Pic from opposite side of tree

It's leader dried out, but the spare one already signed up.
The only thing you've to do is to stake it to the dead leader for a straight growth.
That's all...

let me put it another way ..

the leader is right there staring you in the face ... but its not that old dead stuff.. its the new leader right next to it...

i would tie the short one to the old one.. to make it a bit more vertical.. and call it a day ...

but dont break it.. and in two years.. it wont even show ...

and in fall untie.. and cut out the dead part.. or just do it now [cut out the dead].. obviously this plant is sorting itself out just fine ...

IMHO.. its not a warranty issue.. by a long stretch ...

ken

Thanks Ken for your "long version" ;0)

Awesome, glad it's an easy fix. Just slightly annoyed that it lost a year of vertical growth.. Oh well, not a huge deal.

You may have a borer taking out that leader. The only way to be sure is to cut it off and check for a hollowed out center. If you find a hollowed center, you'd need to go lower to find the critter.

tj