Cercis canadensis 'Lavender Twist'

A year or two back, I planted a small but well-formed young weeping redbud. The little guy puts on nice new growth each year and seems to be thriving, but also seems determined to be prostrate rather than weeping; the majority of its small limbs actually sit on or near the ground, and the little trunk is only upright for about 6-8". I've tried to gently train it to a stake to raise more of the trunk upright, but it resists this and I don't want to break or damage the tree. Any suggestions? I've never tried training a young tree, so please keep all advice on the "Tree-training for Dummies" level (lol). Thanks in advance for any help-
Ruth

Ruth:

This is certainly doable. Many individuals of this selection of Redbud have been trained up into taller plants, so yours can be "trained" as well.

It is definitely easier to make a branch commit to verticality if you start steering it that way when it is still in its softwood stage. Firm wood will absolutely resist your efforts.

Without seeing what you are working with, I won't be able to be very specific for your instance. You might want to start posting some images, from which advice can be directed. There are growers, garden center operators, and gardeners on DG that have probably done this thousands of times and will be able to speak to even more techniques than I will.

With only 6-8 inches of a "trunk", you are basically starting from scratch. It only appears prostrate because it doesn't have anywhere to weep to. Whether you will be able to have a single straight central stem - that may be tough. You should be able to train any side branch to whatever height of verticality you wish; it just may be offset some from the center line of the original trunk. You could also train several of the branches toward an upright position, and create a "room" from several side trunks.

I have observed and purchased bare root plants of this species from a very good quality wholesale grower. He produces Lavender Twist™ at 3', 4', 5', 6', 7', and even 8' liners. You just have to have the softwood from new buds trained up along a stake as the new growth emerges. You can't wait till after it hardens off, because you know how brittle redbud wood can be.

Also, like any good bonsai, you cannot make changes all at once.

keep the small growth aimed high, on a stake and it will grow upright.

if there is a central leader, encourage it to grow stronger with some
opposing push. If I have a recalcitrant (like a willfull child) prostrate
weeper, then I push in a large iron stake angled away from the stem and
then wire the stem with hose section around the stem or panty hose
and then gently and gradually apply pressure to make it stand up straighter.

The wind helps me too, I try to use the wind as a force to help shape my
trees. Some do get away from me, but mostly, they grown straighter without
having to stake and pull and restake and hammer and stress. Although some
of my Peach trees are looking decidedly Japanese Coast line contorted. LOLOLOL

I have seen folks put small trees into growing tubes for bases of trees, they are
perforated for air and light, and help the tree grow without being eaten at the base.
You can use these for training also.

Hope this helps.
Sheri

Thanks for the input, VV and Sheri; much appreciated. I'll definitely try to get some photos, though there may be a delay since they're calling for monsoons again tomorrow. The little tree does have a central leader; it's just a very short vertical leader.

From Sheri's suggested approach to staking, I'm sure my slender bamboo stake is woefully inadequate for the task at hand. And using the wind to help is a great idea; unfortunately, given the prevailing wind direction here that would involve digging up and rotating the tree, which I'm reluctant to do since it is doing well though lying down on the job. For what it's worth, the site it's in gets fairly good protection from winds.

Sheri, love the image of Japanese contorted peach trees. Our property here was a farm back in the day, and the custom here among fruit growers is to train all fruit trees to weep, in order to make harvesting easier. I find the apple orchards full of "umbrella-style" apple trees rather shocking, but the ornamental cherry in our backyard that was trained to look like an umbrella is truly bizarre.

I'll post some photos of the little redbud as soon as mother nature permits.

OK, here's an overhead view of the little cercis.

And a shot from the side to show the central leader. BTW, I was being generous in estimating the length of the vertical leader; it is barely 6".

I know it looks I have a stranglehold on the little trunk; but over the past year, I've been gradually tightening the soft-ties to try to draw the trunk to the vertical. When I began working with it a year ago, the whole trunk basically bent to the ground.

It appears that for a trunk you have the 6" vertical rootstock, upon which was budded/grafted the scionwood (or bud) of Lavender Twist™. After the graft sprouted, the understock was cut off down to the graft (leaving the "trunk" you see), and the plant was sold.

The bud obviously has grown well, and all laterally since it started out low to the ground and didn't have the room to weep. You've begun the work of training it to an upright direction recently. You can continue to try to train the stem you've begun with, and make it become a whole new trunk, OR...

You can train the next vigorous new growth that emerges from dormant buds next spring, while the new growth is very pliable. It is entirely your choice on what route to follow. If you train new growth upward next year, then you can decide whether you want to keep the very low stems/branches that you currently have, or prune them off when you have enough new stems/trunks/foliage up off the ground where you want it to be.

Thanks, VV. My preference would be continuing to try persuading the main stem to become upright for a longer distance, since most of the new growth branches off from that stem. It's hard to see fine detail in these photos, but my concern with this approach is that the main stem I've been working with begins an abrupt turn to the lateral right above my last tie. The first inch or two of this bent stem is already hardening, and I don't know how far I can push to try to take it gradually upright. I'm becoming fond of the little tree, much as one would with a particularly stubborn puppy who firmly resists training, and don't want to destroy it in my efforts to train it. Does this make sense? What would you advise? The bottom line is that I don't forsee a long life for it as a prostrate tree; too much danger of damage from careless feet, insects, etc.