I have a friend who planted this Magnolia in her yard. She asked me if she should remove one of the leaders coming out at the base. I thought she should, but told her I would ask for some opinions here before she should do anything. After I took this pic we pruned some of the lower branches and I should have taken the picture after we'd done that, but I had already put away my camera. The next picture shows the double leader up close.
Young Magnolia with a double leader
Do you know specifically which Magnolia this is? Many are by nature large multi-stemmed shrubs. If this is one of those, cutting off one shoot might only prompt the tree/shrub to produce others. Magnolias really don't respond well to pruning. They're famous for producing water shoots, and slow to callous over a cut. See if you can do a little homework on the cultivar. Judging from the photo, what you have there is not a tree in standard form but a large shrub.
Another option is to tie the second leader down into a more horizontal position to encourage it to be a branch. Just don't pull down too hard in case it breaks anything.
Resin
That's a really neat strategy. Thanks Resin. I hadn't ever considered that idea.
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