Mulberry design help

Gurudas

Mame
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Hello. I recently dug a mulberry tree from my yard and I'm hoping to learn and grow with this tree. I intend to design it as broom-like tree. When I made the chops, I made sure that I had some sort of growth or promising bud that would help increase the chance of survival. I am trying to come up with ideas on styling. Firstly, I would like to ask how far down I should take the trunks. The 5 trunks are in varying diameters and I am assuming that thicker ones should be left longer than the thinner ones but cut at a point where taper would be accomplished over time. I may have made a mistake by taking the 2nd one from the left by taking it waaaayyy down with an initial intention of getting rid of it since I had the left-most trunk already.

Please let me know and thank you for your time!
 

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Leo in N E Illinois

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If this were mine, I would consider removing all the ''sub-trunks'' or branches. I would reduce it to a single trunk. Then I would let it grow wild for a couple years. Then I would select branches to keep and to eliminate.

If you keep multiple trunks, the visual convention is the largest diameter should be the tallest. The second largest should be roughly 2/3rds the height of the tallest. Or is there is a dramatic diameter difference, maybe 1/3rd the height of the largest diameter trunk. I would keep at most 3 trunks, probably would reduce it to 2 trunks or one trunk.
 

Gurudas

Mame
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If this were mine, I would consider removing all the ''sub-trunks'' or branches. I would reduce it to a single trunk. Then I would let it grow wild for a couple years. Then I would select branches to keep and to eliminate.

If you keep multiple trunks, the visual convention is the largest diameter should be the tallest. The second largest should be roughly 2/3rds the height of the tallest. Or is there is a dramatic diameter difference, maybe 1/3rd the height of the largest diameter trunk. I would keep at most 3 trunks, probably would reduce it to 2 trunks or one trunk.


Leo, may I ask what you see in this tree that makes you want to reduce it to a single trunk? And, what do you think about the 2nd trunk from the left? Did I make a mistake by trying to eliminate it? I was thinking of creating an uro or some kind of effect to make it more interesting.

Thank you for the guidelines on proportion. It's exactly what I was looking for!
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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Actually I was taking your lead, you had eliminated the 2nd from the left trunk, and continuing the pattern I was thinking about reducing to just one. BUT just as easily I can see making this a 3 trunk clump style. Either way, it can work. If you like the idea of a 3 trunk clump, then you probably did the right thing in eliminating the 2nd from the left. Go for it. Just remember, your largest diameter trunk should be the tallest, and the subordinate trunks should be lower. Usually what works best visually is about 1/3rd lower. One half lower tends to look awkward. Multiples of one third seem to make a more visually pleasing design.

You can take this many different ways, So don't feel you need to follow my direction.
 

Gurudas

Mame
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Actually I was taking your lead, you had eliminated the 2nd from the left trunk, and continuing the pattern I was thinking about reducing to just one. BUT just as easily I can see making this a 3 trunk clump style. Either way, it can work. If you like the idea of a 3 trunk clump, then you probably did the right thing in eliminating the 2nd from the left. Go for it. Just remember, your largest diameter trunk should be the tallest, and the subordinate trunks should be lower. Usually what works best visually is about 1/3rd lower. One half lower tends to look awkward. Multiples of one third seem to make a more visually pleasing design.

You can take this many different ways, So don't feel you need to follow my direction.

Thanks for the reminder. As a beginner, I find that I’m having to let go of lots of conditioning. The concept of having different “correct paths” just seems so against how we’re conditioned but it is SO FREEING!
 
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