Question
I have several young Drake Elms (planted 2 yrs ago) and they all have budded out. One of them has one of the branches or about 25% of the total crown that has budded out but has stopped (tiny leaves) while the rest of the crown looks good??? The tiny leaves are there while the other branches leaves are now mature or full size. I've had several of these at my past house. Never saw this before??? Also could you give me a pruning guide for these trees. Very young and very "leggy". Thank you very much.

Answer
Jerry:
I am not quite sure of the smaller leaves on a branch.  Take a look at that particular branch, particularly at the base , looking for anything out of the ordinary.  Hopefully the leaves will go ahead and catchup with the rest.  I do not suspect the cause as a disease.  Maybe related to a cold snap or other environmental phenomena.  For tips on tree care, check out this USDA publication called  The Tree Owners Manual. It is located at http://na.fs.fed.us/pubs/uf/tom/090202_tom_hr.pdf

It has information on pruning and other topics.  There is another publication called How to Prune Trees by the USDA Forest service (publication # NA-FR-01-95).  Look in Google.  It may be in pdf form as is the previous publication.  One of the best things to do as far as disease prevention goes is to prevent damage to the bark with things like string trimmers and lawnmowers bumping into the trunk.  This wounding provides an entrance for many fungus and bacterial pathogens.

Regards
Steve