Blind chinese witch hazel

I am looking for ideas on how to “reactivate “ my hammamelis. The lead shoot has forked in two and each fork has gone blind so its not growing upwards at all.Its a fairly young plant with two lower branches which are growing but i need upward growth to get the balance right. I am tempted to cut the lead shoot back to the fork or below to a dormant bud on the main stem but wondered before i do if anyone has had a similar problem and how they resolved it . Thanks.

 

I thought witch hazels naturally grew horizontally. They are quite slow growing so it may take your young tree time to bulk up. If you want to encourage more bushiness you could reduce the vertical stems to just above a lower bud to encourage it to sprout lower down but I think you will need to be patient, like several years patient. They sometimes need a couple of years to get into flowering mode after being planted in open ground after being propagated in pots. It is a bit of a shock to their system and they concentrate of root production before having the energy to begin flowering. They also enjoy some sunshine on their heads when in flower to produce their full perfume.

 

@Goldenlily26 Thank you for your input , i shall monitor this over the winter months and assess the way forward . The only vertical stem ends with two horizontal stems , so i shall take photos over the coming months and monitor the changes , i am also inclined to cut back but i know this is a long term plant and am reluctant to act in haste and repent at leisure.