Emperor Japanese maple pruning advice
I need to prune my dwarf Emperor Japanese
Maple. I've been letting it grow for about 3 years without modifying anything to give it time to establish itself. im planning to trim the bottom branches off but am torn as to which others along the trunk to trim. I want to get that tidy, well balanced look, giving it a personality, almost fanning it in front of the house. please look at the pictures and let me know which branches you think i should remove.
also, as an FYI- we are planning to put in a better support to help guide growth upright so it doesn't grow away from the house towards the sun (south facing)
Comments (9)
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
10 months agoFirst, in the world of Japanese maples, Emperor 1 is not a dwarf. Its popular listed mature size is 15' b 15' but it can (and often does, at least here) get twice that size.
Second, one wants to approach pruning or trimming a JM with a very light hand. After 3 years, the removal of lower branches is appropriate but not a requirement. Aside from that, I wouldn't remove anything. It is not mature enough or dense enough to need a crown reduction or thinning yet and the form looks dead on. This is what a mature Emp 1 should look like:
Finally, you can remove the stake it is attached to. It is no longer needed, badly applied and is not helping. The tree looks to be planted out in the open so staking to train growth (especially after 3 years) should no longer be necessary.Also, there are dedicated forums here that address tree issues that are better venues for these questions. You will get more and better informed answers if you were to post in either Trees or Maples.
dlnd2012 thanked gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)Related Discussions
Red Japanese Maple Emperor I - no buds yet
Comments (11)Dan said: "IME they definitely are prone to crisp up for several years before adapting to a more sunny location. In the majority of cases they survive. You should have been told that shade cloth helps, altho looks suboptimal. I've never known JMs to reject a watering, either unless their feet are constantly wet. No fertilizer. " Dan! You are the first person to agree with the info the nursery gave me - that this tree takes several years to get acclimated to full sun. Everyone else I've mentioned this to just says, "huh? Never heard of that before"... I feel better, it's a reputable nursery, and we are devout customers. I had thought it was better to move a tree during dormancy (under normal circumstances), but sounds like I should wait with this tree, verify there are no diseases present and that it's growing properly, and then move it. Our bigger reason for moving is to replace with an evergreen for privacy, but I'm assuming it will also enjoy the new location in partial shade. Regarding the tree watering, I should clarify. This is what the nursery told me - if you water the tree, and the water runs, so do you. If it soaks in, it needs water. I realize this is pretty basic advice, but I do recall reading these trees don't like too much water. The problem for me is that I have it wedged in a triangular space next to my driveway, and the other angle is next to a concrete walkway, and the other angle is a flagstone walkway, and has a rock border around the perimeter. So, not a lot of runoff from rain, not sure how deep the roots go, or the driveway for that matter, so not sure how much water it's getting with all surrounding concrete. Add to that, de-icer on the driveway in the winter though we do purchase 'plant friendly' de-icer and try not to snowblow on the tree area. And, full sun, with reflection off of the surrounding conrete. Nice tree though, hope we don't lose it. Bloodgood didn't do well for me, but I had it in mostly shade and probably didn't water enough back then when I was an absolute newbie....See MoreEmperor One Japanese Maple dry/dead branches inside
Comments (2)its hard to come to any conclusions WITHOUT A PIC ... a 10 foot transplant took huge stresses in the digging .. moving.. and planting ... winter was probably minor after all that ... [and even worse.. if it was grown to 10 foot in a pot] i hope you have PERFECTED WATERING ... see link for a discussion after reading such.. if you want to discuss/compare how you are doing it.. feel free ... ken Here is a link that might be useful: link...See Morejapanese maple pruning question
Comments (3)I've been thinking how best to answer this question ever since you posted........it is not exactly straight forward :-) First, all named cultivars of Japanese maples are grafted......or almost always. The shoots of the desired cultivar are taken from the parent tree as cuttings and then grafted on to a seedling species JM. For upright trees (like Bloodgood), the grafts are typically about 6-8 above the root flare but can be higher. Usually not lower - low grafts are typically reserved for the weeping forms like most dissectums. Grafting is done while everything is very tiny - really just seedlings. Part of the appeal of Japanese maples is their often very sculptural natural growth habit. This can sometimes be enhanced by pruning but is seldom created by pruning. A great deal of this sculptural quality is determined with the selection of the tree at a young age, looking for attributes like low branching or interesting bends. And then you make the most of those going forward both through training and very selective pruning....See MoreJapanese Maple Pruning Advice....All advice would be appreciated
Comments (4)Thanks for that Jalcon Have seen this post before I think with a lot of these Situations the Choice of to Prune or not to Prune is in the hands of the Tree owner whether Purist ~ None Purist or Experimentalist I myself with this Tree have decided to remove the bottom 2 Branches before the Tree becomes too Branch Wound Envisaging what the Tree would look like with just a single Curved Trunk I would consider this the best Option,(In My Opinion as a Comparitive Beginner to many on the Gardenweb) Best wishes Stephen,Cheshire,UK...See More
Jim F
6 months ago
Sigrid
6 months agoJim F
6 months agodlnd2012
6 months ago
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)