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[Steve <sdw12986@aol.com>]

Thanks Alan. I won't decide until I have the pruners in my hand, but 
right now I'm thinking I'll go for an open center on the 2 Europeans and 
 a modified central leader on the Alderman. Maybe I can keep the 
Alderman under control by repeatedly cutting back the central leader to 
a weaker shoot and eventually letting the lower scaffolds grow up (and 
out) to compete with it.
My yard seems to grow plums very well, for some reason. In spite of the 
short growing season the slower growing Opal is probably 7 feet tall 
with some good horizontal branches well on their way. The other 2 are 
well over 10 feet tall (but no more than an inch across the lower 
trunk). These were no more than 4 feet tall when I planted them in April 
of 2007.

Steve in the Adirondacks



Alan Haigh wrote:
> Forgot to mention that I always start off by training trees to a central 
> leader but sooner or later settle often on an open center.