Can you take a photo so we can see how much was cut?

Yes, tomorrow I will.

Thank you,

While being able to see the "damage" will let us assess exactly what was done and say if the maple is likely to survive, you might be able to console yourself tonight, or early tomorrow, whenever you get this, with the thought that if by chance the tree does die, you can replace it with one you WANT, planted WHERE you want it.

Trees are pretty forgiving, so it's probable (depending on the extent of the "damage"), that it will survive.

Carla, just might be a bit messy from the sap for awhile.

from the Clemson website:

*Maples "bleed," and while pruning them in spring when the sap is flowing does not harm them, the sap is messy and pruning at that time is typically avoided. Spring pruning has a greater impact on growth, as leaf area is reduced and less photosynthesis will occur during the growing season. Pruning in late summer and early fall minimizes the impact on growth, as leaves remain on the tree during the entire growing season.*

And from the North Dakota extension:

*Q: I have been told that pruned trees cannot bleed to death. However, I just picked up the new issue of "Fine Gardening" that says maples can bleed to death. The writer made the statement that if maples are pruned in late winter, they can bleed to death. I have numerous maples that were pruned about a month ago. They are bleeding a great deal of sap. Your perspective would be greatly appreciated. (e-mail reference)

A: That comment, without any controlled, documented research to back it up, is the same as saying the Earth is flat and you will fall off if you travel far enough west. Pruning maples in late winter/early spring has been done for decades, perhaps centuries. I personally have done it to my maples with no adverse effects. The sap flow attracts insects that are looking for carbohydrate rich sources of food, which normally is scarce early in the season. Some of the insects get stuck in the syrupy bleed, which attracts birds that feed on the insects, as well as the flowing sap. Dormant pruning is recommended for two reasons. Branches that need pruning are more visible and the chance of disease spread is reduced greatly. The healing of any pruning wounds is rapid at this time of year, compared with any other period in the growing season, so there is an air-tight case for late winter/early spring pruning. I often tell people that if the bleeding from such trees as maples, birch and walnut bother them, then wait until the leaves have fully expanded before pruning. There should be very little bleeding.*

Here's the picture. Could someone tell me what is in that limb in the second pic. Thank you for your help.
{{gwi:557856}}
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it doesn't want to let you in photobucket without logging on.

Good grief. I had deleted them. I see them on this thread. Let's try again.
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What you've done is top your tree, also called stubbing. Look up 'tree topping' in google. I'll bet you topped your Crape Myrtles, too, didn't you?

I won't lecture you, lol! But I will tell you that this kind of pruning will result in just the sort of growth that you were trying to avoid. Look for lots of sprouting on some of those branches in the spring, creating more of a problem than you had in the first place. That's just one of the things that topping does.

But the most important effect is immediate, don't think? Surely you realize that the appearance of your tree is greatly altered, and not in a good way.

By the way, there is NO way to prune this particular tree to fit into that location. It needs to be removed.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:557853}}

I have to agree with rhizo - you messed up, the tree is in the wrong place in the first place, and you need to take it out and get something whose MATURE size, height and width, will fit in the space you have. take this tree out and dig up as much of the roots as you can. Look around the nurseries, see what is available - LOOK IT UP BEFORE YOU BUY IT - and then buy it and plant it.

Go buy a good book or 2 on pruning, maybe take a class or 2, and then just shape what you have to make it MORE true to its nature, not to make it fit where it doesn't want to. Take off crossing branches, anything obviously dead, and carefully shape it so the new growth is in the direction you want it to be. Go with the natural shape of the tree - when pruning is well done, the tree only loks better, but you can barely tell anything was done at first glance. One rule of thumb for pruning is that you can always take more off later, but once off, it's GONE.

HELLO, did you read my entire post or not. " The tree was planted (not by me) too close to the house and too close to a"

While I appreciate the help, I don't appreciate feeling like I am being scolded. I DID NOT PLANT THE TREE.
Geez.
No wonder people hesitate coming to some of the forums.

No one is scolding, silly! And no one said that you did plant it. I think that you knew before you posted that you'd done something that might not be in the best interest of your tree. "Torture" was the word? ;-) It seems to me that we're commiserating. So don't shoot the messengers, lol!

Anyway, trees are planted too close to walks, streets, buildings, driveways, etc. all of the time. And because we love our trees, we often resort to butchery in order to keep them tamed or confined. We forget that trees are a renewable resource.

I see this kind of topping every day. Aside from how awful it looks (in one fell swoop), it's bad for the tree.

