Hi- any advice on trunk control with my stock below. I'm looking to develop taper. Don't know if I should keep the fat back branch. How do you remove branches of this size?

I would keep one of the two lowest branches for sacrifice. And in the longer run get rid of one of the Twin truncs.

How do you remove ? Horizontal cut or a diagonal following trunk line?

If you are looting for taper take a look at the rootbase. POssibly you can work the roots horizontal and help broaden the base.

Cutting of one of the big branches, you will need to make as smooth a cut along the trunk as possible, ideally slightly below the line.

I say go big. TM heal up very well, even over huge scars.

I'd cut away the larger of the twin trunks and keep the smaller one. That already gives you better taper.

Mark the place where you want to make the cut now - use a permanent marker. Don't cut it yet.

The cut line has to be visible underneath all the leaves in late spring when you actually do the cut. When you cut it away you want to make a smooth cut and then use a very sharp blade to smooth out the very edge of the scar even further. You can apply a thin layer of cut paste over the scar just in case.

I woudn't remove any other growth as firstly it needs a lot of vigour to get the scar rolling over the cut and secondly you can't accurately predict what branches you will want to keep once the big trunk is gone and you get to see a whole diferent tree..

Please see potted up plant. I ended up getting a much better tree. I potted it up and removed a bunch of ancillary twigs that won't be used. Long term what do you see? What cuts should I make now vs this upcoming winter. Fantastic root flare