Train two branches together?

Question

I have an olea europa that I bought at 3-4ft and allowed to grow as it wished.

I've now pruned it quite heavily, and would like to train its 'leader' branch back to being more central: as it is, it kinks slightly to one side, and another, smaller branch has grown to the other.

They are very close together - is there anything I could do to encourage them to merge together, cut the bark inside and bind them together perhaps - or should I prune the smaller one and just accept the other is not straight and perhaps tie it to a cane to make the best of it?

Answer 1

You can reduce the smaller branch to allow the leader to establish. I dont recommend tying them together. Reduce the smaller branch back appropriately. You can repeat next year until you either want to remove the branch completely or the leader takes over.