How to Trim Japanese Maple (never trimmed)
garrai818
7 years ago
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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
7 years agogarrai818
7 years agoRelated Discussions
How to trim this Japanese maple?
Comments (2)It needs no pruning :-) Those branches coming out at an angle on top will eventually start to cascade as they elongate. FWIW, that umbrella shape in these kinds of JM's is not very uniform unless intentionally made to look that way. It is not my preference to force that sort of growth habit - I prefer a much more natural look - but that is your choice. If you feel you DO need to prune, wait until December or in late June. These are the two best times to prune Japanese maples without excessive bleeding....See MoreDo I trim these long shoots on my Japanese Maple?
Comments (3)Hmm,you're at least the 4th person to have this happen here in recent weeks....just wish some of my maples would grow a bit more ha. It's not uncommon when conditions are favourable for maples to throw out vigorous shoots.It's certainly not a sign of ill health,quite the opposite.With some cultivars of maple it is undesirable to keep the vigorous growth,but I think with your maple it boils down to personal taste.The branches however may not necessarily keep their drooping stance and may grow more upright with time.I'm guessing the trees you have seen are what are referred to as 'dissectums'...their inherent deformities cause their leaves to be heavily dissected and their branches generally droop and twist more.Your maple is not one of these. Please note that if your tree is grafted and these shoots are coming from below the graft(you'll see a join very low down on the trunk)they should be removed....See Moretrimming a Japanese Maple
Comments (11)I second the "no way, Jose!" on the use of hedge trimmers with any Japanese maple. That's the equivalent of using a machete as a butter knife! Way too much of a tool for the job. These types of Japanese maples are often grown specifically for their long skirts, limbs draping along the mulch is not an issue and they do not need to be trimmed. Most often these are seen in the landscape as large mounding umbrellas with no sign of the understructure until the tree is bare in winter. What you are seeing in the photos with bare bases are high graft dissectums and at least to my eye, they look extremely awkward and ungainly. The mounded, leafed fully to the ground is the more common preference. Personally, I wouldn't touch it but if you do want to thin a bit, you do it from the inside out, not from the top down. And by that I mean you actually crawl under the tree and judiciously and selectively prune out individual branches to thin and/or lighten the canopy. You can also lift the skirts by selectively pruning off the longer tips, if you like. Don't remove more than a quarter to a third of the canopy at any one time. And right now - June - is an ideal time to do prune, if that is what you want to do....See MoreJapanese Maple Trimming Advice?
Comments (4)it is always nice to know where you are ... sometimes new transplants do weird things after their first winter ... i suggest you give it another month ... then remove all dead wood ... with proper pruning cuts ... proper water is imperative the first year .. otherwise.. start thinking in tree time.. i suggest you leave it alone for a year or two.. and let it sort itself out .. aka.. whats your hurry .... there is absolutely no reason. for those stakes.. get rid of them ... there isnt enough canopy for it to tip over in wind ... ken...See MoreGibson Zone 9 (Central Valley, CA)
7 years agoMike McGarvey
7 years ago
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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)