Hello board, I bought an Emperor I Japanese Maple, about 5' or so tall, from a local plant store last month and noticed that at the top* of the trunk it's been chopped and has some white stuff there. Just beneath it there are two branches jutting out. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but it ocured to me that it may limit the height of the tree a la "trunk chopping" that I've found while surfing the net on the subject. Or am I worrying too much? I was looking forward to enjoying the tree grow taller of the years, but if the store sold me a tree that won't get taller due to the trunk chop I'll be annoyed. What sayeth the board? *I mean that it's not chopped at the bottom of the trunk but rather at the very top. The tree is about 5' tall and has branches and leaves all about.
Hiyas Lythande, Your maple tree is quite alright believe me, I have become addicted to maples, especially the japanese variety, over the last few months. Your branches are actually a pruning I would say, plus the white stuff was probably to restrain growing up for the waterfall effect , I would speculate. I have maples at home that are in a similar state. This is a well-used shaping technique as far as I know.
the white stuff is a wound sealer they used to seal up the trunk chop, they chopped the top to restrain the upward growth...you can use wire or a string to pull another branch up to be the top and before too long you wont even notice that it was chopped...it is common practice in bonsai to chop the top to wire a new branch up, this creates taper and movement in the trunk line....as was stated before your maple is perfectly healthy, the chopping wont hurt a thing
