Cut off the crossing branch and leave the rest.

why is it wearing a black hose???

and where is the root flare??

ken

The black hose is a tree wrap I put on to protect the bark from critters. At least I was under the impression I should do that.

The root flare is right at the top of the soil, it's hard to see, but it was the one thing I knew I needed to watch out for when I planted the tree.

good on the root flare..

the black thing is bugging me... its black.. its going to make the trunk hot..

i vaguely see shadows.... i would get some proper tree guards.. to avoid winter sunscald in z5 ...

and please... very frankly .... on your next tree... buy it at half the height...

you did NOT do good.. buying such a spindly-trunked tree ... i presume you thought to yourself.. good.. more height... but you should now understand.. that it can barely hold itself up with the leaves on it.. and staking it is near impossible..

smaller trees.. get established faster.. and outgrow larger transplant.. you save about half the cost ... and most of the trouble ... it was a hard lesson in my formative tree years to understand.. there is no instant gratification on trees....short of spending thousands of dollars for professional installation of big trees ....

as to your staking.. i have no answer.. i did that ONCE!!!! .. and a mid summer thunderstorm/windstorm.. snapped it right at the point where it is attached.. the big sailboat of a canopy.. just cracked it right in half .... it recovered after a few year ... with some very creative pruning ... i can already see the tree is beating the stake.. giving it a hockey stick curve .... and the attaching wire looks taut as a bow string ...

based on all that... i MIGHT consider removing the branch with the wound.. if for no other reason.. to reduce the sail effect of the canopy .... and reduce wind resistance.... it really does go against doing such on a recent transplant.... but as the tree stands.... its an option i might have to consider ...

I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR WHAT THE REST OF YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THIS ...

the one upside might be if the house blocks prevailing storm winds ....

ken

One comment about the size/slender trunk is that the lower branches should not have been removed. The longer that they can be left on, generally the better as they help the tree develop trunk girth. It took me years to learn this as I was always itching to cut them off and make it look more 'tree-like'. Once gone, that trunk is gonna have a hard time increasing girth no matter what else happens. As Ken says, there is no rushing a tree. My arborist always talks about 'tree time' and how we have to adapt ourselves to it.

Sara

I wouldn't remove anything except for the crossing branch coming off the leader with the split bark, and I would hold off cutting off anything else.

Agree with Ken -- the black hose has to go. You might only need a tree wrap in the winter, mainly to protect thin bark from frost cracking.

Kind of disagree with Ken about the staking. I know what is recommended. I know what our Extension agent says. I also know some trees blow over easier than others when they're newly planted, and my K-State-edumacated arborist was happy to see we had staked newly planted honeylocusts two years ago (they're no longer staked). We're in Kansas, where the wind off the Plains is second only to the wind from the Statehouse.

Finally -- agree again with Ken about buying small trees -- with one exception. If you are putting in a real slow grower, I'd recommend getting a larger tree than, say, a redbud that grows very fast. Our neighbors planted a couple Black Gum trees five years ago when they (the trees, not the neighbors) were less than two ft. tall. They're healthy, but they're just about two-ft tall now. We put in five 8-ft tall Black Gums two years ago, and they actually look like trees now. Iplanted a redbud seedling two years ago, in a berm with great soil. That thing is 6-ft tall now and it bloomed this year. I love free trees.

Also, if you're getting to the latter end of middle age, larger-caliper trees might be worth it.

Agree with those who say cut that crossing branch off the left leader now.Then send another photo of the entire top after the leaves fall off.