These usually aren't bolt upright. Pruning off one side does not make the other side grow more. In fact, it makes it grow less because you have cut away part of the food-making leaves and food-storing stems of the tree.

Headed back branches appear to grow more because they put out vigorous shoots (behind the pruning cuts and not on unpruned branches on the other side of the tree) in an attempt to quickly restore the missing growth. However, overall increase in volume is reduced by pruning.

Some trees just grow with a droopy leader - as it gets taller and thicker the lower section stands up, so maybe by the end of summer it's quite straight, and then begins again in the spring to lean over. And maybe the top portion will always lean - look at hemlocks. Trees that do grow like this do end up with a straight trunk over time.

I would double check to see if this is in fact the normal growth pattern for this tree - I am not sufficiently familiar with it to be able to say - try Google Image to see a bunch of photos. If it's normal, then that's how it grows, so don't bother with dowels. If, in fact, it's NOT normal, then carry on.

I don't know that I've ever seen a board-straight chokecherry.

We didn't do a lot of pruning. We did some on the west side of the tree, to try to balance out the weight a bit, and then a very little bit on the east side, just on some branches that were rubbing, and also on that stem that appeared to be a split. I'll have to tell the folks at the garden centre I bought the tree from that they gave me bad advice, re: pruning enhancing growth. But fortunately, we didn't do very much of it.

I really don't know if this is a normal pattern for chokecherries. I've seen others that look fairly straight up and down all the way through. As I said before, the problem seems to relate to the fact that the main stem up top just isn't very strong yet. It's almost like a weeping willow, except that everything droops to the west.

As for it straigtening out over summer, maybe that will happen eventually, but so far it's never happened. For all of the two years we've had the tree, it's been doing this westward lean, even in winter after all the leaves are off.

Here's a good picture; ours has a bit more of a lean up top than the one in this photo.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chokecherry

I planted a chokecheery last year and the leader looks very droppy as well. Did attaching the wooden rod help or is this just normal for these trees?

hey fake.. start your own post.. and add a picture.. and we can probably tell you if its normal.. or needs staking...

ken