I have this CH that I cut from an in-ground sucker just before I wrapped my trees for the winter. I took it with roots and as you can see they seem to be doing well. In hindsight perhaps I should have cut this in half and planted it as one sucker and one cutting. But here I am...I have this tall lanky tree with new leaves coming out of the terminal bud.

As I see it I have three options but not sure which to choose. I'd welcome some wisdom on this;

Options 1 - Pinch the top off and hope (like with an established tree) that it starts to shoot from lower nodes.  I'm not sure how bad it might be to pinch this young tree....

Option 2 - Cut it down lower leaving a few nodes above ground for new shoots to develop. Then try to root the top as a cutting. Again, pretty shocking to the plant.

Option 3 - Do nothing. Let it grow tall and start pinching later when it's a tall, leggy tree in a bigger pot later in the spring or summer. Maybe safest but not pretty...

Option 4 -  ?

 
 

Option 3 - let it grow then do an airlayer. Looks like its only a little over a foot tall.

Air layer. Interesting - really makes for option 4. Hadn't thought of that.

Leave it alone and let it grow you can pinch top later. You could put a stick next to it and straighten it out some.

How much would you let it grow before you started pinching and messing with it? I've had them like this where they grow 2 leaves and just grow straight up.....

I would probably leave it alone for a while.  Maybe pinch during your next season.

Wait until you up pot and the plant gets a good start,you could pinch then

Personally, I would let it grow and then pot or plant it low when up potting/planting. New roots will develop along the stem.

With potions 1 & 2, I'd wait until the roots are well established.

Let it be.

Combined, all the advice is leaning towards a message of "don't mess with it, it's alive". I'm thinking that's the wise move now. Why mess with a healthy (yet skinny) tree. Come spring when it get going in a 1-gallon pot, I'll pinch it until it begs me to stop....   :=)

Do you have enough light to get it through the winter?

It's sitting in a window sill with with some of its fig-friends. It should be fine for light

Hi Joe
Whatever you wind up doing, I would cover the glass with some dark material to keep direct light off of the roots.
I use to do that with my cuttings when they were in the deli container mode. 
I also love a good Chicago Hardy.
Good Luck My Friend

FWIW, I agree with "leave it alone" and also with "cover the glass."

Can you add any more light?  I'd worry that mere window light in winter will produce lanky growth.

I have a bunch of cuttings starting to leaf out in a north facing window at the moment. The ground is covered in snow and the sun is shining quite brightly. I just moved one of them to a south facing window to see how it goes. I'm worried the sun may be too strong there at this stage. If this one does well more are headed to that window tomorrow.

The reason for my caution is that some time ago I took plants started under grow lights and brought them outside into direct sunlight. I went to work in the morning and by the time I had returned home they were completely dead. They didn't have time to harden off to the UV rays. All my cuttings started in indirect sunlight so I want to be careful before introducing them to direct sun light.

I'm getting a lot of recommendations to keep the containers covered and roots not exposed to light. I'm not exactly sure why. Mine seem to thrive quite well even though they're in clear containers. I haven't had any problems.

Joe --

I totally agree that cuttings grown under artificial light need gradual acclimation to outdoor sunlight.  Last spring, I did ~1 week in full shade followed by ~1 week in partial shade, which worked well.  But I'm not sure that sunlight coming through a window is comparable to sunlight outdoors.

Anyway, I wouldn't want the above discussion to distract from my core point:  I fear that without intense light for long hours, the growth of the cuttings may be weak and spindly.  I'd love to have others with more experience weigh in.  

Thanks Joe. All sound advice.

I would have put it in a larger container. Definitely don't cut it! It's not that big and you will screw up the growing of the tree. I agree on covering the container, roots don't like to be exposed. Keep an eye on its roots or you might have to break the jar to get it out. Also, don't forget, inadequate draknageeads to root rot and tree death, mason jars have no holes! Good job on the ground layer though! It's going to be a nice fig.

It's in a plastic peanut butter jar with holes drilled side and bottom. I guess that's hard to see. This sucker is actually closer to 18" tall

Ah okay that's reassuring! It looked like glass! If it's growing it must be fine.

My gut says "no" but I'm so tempted to pinch the bud to see if anything comes out of the lower nodes....

Someone said above that if you pinch it may not restart growing right? I agree, let it grow because it'd be a shame to pinch and not have it recommence. You can always air layer it back later.

Hi TorontoJoe,
Here in my zone7, I now, let the suckers grow one year more, and remove them then.
By then, you can shape them as you want, as the trunk is thicker.
For that one, I would probably hesitate on two solutions:
Solution1 : do nothing . Let her grow.
Solution2 : Bend the trunk like for an espalier. Keep the bottom half straight, and top half bent to the side - you can achieve that with some stacking ... but the tree will take more space ...
                By bending the trunk, you should trigger some lower buds to start growing.
If you want the tree to grow, don't forget to fertilize.

The problem if you cut the trunk now, is that moisture will escape the plant from the wound and if the tree is just adapting, it could mean killing her ...
The choice is yours ...

For the roots, sun hitting the plastic may cook them ... You are the judge, but I probably would be putting the jar in a dark pot to avoid that cooking.
Of course, if the sun is just heating to the liking of the tree, letting her like that is best ... Depends on your setup.
For now, at least, monitor the temps to detect any rising on the heat behind your window...
Good luck !