Question
Hello. We live in Stevens County WA. My husband and I planted 20 weeping willow saplings. When they arrived, they were dormant. When they started growing, the new leaves and branches were not on the top of the tree. The main "trunk" of the tree is bare from the middle of the tree on up. Are we supposed to cut off the bare part down to the new growth? I am afraid to do this because my husband pruned our mature willow tree at the top and it ended up looking like a palm tree. Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thank you.

Answer
First check and see if the top is dead. Scrape a small bit of bark of near the end of the branch and if the color under the bark is green the branch is still alive. If so I would not prune it off but leave it and see if it will leaf out later. If the color is not green (brown) the branch is dead at this point on the branch. If brown continue down the branch until you find green and then since thus is dead you can prune the dead part off without harming the tree. A new central leader will grow from on of the side branches and over time it will become straight.