Japanese Maples: Pruning Japanese Maples?, 1 by doss

doss wrote:
I like to trim my maples a little at a time. Just go slow and start taking out crossing branches and then come back to it several days in a row to see what is happening, continuing to take out growth that's crossing. I photo it too - somehow that helps me see it objectively. At the same time I take out branches that are going in directions that I don't like - too tall, etc. Once you spend some time with the tree doing this it will show you what to do. I know that it's hard to believe.

The problem with late June is that you don't want the trunk to be hit by too much sun all of a sudden. But then I'm in a hot climate anyway. It may not be a problem for you. You can pull off small interior growth with your hands if you want to just lighten up the tree.

The other thing is that I've had some of my trees massacred by well meaning, supposedly knowledgeable Japanese Tree "experts" and they have all come back just fine. Not necessarily what I had planned in the beginning, but fine. Whatever you do though, don't use that awful black compound on the cuts. The tree never covers over the black and it doesn't go away - ever as far as I can tell.

Since I have several trees that are close to the house - which were supposed to be 8-10 feet - I have to cut out over enthusiastic growth over the entire season and I haven't had a tree object yet. If I don't, these three trees don't look good at all. My "Butterfly" got to about 12 feet before I decided to cut it back. This is it after pruning. It turns out that 'Butterfly" can get to 20 feet if left to grow and gets well fed. I was going to transplant it but everyone told me not to.

So just go slow. And buy smaller cultivars than you think that you need.