I thought I would start this thread after speaking to a friend online, he asked me why he has so many dead branches on his Japanese maple this Spring. He showed me via his camera phone what had happened. But to be tbh I really didn't need to see it. Last year after a bbq at his house, I said to him that he would have problems with his Japanese maple as he has a dense canopy lollypop tree. He obviously forgot what I said as people so often do with small talk at a bbq. So yesterday I saw a tree with many many dead branches and a few upper branches with leaves only. So the point I made to him and for this thread is that if you don't give your tree light and air during Spring and Summer, you will have a lot of dead branches the following year. Japanese maples need to be light and appear floaty. Even the dissectum's that almost enclose the trunk need some thining to allow light and air to inner branches. So my point is, 'do not starve the inside of your Japanese maple of sunlight'. OPEN IT UP. You will then have a happier and healthier tree.
The process of shedding interior branches is called "cladoptosis" (which sounds like a disease one wouldn't like to admit having!) Maples from the Section Palmata (including JMs) "auto-prune" by cladoptosis, which is why they grow in such graceful shapes without pruning, and why many (including myself) advise keeping pruning to a minimum on established trees. Personally I'm not a fan of cloud pruning, which I think makes the trees look like poodles: too cute! But to each their own, and I would never argue with personal taste. Some people also really like the "lollipop" look, though I'm not one of them except in that "Mon Oncle" kind of way. I feel similar to the tiny fountains people favor. But whether you force it or not, some JMs grow naturally into a single stemmed form. They thin normally through cladaptosis without any pruning help -- though crossing branches are always important to remove -- and will find themselves eventually. Even on dissectums I mostly like to remove dead wood, although there aredefinitely some exceptions. So I guess I'm a minimalist personally, but there are many different kinds of boat on the sea! ;)
Conspicuously incomplete leafing of the outer canopy in spring sounds like a health issue such as bacterial blight.
@Ron B, thanks Ron that is a possibility, there is a lot of dead wood inside. The outer canopy is healthy, finger nail tests have confirmed that the tree is doing OK. Last Summer the canopy was so very dense, no light getting inside at all. Once all the dead is pruned out and badly crossing branches removed, I think this tree will be fine. @emery pointed out that JM self prune, I'm very aware of this, but sometimes they need a little help IMO. Hence this thread. Thanks for both replies.
A lollipop tree... Does it grow in the Big Rock Candy Mountain ? ^^ Seriously, I think I already encountered this vernacular name, but when looking it up, I only found :
The first time I heard about Burl Ives was when I was in my 1st year at university. We had "phonetcis" lessons, listening to and repeating things in a "lab" in booths recorded on tapes (the 70s) like "Kite/Kit, Kate/Cat,...) and at the end of the lesson, we had a small reward, a traditional song, and I remember him singing "Way haul away, we'll haul away Joe...", and that sounded like an old sailor having had too much rhum on his journey ;0) But what's a "Lollipop tree" exactly?...
Derek of course yours is common wisdom too, and I'm not saying it's wrong by any means. The wife is a big Burl Ives fan, and has been from a young child. Sadly she met him, as an adult, and it turned out he was far from a nice man, either to children or anyone else...
@emery, Hi Emery, thanks for the link, but tbh my friend doesn't want a lollipop tree, his just became that way. I totally agree with you that a natural look is best, but as you say everyone to their own.
Can we prune / train a naturally rounded / lollypop looking tree into something more airy and tiered? Or do we have to keep pruning it to keep it from looking rounded. The bloodgood and oliverianum ssp. formosanum in have in the front yard is growing naturally airy and tiered. The Shantung "Fire Dragon" however, looks like a lollypop. It was also pruned this way from the nursery. It seems to be growing out of it with branches sticking up. Not a pretty tree in terms of shape.
@vbx , yes you can but it takes a few years as you only take out about 20% at a time. Unfortunately garden centres etc think that everyone wants a lollipop tree.
The link was for demonstration purposes, for Alain. The Dutch like these things, next to a fish shaped fountain that gets turned on when visitors approach. That nanum was grafted as a solitaire, it's a nice ball shaped tree when grown on the ground. Some trees like A. platanoides 'Globosum' form the shape naturally. Now it's not rhum or rum, it's scotch, but I'm off for a zoom cocktail. Not even my first! Odd times.
This thread is going a bit mad. So, as one one of the madmen (but no English dog), my best friend came to see me two days ago. I was typing about maples, and I heard someone knocking on my backdoor and say something like "Anybody there ?". It was May 16, she thought it was my birthday which is actuallyon June 16. And she said "here's for you", handing me a bottle with a red ribbon and a note saying "A consommer avec modération", which advice we followed: the bottle is still half-full ;°) It's actually Glengarry (single malt, "peated and smoky", the kind I love), from the Loch Lomond distillery : every kid who was raised in the times of Tintin knows that "Loch lomond" is Captain Haddock's favorite whisky. LOL !!! Cheering ourselves up !!! ;0)
What was this thread about again, lol. Oh yes, now I remember. I've attached a photo of how I believe all our trees should look to allow light and air to penetrate and to aid healthy trees. I do train it with Bonsai wire and a little pruning each year. I do strive to carry this out for all my JM. I have nothing against any shape of tree, everybody to his or her own as @emery rightly pointed out. My point is about keeping them healthy from roots to canopy and IMO this is the best way for our maples.
I'm a Highland Park man myself, as I like a bit of peat too, but I'd never turn down a dram of Loch Lomond (the scotch, not the loch!) So many fine ones out there, now there's the "single barrel" movement, it's gotten very confusing. We were in Edinburgh a couple of years ago when our Gillian did a term at uni there, such fun, heh! When you cut the stick off of the lollipop in the picture behind my link, you get this: Rather less stylized, and only a half sphere. When on the stick as a high standard, 'Nanum' naturally forms the full pop. :)
@emery , Hi Emery, The Acer Campestre Nanum is of a particular type that will grow with a dense canopy with no adverse effects. I was thinking more about JM. It's probably me not getting my point across properly. Edinburgh eh , now that's a long trip from northern France. Our children were a lot closer for their Uni days. (Came home with their washing). Lol.
Ha, no your point was made indeed, I understood you were talking about JMs. I just knew that looking for 'Nanum' I'd quickly find a photo to illustrate the lollipop. Just some typical thread drift. Cap Haddock! :) Actually Edinburgh was close, but it was only for the one term; she matriculated at Tufts in Boston, which was very far. And now further still, she is working in SF. Since FB just reminded me it has been exactly a year since her graduation, here's a picture of us at the event. To keep things on subject I will tell you that when you graduate they don't give you a diploma (which you have to pick up later), they give you a lollipop in a box, also shown. And also the selection I named for her.
@emery, what a lovely story. Proud days indeed. We had the same experience, something you never forget. But no Acers named after our children. Hope Gillian has the tree in her garden.
This tree was pruned into a lollypop shape from an online nursery. It's looking pretty sad right now. Like it needs a haircut!
