Pruning/chopping

[whofeelsitknowsit]

This may be a dumb question, but I'll ask it anyway: for deciduous trees (japanese maples specifically, but not only japanese maples), is it better to let them grow out to a think caliper without pruning or chopping until the big chop, or do people trim back every so often? I had thought you just leave it alone until the trust is close to where you want it and then do the first chop, but it seems like people prune to keep the tree from getting too tall. Can someone clarify?

 

[caffeinated]

The cheap and easy answer is you can do it either way. Trimming as it grows is the slower way, which takes much longer but leaves no, or smaller and fewer scars, and lets you get the right branches in the right place. The other way lets you develop a fat trunk faster but you'll be left dealing with the scars of big chops from the trunk and larger unneeded branches.

 

[Shibui]

There are people doing it both ways. I've tried letting the trunk grow untouched then doing a chop but found the larger cut required can take many years to heal over. Trunks grown like this also tend to have little taper. It also takes many years for the replacement leader to grow to match the thicker base.

I now prune more regularly, usually annually for most maples. Such pruning does not seem to reduce thickening much, if at all. As a result of the earlier pruning I get lots of new leaders growing. All those leaders add up to the same growth the tree had before the chop so thickening is still happening. Each new leader that grows gives a different option for pruning next time so I have choices of front, trunk bends and most important, lots of taper in the lower trunk. When it comes to pruning each individual leader is smaller than the main trunk so after pruning I have several smaller cuts instead of one huge cut. Smaller cuts heal over in just a few years and usually much neater.
Note that this is not to stop them getting too tall. It is all about taper, options for trunk lines + smaller cuts.

I would not go back to growing tall, straight telephone poles with a larger final chop.

 

[sorce]

but it seems like people prune to keep the tree from getting too tall.

This makes it sound like you may have found people in a similar boat as you, rowing with an oar that says Newb.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, they can probably make a nice tree faster in blissful ignorance than someone who gets a bunch of confusing, contradicting information that ends up just making them try too hard.

There's nothing wrong with these separate and different tidbits of information, they just become much more useful when you have them in the appropriate category for your learning.

For me, Shibui has everything it takes to give excellent information.
Not just experience, Observant Experience.
Not just presence here, but Activity and Availability.
Thorough, always climate-wise, etc.etc.etc...

There are very few people in that category.

Sorce

 

[whofeelsitknowsit]

There are people doing it both ways. I've tried letting the trunk grow untouched then doing a chop but found the larger cut required can take many years to heal over. Trunks grown like this also tend to have little taper. It also takes many years for the replacement leader to grow to match the thicker base.

I now prune more regularly, usually annually for most maples. Such pruning does not seem to reduce thickening much, if at all. As a result of the earlier pruning I get lots of new leaders growing. All those leaders add up to the same growth the tree had before the chop so thickening is still happening. Each new leader that grows gives a different option for pruning next time so I have choices of front, trunk bends and most important, lots of taper in the lower trunk. When it comes to pruning each individual leader is smaller than the main trunk so after pruning I have several smaller cuts instead of one huge cut. Smaller cuts heal over in just a few years and usually much neater.
Note that this is not to stop them getting too tall. It is all about taper, options for trunk lines + smaller cuts.

I would not go back to growing tall, straight telephone poles with a larger final chop.

Super helpful information - thank you!