You are likely to get all kinds of shrubby new growth which will have to be removed; insects tend to be attracted to succulent growth, and improper pruning cuts are the primary avenue for a wide variety of disease organisms to enter the tree.

Trees (and woody shrubs) heal themselves from within, but can only do so if they are pruned properly. There is not one single correctly made cut made on your maple; you've left stubs on each and every branch, small or large.

But, like I said earlier....there's nothing you could have done in this case! That poor little tree is simply a great example of being the wrong tree in the wrong place.

No one is born knowing how to prune properly. It really and truly does take some knowledge.

If that were my tree, it would be history as we 'speak'. What a great opportunity to look around for something more suitable for the location!

Carla, I was well aware that you didn't plant this tree originally. What you did was make a mistake, if I can put it that way - in trying to make the tree fit the space available, rather than taking it out and putting in a tree or shrub of a more suitable size and shape. And, because you didn't know how, you did it wrongly.

As rhizo just said, no-one was born knowing how to do much of anything - except eat, excrete and breath. All the rest we all learned over the years. It's almost a rite of passage to do something wrong, in order to realize that you need help. We may sound flippant, but we've been there, done that, and tossed our mistakes out...., or lived with them.

We have, through the kindnesses of strangers, through asking questions, through reading in how-to books, taking classes, and getting out there and practicing, learned how to make fewer and smaller mistakes. None of us (well, there MAY be one or two who think they are, but not many), are perfect. We will freely admit to making mistakes. We just try to make smaller ones, not major ones, like we used to do...., because we now have more experience. But, put most of us in a situation where we have no experience, and watch many of us make huge mistakes!

We are trying to help you gain in your experience, truly, not trying to scold you.

Wow, I am sick of looking at that pictorial debut of a mistake. I should have known better. What's worse is the monkey grass underneath the tree.
I'm sorry to over react, I apologize. Truth is, I'm not in a position right now to have the stump dug up. We can cut it down ourselves but there is the stump problem. I would love to plant something else there. OTOH, there is a large evergreen right next to the existing tortured tree. See, I've opened a can of worms because I can't plant anything short next to that evergreen, I love the evergreen, also not planted by me. Maybe I'll post a pic of the evergreen so people could help me figure out the dilema. Sorry for rambling. Thank you.

Carla, don't beaat yourself up over a mistake - let it go and learn from it. And monkey grass is fine - if you encourage it, it makes a nice green ground cover in shade, and can be interesting looking as it "flows" in the wind.

If you can just cut the trunk level with the ground that might "get rid of it" enough to make you happy. You might have to paint the bare stump with Brush-B-gone or the like to eliminate suckers sprouting from the stump. Another option would be to cut the trunk to 8-12", then dig around it, cutting roots as you come to them with loppers, a pruning saw (DO NOT USE YOUR CHAINSAW!!! [look up kick-back, if you want to see horror stories]), or an axe or a hatchet. You should be able to get the most of the roots out, since it looks from the angles shown that there is mostly monkey grass and spring bulbs growing under the mulch. If the roots from the evergreen you mentioned do grow into the area, it might get trickier, but it should still be doable - just try to be sure that any large roots go with the tree you are removing and not the evergreen, before you cut. Fill the hole with topsoil or compost, and you can plant another small shrub or a large perennial in the spot until you decide for sure what you want there. Replant the monkey grasses you dug up, feed them lightly, and it should look as though that's what was always there by mid-summer!

If the area gets a half day of sun, then planting a vine there, and not cutting the trunk down, and letting the vine grow over the bare branches would be an option. Of course, if you do get a wild profusion of shoots from all the ends, that's not a GOOD option!

or you could put an interesting large ornamental pot with a small bush or tree in it right on top of the stump after you've cut it as close as you can to the ground and put brush be gone or heavy duty round up on it. hmm- maybe daphne or something that doesn't do that well long term in the ground and would love the drainage of a pot. the idea of a vine going up it is interesting, too. a rose or clematis or any number of evergreen vines could be really fun. you'd need to kill the tree first- maybe girdle it and brush brush be gone in the girdle down low? eventually it would rot to the point that it wouldn't support your vine anymore, so you'd want to think ahead if you planted something you wanted there for a really long time. or if you're really funky, you could make this a bottle tree for a few yrs.

look at it this way- now you know what NOT to do, and you can get a pruning book out and maybe practice what TO do before you whack this guy down. practice makes perfect. at least you didn't plant it there. i know we've sure moved our share of things that we put in the wrong place or were badly sited by someone else. some of the mistakes that are too big we're just living with and making do as best we can. we don't want to lose the trees in question and so we cope. such is life. best of luck! tammy