You can cut it back now if you wish. After you cut off the top, there will be a branch opposite your new leader choice. Cut that branch back to a stub. You're going to get a lot of back-budding, so plan on learning how to manage the energy - I'll help with that. Basically, it includes pruning progressively harder toward the top of the tree. If the plant is very root bound now, you should at least pot up. Then, next spring you can repot it and go back down (considerably) in container size. Here are some plants I chopped back. They are all prebonsai, so you can see the scar and how it's healing. Some of these cuts were very significant, given the trunk caliper and how far they were cut back. mulberry: Aeonium: Ficus: The following pics were taken a few minutes ago. Virtually all my trees, except those grown in literati style, go through several taper-building chops, so 95% of my trees have been or are waiting to be chopped. It's an every day occurrence, so you can see how I can be so nonchalant about it. ;-) little leaf linden: Cotoneaster: Acer P (Jap maple) chopped twice so far: Acer buergerianum (trident maple) - the next chop is already planned - just above the really thin branch: another Acer b - this one will eventually have the center of the 3 trunks carved out of it (I think ...... it may well have other ideas about what it wants to be when it grows up. It will let me know & I'll act according to what it says. ;-) . For you guys that like Japanese maples, and don't mind green foliage, I highly recommend trident maples, as well as A. ginnala (amur maple). The later is extremely hardy, and both are nearly care free, other than regular root work if it's in a container - not as fussy as most A palmatums. Al

TMN----i overwinterd one I grew from a wayward seed that had sprouted in the yare ---about 3" tal when i transplanted into a 4" ceramic painted planter ---figured it was no biggee if it did not make it ---2 years later it is 3ft tall with a pruning in its future and a new home in the yard ----good luck Joe Bob

ah, yes, LOL,.. the joys of internet, one can even access entertainment from different cities... jeepster,... send her an email and ask, which would also help her. Shall we address maple pruning in a separate thread? or access archives? of which I thought you had those.??? I believe I saved most of them, somewhere. what questions needed answering? what a hoo't'in'ninny,.. btw, how many of you can read? patjonking wrote: "I agree with you Herb. Edzard appears to be sloppy with his "bleeding" and "healing" and "feeding" accusations against Nancy Fiers. And I notice that he never apologised for his completely false claim about the "bleeding to death" item in JOJG." Now I also misinformed about feeding??? oh sorry, let me tie that bib for you... spoon? shovel? or just the crow feathers?? i think that was Gerald, who, with thanks, corraborated some accurate information, but if it helps you focus on just one at a time... :)))))), sure. wow, (chortling) talk about 'feeding' frenzy... ah, I see the light, I see the light... what I wrote about the JoJG and the Fiers article,.. LOL---, do note the 'if the Fiers article appeared" - "and if the Fiers article appeared in JoJG, then I would rather rapidly also seek other counter-balancing information. " -- which all illustrates nicely that this thread has become something more about people than this maple thread asked for, and the Fiers link article commented upon, which is mostly for bonsai-ists and that for garden tree pruning I would suggest Yuki Nara, who, ----btw., - is also endorsed by the JoJG... and whose site also links Mountain Maples -then I can presume that this forum is for bonsai-ists rather than gardeners...? all this supports admirably that few can read while the JoJG and I are getting great advertising out of this,... to which,.. all I can reasonably say, is thanks... Xman,.. sorry, I hope you turned off the ' sending replies to original poster' box, and in the future I'll try not to tease lurkers out of hiding that actually know scads about maples, though rarely participate. -in case anyone wonders, the apology to xman, in no way, shape or form applies, construes or relates to anyone else... :) like ,,, not even a chance amazing how some folks would like a conversation, while others ... well we're not sure what they want. So, is the only ending to this thread, erasure? Or does every non-professional agree carte blanche with Nancy Fiers article as per the one on the MM website?

Hello all, thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts. I too would prefer to leave the tree alone if possible. The only reason I thought it needed some heavier pruning was because I thought that a 50/50-ish "V" split at the base weakened the tree. For this reason, I felt it might have been a good idea to prune the right side canopy this year to slow its growth and eliminate it completely next year. But if the overall sentiment is that the tree is healthy and the large split at the base won't weaken it, then I am relieved to know I can leave it alone. With regards to shape: I am ok with its current shape. The tree does look like it was trying to escape from the shady spot, and from some angles it's easy to see it was growing in a specific direction... Also, after transplanting it to its new spot, the canopy does brush against the deck (more than brush, I'd say some of the branches can easily go a couple of feet past the railing in some spots), but if that can be left alone, I will. Thank you for the heads up about the cut paste. I already ordered it, but I will refrain from using it. PS= if anyone has any advice on the best way to propagate some of the cuts from this tree, it would be great. Is there a branch diameter after which propagation becomes impossible? I understand smaller, younger cuts are easier to propagate, but some of the larger pieces I cut (see pic) are about 2cm in diameter at the base, and I would love to propagate them as well if there's a way.