursery, the angle between the two branches was narrow, maybe 20 degrees. The other trees were worse, I should have not bought one at all. But here is what I did: I bought it, I took it home, and it split right down the middle of the trunk when I unloaded it from the truck.

I drilled two holes through the trunk and put 2 bolts through to hold the split trunk together. Then I spread the crotch out slowly, I changed the spreader for a slightly longer one every two weeks.

The best that can be said is that it worked, but seriously, don't do this.