I've recently moved to Richland, WA (Eastern Washington) and have young maple tree (of some sort) in the back yard. This is probably the best tree I have been left by the previous owners. The house was built in 2005 so I can assume that the tree was planted some time since then. My questions are: 1) When should I prune (late dormancy or mid-summer)? I plan on pruning all of my trees in the late winter, but before spring (probably early February). 2) Is this tree over crowded with limbs? It looks like it needs thinned out to me. 3) Should I spread any of the limbs out? 4) Are my proposed pruning cuts / spreader bars reasonable/needed? Please make recommendations… Attached are photo's of the tree. The first and second photos are unedited and show the tree from two different perspectives. The third photo shows my proposed pruning cuts (in red) with spreaders in orange. We are zone 7 (although, probably closer to a high 6). My soil is like beach sand when I dig. I have plenty of water available, but this is a desert (hot summers, cold winters with minimal precip ~7 inches a year). At the recommendation of the local nursery, I added soil amendments to try to help the tree (cutting out grass around the base) and mixing native soil with compost. I've also staked it to help with our high spring winds. Thank you in advance for the help.
I'm guessing the tree has been in the ground for 2 years at most. Your stakes look abit overkill unless you have kids or aggresive dogs. Make sure the trunk has room to move around and flex, encouraging the trunk to form proper taper as it ages. With your climate, adding a bigger ring of mulch around the trunk would help insulate the roots from temp extremes, and help retain water in the soil during the hot dry summer. The only pruning that I would recommend would be to reduce the height of the lateral branches that are competing with the leader(main stem) for apical dominance (tallest branch). Prune them back to a bud about halfway down the branch, making them subordinate (shorter than the leader) which will help their growth next season to allow the leader to regain a clear height advantage. I'd leave the rest of the branches, as the tree is still young, and needs all the leaves it can produce. Attempts to spread branches will likely be a waste of time. The tree exhibits excurrent (upright) growth but the branches will sag over time as they get heavier.
Brian, I would second the opinion of removing the stakes unless you believe the tree was planted this fall. The flexing of the trunk is essential for developing strength and if you have strong winds the tree will need this.
