I have a few plants with this tendency, but none moreso than the wilson's. The main trunk rather quickly splits into two roughly equal trunks. I have heard that codominant leaders is to be avoided in evergreens because of a high risk of splitting down the road, but I wasn't sure if this was the case for the seemingly "lighter" JM. By the way, I should remove the stake as it is a bit superfluous, the wilson's is by far my most vigorous upright grower. What would you do? A) Leave the tree alone and let it take whatever shape it may B) Slowly trim back the growth on one of the trunks so that one clearly develops into a dominant leader C) Write in your own option
i vote A every time that i change the the natural form ,i killed the maple. jm prefere" V " or pot form...however i have only jm with one trunk and is Butterfly..
I'm wrestling with the exact same question regarding a pretty young Acer griseum. In my case one of the two stems -- the one that juts more sharply sideways at the point of separation -- is clearly more developed, and I think the tree would look okay after a few years if I chop the other part back. But on the other hand it looks really nice now, except for some crossing branches in the middle. I think ultimately I should prune this to create a single clear stem so as to expose the lovely peeling bark. But it's going to be somewhat painful, for me and the tree.
I would leave that one alone. The "V" is a tighter "V" than some I've seen. I have a First Ghost that has a wide "U" shape. I'm afraid its going to break from me looking at it wrong, its so fragile. If you ended up picking a main leader, I'd go with the one on the right.
It's hard to tell exactly without seeing how the branches develop on the two sides further up. Let me tell you a sad story. I had a big A. shirasawanum "Aureum" that a friend grafted onto the top of a big A. pseudosieboldianum understock, and it really took off (I'd killed a couple of earlier ones). Did beautifully for a couple of years. Nice V trunk right at the top, with a straight 6-foot trunk. Well, my son and a friend were playing with a giant kickball, and it landed right in the V, and split the tree right down the middle, almost to the ground. I strapped it together, but it was futile, and eventually even the more-connected side died. I've killed a lot of maples, but there's none I mourn like this one. But even if you don't have kids, these V crotches make me nervous, because as the tree grows the left side and the right side aren't going to be connected--there's included bark in the way. So I'd either cut off one branch--from the picture, it looks like the right one would be the keeper if you want a straight trunk rather than a dogleg. Or you could just cut one of them back, keep it short and bushy so the other becomes dominant. In my experience, though, palmatums seem to develop good character with age, so unless there's a danger of splitting, as here, I don't worry too much about early pruning decisions.
here's a pic from higher up and earlier in spring. Has bushied up a bit since then Edit: Yes, I do have a one year old girl - and she is a tornado!
hi Daniel have you up date about ,variegated maple (Saccharinium?)that you select one or two years ago? ciao
