You have alot of questions ;>)... without seeing the tree or knowing what type it is I would be hard pressed to give you answers...Multiple trunks sound a bit strange for a shade tree...and to keep it that small...for most varieties will be a chore if not impossible > I assume by the color this is not a japanese maple...Anyway you need to get much more specific and post a pic if you can ( good luck) or have one posted somewhere else and link it .Once we know the name and type of maple and see a pic....someone here with knowledge of your specific tree can surely help you...david

It is a green japanese maple. It is only labeled JM. It has deeply split leaves - even more than the picture on this forum. It has one trunk. I meant to say that it splits to 6-8 trunks by 3-4 foot.

It must have grown to be so tall and willowy in a dense thicket of saplings protexted from wind. The upper trunks are overly thin.

I bought 3 foot stakes and tied supports in five places with broad, flexible tape.

I assume the tree will adjust to the new environment and that I will have to gradually remove supports so that it is not dependent on them. Some of the branch ends are now drooping in the rain. It has not been tested by wind yet.

I think I should trim some of them to reduce wind purchase.

Again without seeing it ...this is hard ...you said the leaves were silver ..sounds odd for any JM I was beginning to think it was a silver maple which has a silverish ting to it!!!...or was that a typo .and from your description it sounds like a dissectum if the leaves are even more dissected than the dissectum pictured on page one of this forum...which naturally weep.Are you sure that it is not just long branches coming off if a single very low trunk which would be normal for a weeper grafted low...and possbly planted too deep??? anyway It is impossible to tell w/o seeing it...I would suggest you email me a pic at my listed email ( hopefully you have a digital camera and are not living in the stone age;>) or can borrow one send as many shots as you can especially of the base and closeup of leaves and a distance whole tree shot so i can get a handle on it...I can't promiss anything but I will give it a try!! David

Whether your tree takes full sun or not will be a matter of trial and error. Some red varieties as well as green can take a lot of sun, others not. It sounds like your tree is a seedling rather than a named variety, so you really won't know how it takes the sun until it's been growing on your patio a while.

I would plant your maple in a fairly large pot with good commercial grade potting soil, and then use stakes to hold hold it in place until the trunk and branches get stouter. You could use bamboo, wooden or plastic stakes -- whatever looks better. Tie the tree branches and trunk to the stakes using nursery grade tape -- it's usually green plastic and very soft flexible, so it won't damage the bark. You can also use something like used nylons, but that might look kind of tacky on your patio.

I've staked up many of my smaller JMs while they are still small and spindly, and you often see them for sale like that in nurseries. If you use bamboo poles, it seems to go with the tree and doesn't look too bad.