Question
Our village planted a black locust on our easement. It is doing well and gives off sprouts that seem to be from the roots around the tree and we mow or pull those. By chance one sprout came up in another area of my yard this spring and I liked the placement so I let it grow. It is now about 3 ft tall. I trimmed the side shoots coming out of the ground and clipped off a few of the lowest branches but left about 12-20 branches on the top half. Then I thought "Hey, I actually don't know what I am doing?!?!?! I should figure out the right thing to do!", so I got on the internet and after a non-productive time on certain websites, I came across this post. Could you please tell me the right way to trim and structurally train a black locust sapling? It seems very fragile and I also wonder if I should get a few stakes and some string and support it over the winter. FYI - as for our climate zone, we are in a suburb of Chicago. Thanks in advance for your help. Regards, LeAnne

Answer
I would not prune any more of this sprout. The foliage should compose about 1/2-2/3 of the tree--if a tree is 3 feet tall the foliage should cover 1 1/2 feet to 2 feet. This is important for young trees since they are growing a root system and need the energy supply form the leaves. Pruning the lower branches is fine and making the tree one stem is fine. Beyond that I would let it grow.  If it is standing up by itself I would let it be and not stake it up. IF the foliage is too heavy and it is bending over then maybe it needs staking. Over the winter it should be fine since it will not have foliage to pull it over. I hope this answered your question.