Pruning Question for young grafted Paw Paw trees

Little Rock, AR(Zone 7b)

Hello all, I'm looking for input on how to cut back these small Shenandoah Paw Paw trees. The first had its tip snapped off during shipping while the second had two shoots growing from the nursery. As an aside, I will not be purchasing from this nursery again. Now, the first picture shows a Shenandoah which has two strong branches growing and I think the lower of the two looks like it is the best bet to have a desirable growth pattern later in the tree's life, but I am hoping someone with more experience can help me out. The second photo is another Shenandoah; on this tree the main stem shows much more mature and dense growth, while the water sprout (coming off the left hand side in the picture) has had the most vigorous growth since it's been in the pot. I'm not sure which branch to keep and which to cut back. Advice? Thanks in advance!

This message was edited Jul 17, 2017 12:20 PM

Thumbnail by LostCreekAR Thumbnail by LostCreekAR
Davenport, NE

Hi Lost Creek,

The trees are so tiny that they need all the leaf surface they have to get some momentum going. I would suggest you wait a year or two for them to establish. Once you can see their individual traits then prune. Hope this helps.

Beautiful, BC(Zone 8b)

I agree. Leave them as is until they have sufficient growth for a few years.

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