Should I be doing anything to these?

[paddles]

Well should I?

 

[Tachigi]

Paddles, if they were mine I would immediately wire some motion into the trunk base. When I say trunk base I mean right down to the soil line. I would then do one of two things. Remove anything above the first branches and train one of your branches as your new leader. OR Leave the trunk on in hopes of thickening the trunk faster. With the caveat that the trunk above the first branch will be sacrificial. That is it will be removed when your trunk starts getting to the size you want it to. Once again train one of your lower branches as a new leader. It is important that you move the upper trunk out of the way so sunlight can do its thing to the new leader and other lower branch. Finally I would pop those bad boyz in the ground for some faster growth.

 

[darrellw]

I would add one thing to Tachigi's reply. If you keep the current leaders as sacrifices, I would give them a hard prune this winter (down to one growing bud). You appear on the verge of losing most of the low branches, and that would help envigorate them. It may also get you some back budding lower on the trunk, which would give you some more options.

-Darrell