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Tips:5¢ Advice:Free
Join Date: Aug-2001
Location: Silicon Valley
Country: USA
Posts: 9,745
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1. An ESCAPE or SACRIFICE branch
ESCAPE or SACRIFICE BRANCH
Branch A is very low on the trunk. Low branches like this may tend to make the plant look more like a shrub than a tree. Our first inclination might be to prune it off; however, low branches like this can be useful under certain circumstances:
1. one might be tempted to leave it on as an "escape branch" to help increase the caliper of the trunk! Some call it a "Sacrifice Branch" because it will be grown on to sacrifice later. "Escape" means that the branch is allowed to escape the design - or the pruners - with the intention of removing it at some point in the future.
2. A very low branch might serve as a secondary trunk in a multi-trunk design.
HINT: A tree's trunk at any given point will thicken in response to the foliage load ABOVE that point. If you want the trunk thicker, you may keep an out-of-position branch to help the trunk develop as you want it to.
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