Trimming an out of control Japanese Maple
 

Just moved into a house and we have a large Japanese Maple that I need
to cut back. It has been growing for 15 years at its present location
and is very large, having never been trimmed. Unfortunately, it is
right against the house and covers and is growing into the front porch.


I need to cut this tree back but would like to try to save the tree.

Any advice on the best procedure and how much I can cut this tree back
without causing major damage. If I can't get it cut back, it will have
to be removed but I really would like to save this tree.

It is in the middle of summer here (near Baltimore) which probably
isn't the best time to do this but I need to start trimming this tree
back.

Thanks!!
Scott

In article .com,
wrote:

Just moved into a house and we have a large Japanese Maple that I need
to cut back. It has been growing for 15 years at its present location
and is very large, having never been trimmed. Unfortunately, it is
right against the house and covers and is growing into the front porch.


I need to cut this tree back but would like to try to save the tree.

Any advice on the best procedure and how much I can cut this tree back
without causing major damage. If I can't get it cut back, it will have
to be removed but I really would like to save this tree.

It is in the middle of summer here (near Baltimore) which probably
isn't the best time to do this but I need to start trimming this tree
back.

Thanks!!
Scott

Go slow and remove anything that touches your house. Tip trimming
more in time as once gone it is gone. I've got one 35 years old and
that¹s what I do.

Then again if you are young and intend to live there consider selling
the tree (Folks do that) and start a new one of the variety you love a
little further away from your home. Variety's effect size and color and
leaf type and form and probably more.

Have Fun!

Bill

--
Garden Shade Zone 5 in a Japanese Jungle manner.
This article is posted under fair use rules in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and is strictly for the educational and informative purposes.
This material is distributed without profit.

wrote in
oups.com:


Just moved into a house and we have a large Japanese Maple that I need
to cut back. It has been growing for 15 years at its present location
and is very large, having never been trimmed. Unfortunately, it is
right against the house and covers and is growing into the front porch.


I need to cut this tree back but would like to try to save the tree.

Any advice on the best procedure and how much I can cut this tree back
without causing major damage. If I can't get it cut back, it will have
to be removed but I really would like to save this tree.

It is in the middle of summer here (near Baltimore) which probably
isn't the best time to do this but I need to start trimming this tree
back.

Thanks!!
Scott


We're probably at the height of the bad season to make any cuts into hard
wood. To do so now would invite a flush of extraordinary growth at the cut
location. Late fall to very early spring are good times for major pruning.

--
David J. Bockman, Fairfax, VA (USDA Hardiness Zone 7)
email:
http://beyondgardening.com/Albums

"David Bockman" wrote in message
9.11...
wrote in
oups.com:

We're probably at the height of the bad season to make any cuts into hard
wood. To do so now would invite a flush of extraordinary growth at the cut
location. Late fall to very early spring are good times for major pruning.

I recall reading that early spring wasn't a good time to prune maples.

"Vox Humana" wrote in
:


"David Bockman" wrote in message
9.11...
wrote in
oups.com:

We're probably at the height of the bad season to make any cuts into
hard wood. To do so now would invite a flush of extraordinary growth
at the cut location. Late fall to very early spring are good times
for major pruning.

I recall reading that early spring wasn't a good time to prune maples.




Yes, the folk wisdom is that the poor little Maple will pump sap at a
prodigious rate until it bleeds to death. I've worked with Maples for over
15 years, both as bonsai and as landscape trees, and I've never seen it.
Hard pruning just as the buds are beginning to push results in a flush of
adventitious buds forming from old wood, some of which can be chosen as
better-placed branches, or they can be simply rubbed off.

--
David J. Bockman, Fairfax, VA (USDA Hardiness Zone 7)
email:
http://beyondgardening.com/Albums