I’ve had this alder for 12 years and it’s been a royal pain in the ass!! You just start to get it into shape and it starts dropping branches. I was on the verge of getting shot when I decided to give it a little extra room to grow last year. This seemed to work well with plenty of new growth. I took the bull by the horns and gave it a hard pruning to force some more inner branch work to develope. This also worked. I repotted it this Spring into a larger pot than previous ones and this time I have added some bark to the mix. I feel that the usual mix of SC Cat Litter and grit isn’t ideal for this variety, not enough water retention. The bark seems to be making a difference and the tree is growing strongly, probably stronger than usual.

It’s a tad unkempt as I am waiting for further growth before shaping. I had to do a little work on the deadwood area where die back had occurred on the trunk.

The old back and possibly the new front

Deadwood carved and burned but not treated as yet.

The other side

more deadwood