Advice on my Amelanchier x lamarckii

[Horsey13Girl]

Hi,

I planted my amelancier tree around 2 years ago and i was abit concerned that the leading branch had no side branches/shoots. The tree seems happy and always has good blossom in the spring however since planting there has been no growth coming from the leading stem (except the very top which is causing it to pull)
Would you advise to leave it alone and let it do its thing or would you suggest reducing the leading branch to encourage some side growth. I don't necessarily need the height but would prefer a bushier tree.
Any advice would be much appreciated :)

You can prune them but I'm not sure of the best time of year to do it. Perhaps check that out. Some things are better pruned during the winter.

I have 5 Amelanchier in a very small garden so I have to keep mine pruned. I do it at all times of the year. I would definitely take that leading branch right out and trim the other side branches.

Yep, top it out now to encourage it to put out side shoots. You don't need to take off much to stimulate side growth - even a few inches will do it.

The bud at the top sends out chemicals to suppress growth lower down (because the tree wants to concentrate on growing tall and bursting out of the canopy into sunshine). So removing the top stops that suppression and allows lower branches to develop

That's great and thanks everyone for the advice. I will reduce the height so fingers crossed for some side growth :)

I know this is an old thread and the OP might not even see this but I wondered if the advice here worked and what your tree looks like now as mine looks like yours did 2 years ago!

@Foreverexhausted1 Trees have auxins (hormones) which cause apical dominance. Basically they are pre-programmed to grow the shoots at the apex, and the latent buds further down the trunk are suppressed. In order to trigger lower buds into growing, you need to prune the dominant shoots higher up. February-March is the time to do it, before spring growth starts.