Notching is a technique almost always associated with fruit trees. Is this what you intend? If so notching IS best accomplished in early spring, either ~2 weeks before or ~2 weeks after bloom.

How much shade are the trees in?

In my yard I have trouble getting plants in full sun to grow up not wide. The opposite is true in the shade.

Both of those are considered fruit trees :-) And if you research the topic a bit more, this technique is typically done with very young trees - even whips - to encourage low, wide-angled lateral branchings. I'm not at all sure how effective this technique is to encourage branching on larger, more mature trees. And on non-fruit type trees......typically these have much more specific pruning requirements and techniques than do ornamentals and respond quite differently.

Not sure what text you are referring to but most fruit tree training resources do recommend the early spring time period I mentioned previously. Perhaps that is because they are primarily dealing with very young trees with not much pre-existing branching present. Although I can't see that even being a concern for a larger, more mature tree. How much altering of growth or refocusing of energy can a small notching create, for heaven's sake??

Regardless, If dealing with anything larger than a sapling or whip, I'd be inclined to let nature take its course :-) If given proper care after planting and adequate exposure to sunlight, trees tend to fill in pretty well on their own.

Tornado, the trees are in full sun.

Gardengal, the book is Pruning by Robert Kourik. I'd say the tree is probably a 2 year old. It reaches 6' right now. The book belonged to my mother and she followed it to the letter. I know she put in 2 crabapples (Snowdrift and Liset) that were much bigger than this one and they also had bare spots. I know she followed this book and notched them with a file (lightly and not deep) and they filled out beautifully. Unfortunately, she's no longer around so I can't find out the time of year she did it.

at the link below..

you said the tree was planted today ..

put the books down.. and step away ...

talk about trying to love a tree to death ...

crimminey

mulch it.. water properly.. and let it get established.. before you start trying to force your aesthetic upon it ... personally.. i would give it two year...

you need a root mass before you try adding branches ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Young trees are naturally less bushy than mature ones. If ain't broke, don't fix it. If you want an elevated crown with a clear stem you also do not want to cause it to fork low and form a shrubby habit.

If you decide to notch your trees (and as Bboy's post implies, that may not normally be your best bet), do so in early spring as Gardengal suggests. Her time period recommendation (although maybe somewhat more narrow than required) is perfectly fine. I would tend to ignore a text that recommended avoiding spring as the time for this (unless the text was addressing some special circumstance). Also, while some woody plants might not respond well to notching, most will. There's nothing special about trees we choose to call "(edible) fruit trees", in this regard.

Sure, most trees would respond to notching - it's just that this is a training practice most often applied to very young, virtually unbranched trees.....precisely the way most fruit trees are marketed. Typically, ornamentals are most often sold at a more advanced, already branched stage.

Exactly

Exactly, what???

Exactly what gardengal said. I do a lot of fruit trees and that is the only situation I have ever seen pruning manuals specify to notch and when, but a tree is a tree is a tree and it's more about the maturity of the stock when doing this than whether something is a fruit tree or not.