Early Spring pruning of Japanese Maple?

Am I too late to prune my Japanese maple? My Spring season has just begun - the crocuses are in bloom. I have used the forum and plant files to decide the tree is Acer palmatum var. dissectum. It badly needs pruning as it is just a large beautiful mound when the leaves are out. I now understand it would be more beautiful if the trunk structure was visible.

It is preferable to prune maples when the sap isn't running, which is usually in midwinter or midsummer. I wouldn't prune any major limbs right now because it could bleed a bit too much and it wastes a good deal of the trees energy. However, it probably wouldn't hurt to clean up a few twiggy limbs in the interior. It is also good to remove any dead growth anytime of the year.

M, thanks for your advice. I suspect there are quite a few twiggy limbs in the interior because it gets no sun inside. I will be very selective and not do too much. If I wait until midsummer the situation will be that much worse. This year I will make a major effort to remember to do a more major pruning later in the season. I had thought I couldn't do it in the winter because it wouldn't heal from the cuts.

Mid winter is the best time then I'd palace mid summer...(if in mid summer, you are sure it is a non growth period...this varies from tree to tree )..but as Matt says either is ok ... If it is an emergency , which this isn't, anytime is ok if the tree is healthy and / or not a twig. Bleeding will occur in those other periods but it likely won't hurt the tree much IMHO...but using a rule of thumb like Matt has is a good thing ... But life is never perfect and "youse gotas to do what youse gots to do" as they say ... and if in may you get a stornm with damage to your tree in April or May or whenever ..I don't think folks should be terrified about following rules that are generally correct but not set in stone. I think sometimes we are prone micromanaging our JM's out of love for them ( neurotic ;>) ).. A healthy tree can be trimed anytime at the same time there is nothing wrong with being careful .David

Any suggestions on winter damage. I have a small JM similiar to a Crimson Queen that had one of it's main branches split from the trunk due to snow. The branch does not appear to be dead. I have tightly wrapped it with foam material and duct taped it together. The claim is duct tape can fix anything!! Any other suggestions?

it may work but will likely be weakened and eventually do the same thing another winter or from wind ...as far as duct tape I would NOT recommend it ...yes it can fix alot of things but is not your best choice in this instance cause when you pull it iff you may strip bark. If the branch has been greatly split for a while and you didn't notice then all bets are off. the join "may" work but only if you do it immediatly after it happens... If you can post a jpeg we could then better anser you . David

Thanks David, The duct tape is not on the branch. I wrapped some foam packing material to the tree and the duct tape over it. I plan to be out in the yard the rest of the day and will take a pic and post later.

Here is a picture of the branch in question.

Too bad it's taped can't see anything...is the split right down the middle of the two branches or is the big one hanging by a thread ...or the one with the damage ...is the smaller branch upside and untouched ..hard to tell from pic?? David

It is the branch to the right that is damaged. It is split about half way. the buds look ok on it. Did not want to un-do the cast. The branch is the only on going to the right and without it it would be pretty disfigured. Just going to hope for the best. If it survives I will give it some support to make through the next few winters. If it doesn't may have to move it to sick bay and wait for it to grow a replacement branch.

Fingers are crossed for you. Sometimes, though "disfigured" translates later to "interesting" or "unique", so don't despair if it isn't perfect.

I learned the hard way to prune in January in my area. Last year, I waited till a warm snap in February, and my tree poured sap out of a rather large cut. I had no idea that sap actually "ran" as much as it does. It was like the was weeping. Just about made me weep too.

Now, I prune twice, once in the dead of late winter, and maybe once in early summer after the leaves are fully out and the spring growth is done. The second one catches new crossover growth while still tender. The winter prune can be done while I can see the structure of the tree.

Laura

I would like to thank everyone who helped me with the spring pruning question on my small tree which I assume to be Acer palmatum var. dissectum. You gave me the confidence to go out and trim away all the dead small branches and a small amount of the very thin new growth from last year which had reached out of the tree's assigned space. I cut no thick live branches and there does not appear to be weeping. The tree, which is probably about 4 feet high and 6 or 8 feet in diameter, now looks great. Before it looked like a huge shrub. Now it looks like a tiny gnarled old tree. There is maybe one live medium size branch that I would have liked to take off, but I followed your advice and will wait until midsummer at the earliest. I really really would hate to do winter pruning due to the placement of the tree and the snow conditions here. As it was, I had to crawl under the tree and lay in the dirt to get to the inner branches.

Wonderful, I look forward to pictures!

Laura

Laura, I took your comment about posting a picture of my semi-pruned tree as a huge challenge. See post immediately prior. I am not the photographer in the house. So this is my first ever download of my own photos to my own computer and my first photo posting. There was a learning curve.

This tree looked like a round ball of a shrub. Now it's truly a tree, isn't it? Now that I see pictures of it I can see where I'd like to shape it more and there are a few branches I was reluctant to cut due to the expected weeping. Feel free to provide more words of wisdom.

This view shows the trunk best.

I think this view shows the size of the tree a little better.

That is a nice specimen. A properly pruned mature dissectum should be just about as attractive in the winter as in the summer. Showing off the limb structure can make a world of difference. I would personally do a bit more pruning to loosen it up a bit, but I wouldn't get in too much of a hurry as it is beautiful as is.

I think you did a great job! I have a very hard time getting my crimson queen to show its structure. The width and lack of leaves make it hard to get the camera to focus on the skinny limbs.

I agree with Matt, it has great structure, and is capable of handling a bit more "opening up" over time. No hurry, though. One TV show host suggested tieing a bit of yarn or string to branches you might want to prune out to help you imagine what they look like without them.

Laura

You guys are so great - you made me feel good about what I've done and so nicely told me to do a little more when the timing is right. I like the string idea. I guess it should end up looking like a large bonsai? Any ideas on where to look for pictures of a perfectly groomed specimen?

Before I read tyhe last two post by Laura and matt I came to the same conclusion ...it is IMHO too twiggy and when it leafs out you will still have an overgrown tree look... but there is no rush ...next winter you can do more ( if you like) I have a friend down in AL who had similar large overgrown dissectumI think a waterfall He and a friend who was knowledgable took about 1/2 of the branches off...Now that is a bit extreeme and I would not recommend that ...but the new branch structure of his was really neat...and you could see more than the mop top and trunk in the summer. If it were mine I would do a little more late summer and then some in winter and keep going til you can see the structure a bit more...But that is only my opinion and you may not like it so "open" but even so i think even a bit more would be benificial to it's overall look..David

I am very happy to get opinions and since all 3 of you agree I will definitely take out more late summer. I'm not too crazy about winter work,but maybe..... David, I think you are correct that I will still have that overgrown look when the leaves come in. Thank-you.

Hey, there is no hurry, right? I've got to do some work on mine, it lost some branches last summer due to a drought and being moved into a container last year. I need to get rid of the dead wood and consider what to do next. The shape is somewhat similar to yours, only younger and not so wide. Pics are buried down a bit.

Laura

CK, to make your JM less crowded, you should cut all the little twigs that grow on the UNDERSIDE of the branches. That is what is done in bonsai.

Wha, a better way to patch broken branch is to scrape the cambium on both broken pieces, align them properly , then tape like what you did. Usually when a branch is broken, the cambium will sort of dry out. If you scrape it, then you get the living part which can heal the broken branch.

Sita

sitabrothers thanks for the input. Excuse my ignorance - what is cambium?