Thank you for this pic. Amazing! I gather that I could chop at the base of the thickest straight piece and cut off all remaining limbs, then see a lot of growth afterward. But do you mean chop a few inches above the ground? (Haha, sumo)
Question…Do you have a space to plant this American Elm in the ground to grow? Does not need a lot of space. Planted on a floor tile, around 16” x 16” would control roots. The roots are planted almost directly on top of the tile. Tree centered on the tile. I grow out my Elms this way. Periodically I just cut around the shape of the tile and just leave the tree to continue ground growing. I put large heavy rocks around the trunk base for stability.
Awhile back I did not have a good grow out area. I accomplished the grow out at that time using a large low sided wood box. There are other ways also. I kept the trees from tipping by putting large heavy rocks around the base. Accomplished similar results. Just left it on the box to grow. About every three years I’d lift it out, drastically cut the roots, and then plant it back until I was ready. The first time I chopped back the trees were about 9' tall. After growing out again I cut them back after a height of about 8'. The height helps fuel the trunk. My focus was on the trunk size….the first 18” of the tree…not the height really.
American Elms grow well with good characteristics.
I would just let this tree grow. No chopping yet. If necessary it could just grow in the container you have now. There are a lot of techniques to grow out. I’m only telling you mine as I am the grower and have the results. Each of us has our own results from our own methods. If interested we could talk more.