The blue dot shows the rather thick branch right in front of the trunk. If I cut the branch off there would be a hole of about the size of the blue ring. This hole could be round with a knob cutter. It could possibly close within a few years. I could also make it irregular and even larger. This would then eventually look like a hole that came about after a branch broke off a long time ago. I am not decided at this point in time what sort of hole I want there.
But besides the problem or non-problem of the hole in the trunk there would be a hole in the canopy. This is shown by the red circle. This area would be without foliage. One could see into the crown and the umbrella effect would be diminished. This is the real reason for contemplating the cut. The hole in the trunk would just be taken into account as a side effect.
Or I do nothing and declare this tree as a bonsai meant for the winter silhouette. Without foliage the front branch would not bother.
Well, maybe someone wants the tree exactly as is and I don't have to make a decision anyway. We'll see.
