Three years ago, I wired a shoot on a coast redwood to create a new trunk on a multi-trunk composition (see “Coast redwood cutback” for details). The shoot grew well, and it’s now time to cut it back.

Coast redwood – before cutback

After cutback – 31″ to the top of the cone-shaped trunk

The trunk on the left has good size now but no branches. By reducing the top of this trunk, I’m hoping to stimulate lots of new growth that can be used to create the future silhouette.

The middle trunk has a few branches but not many as it was shaded out by the sacrifice growth on the left-hand trunk. Meanwhile, the trunk on the right has a nearly full silhouette as it received good sunlight for the past few years.

The lower branches are mostly shaggy as they’re growing freely until they reach the desired thickness.

One fun thing about redwoods is that the same tree can have several things going on at once. It’s not always easy to keep after all of the new growth, but I have enjoyed pursuing different development goals at the same time.