I lost the upper half of the tree with branches that are a few years old to a harsh winter and the tree has since been recovering. I tried to bring up a side branch to be the new leader by wedge cutting the top of the trunk but ended up damaging the trunk and lost 2 more branches.
[img]https://i529.photobucket.com/albums/dd340/malagabee/016.jpg[/img]
I'll give it a couple more season of growth before doing anything major but what should I do with the ground shoot that comes up as tall as the tree? Also there is an elevated root that's way above where the nebari should be.
[img]https://i529.photobucket.com/albums/dd340/malagabee/017.jpg[/img]
The sucker I would definitely take out if you're not going to use it. In other words, its growth will take energy from the rest of the tree, but if you eventually want a twin trunk, it might be useful. For the high root, I would take it off eventually. It would only be useful if the ultimate goal is "root up" or "root over rock".