Pruning: Trimming Japanese Maples

Discussion in 'Maples' started by MikeL, Sep 4, 2015.

  1. MikeL

    MikeL Member

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    What is the best time of the year for trimming Japanese Maples in the Vancouver area?
     
  2. patdero1

    patdero1 Active Member Maple Society

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    Major trim when dormant/winter. Minor trim any time.
    Pat
     
  3. Schattenfreude

    Schattenfreude Active Member

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    How big of a branch constitutes a "major" trim? Or does a major trim involve removing numerous branches?

    Kevin in KC
     
  4. patdero1

    patdero1 Active Member Maple Society

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    A major trim would be any thing over 1/4th of the tree.
    Pat
     
  5. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Maples cut in winter may bleed. As far as pruning Japanese maples specifically goes I would suggest reading the discussion of this in one of the editions of the Vertrees Japanese maple books.
     
  6. ROEBUK

    ROEBUK Generous Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    Find pics of my medium sized Vitifolium which i lightly pruned last week in readiness to be lifted at the end of this month.

    Mainly took out all the lower small branches beneath the main canopy,then any branches which were getting to long and of course all die backs were removed.

    There are some branches which i may shorten by about 8/10" on the right hand side in the spring of next year when i can see how it's re budding and what the overall shape is like before i decide if it needs any more work.

    Note all the leaf colour and drop of this tree at this early time of the season, at least 40% of all my trees are now in noticeable colour change.

    When the leaf drop is finished i have around 4/6 trees which i always give a good clipping to,and this never seems to bother them with the winter approaching,but then we don't have the severe winters as you guys in the states/Canada.
     

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  7. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    I would call that over-pruned.
     
  8. whis4ey

    whis4ey Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    I would call that a good job Roebuk. It looks fine to me and will improve the tree no end for next year :)
     
  9. ROEBUK

    ROEBUK Generous Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    Ron..interesting to learn that you think i have over pruned the Vitifolium,i would class that as a very light trim, and i think that this is where we will all tend dissagree with each other on how we prune our maples,it's also a case of knowing which maples will take a certain amount of strong pruning and will have no detremental effect on the future growth of the said tree, and i have found that vitifolium comes into this group.

    I have posted a picture of the same tree when i bought it back in 2007, planted straight out and it has grown strongly every year ever since.

    Over the years you can see i have removed all the lower growing branches gradually and this year i finally removed the remaining few, which i may hasten to add were not recieving very much light because of the large canopy of broad leaves above which were blocking out much of the sun for the lower ones so these would have gone into "die back" mode over the coming years any way.

    The look i am trying to acheive is one of a large well trunked tree with an overall large rounded canopy,this is also one of the reasons why it's going to be lifted so i can slow the growth rate down and create a more pleasing to the eye tree, plus it's also going to act as a shade tree for some more of my sun/light sensitive trees.

    This is a very large growing tree which does take well to strong pruning. I am doing this now before it really starts to reach a size that becomes to big for the garden, also when it's removed there will be room for two more smaller trees to take it's place.

    Sam glad you like the shape!! ,we all have different ideas and opinions thats why we all like to talk about them so much. :)
     

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  10. Jaybee63

    Jaybee63 Rising Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    Looks good to me, I prune and shape many of mine in a similar manner and often remove most of the whippy growth which becomes over congested on some trees.
     

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