Hello everyone, I am new to this, so be kind please.. lol Just wondering if there has been a thread on here regarding JM pruning and I missed it or can't find it. Which leads to my question about ideas and help regarding JM pruning, I am talking about even 1 and 2 year old graft, that just send out one shoot and gets really long. Does anyone have a document or collected info/pics on pruning JM trees (young or developed). feel free to email it to me: WalidJomaa@yahoo.com Anyone know of any workshop or class on the subject, I am in Southern California. Thanks, great threads on here. Walid
Well, if you cut it (not below any existing foliage tho') hopefully you'll get branching and new growth, tho' it's late in the season to be doing it... early spring's the best time.
thanks Laurie, I have seen those, hoping to learn more, :)... and thanks Rima.. (btw my daughter's name is Rima also.. ) happy gardening
some more information on Japanese Maples pruning on this website.. http://www.wayofmaple.com/index.html xman
Walid: Not too late for you to be pruning expecially in southern, Ca where you will probably have an extended growing season. Prune through the month I do not recommend fertilizing this late in the year. There has been disucussion about the value of that one long shoot that young grafts can put out (or a couple in some cases) on future shape, habit, growth and health. In the case a single leader tree is not your desire, I feel pruning that shoot is a vaild choice. In the case of a young plant it should not be done in the first spring the shoot emerges, but in the first summer or late the second spring. With the opposing bud structure of maples you will usually get two shoots to emerge below the pruning cut. It helps to know the overall culture of the plant as we want to know if we are dealing with disorderly growth from excess nitrogen or a natural response of the new graft or young plant. The former, due to nitrogen, should probably be truncated when a suitable lenght has been achieved, maybe 3-6 nodes depending on anticipated or desired shape. In the case of the latter, natural growth, we have to be careful as it is not uncommon to induce stagnation in a young maple by truncating the main leader(s). Regardless, this practice can be helpful as it redirects growth to the roots and it is imperative that we get strong root growth in our young plants. I have a young Acer truncatum 'Akikazi nishiki' that had 3 vigorous shoots earlier in the summer. The plant overall is a good 2-3 gallon and was pretty compact. As these shoots grew (they were the only growth on the plant) I noticed that some of the nodal distances were getting a bit long as were the shoots and I would have liked to see more even growth or growth elsewhere on the plant so I truncated them at 4 nodes. About a month later I have two shoots on each leader emerging. In this case I will probably remove on or more of the inside shoots. What did not happen was growth elsewhere on the plant--the same shoots are still continuing to grow. Keep in mind that phisioloigally it is the nature of most maples to want to grow upwards, often vigorously, long before they fill in. At some determinant age, depending on the age of the plant and variety, this upward growth will be redirected to lateral growth and a greater tendency to "fill-in." While we get redirected growth in maples from pruning it is foolish to believe we can force the plant to grow more laterally by keeping it, for all intents and purposes, topped. You will have to learn from experience and I can tell you that when you dwarf the growth of a tree by pruning or cause it to stagnate it may not be easy to get it started again. Having to force it will fertilizers will not better your situation. I think it is better to let the plant get some age on it before we begin to heavily shape it. If you have a few out-of-line shoots you can clip them back but let the tree grow as it wants. The agrguement to let it grow as it wants when young is the same arguement we use to discorage the use of nitrogen fertilizers when we have young plants. The growth you get from fertilizing young plants may not be the growth you want, unless you want lots of scion wood. Hope that helps.
