Eric Group
Masterpiece
I have been trying to time my work a lot better to get the desired results. There seems to be a bunch of varying opinions on when is the best time to prune back hard on Maples.
It seems that the common answer when asking about timing for most any major work is usually "early Spring right before bud break" whether you are talking a repot or a trunk chop or just hard pruning some decent sized branches. Ok, problem solved right....? Well maybe not... I guess it depends on what your goal is. It seems, according to what I have read that if you leave long branches all winter long, the Maples set the next Spring's buds in the Fall and in Spring start funneling the energy collected in the roots tot he branch tips which- with their Apical dominance- is where the dominant buds are set normally... So, if you come in once the buds have started to swell and lop off the ends of the branches, aren't you kind of weakening the tree? Aren't you also basically waisting a bunch of the previous year's stored energy? Aren't you also creating pretty major wounds at a time when there is some pretty heavy sap flow, thus further sapping the tree's strength? Perhaps pruning in early Spring right before/ right after bud break is a great time to do it if your desired result it to sustain the shape of an established tree, but in TRAINING an incomplete tree with the idea to direct growth and increase ramification, is that a good time to prune one? Wouldn't it make more sense to do major pruning in the Fall for trees still in development- after the tree has grown for a year to remove the unchecked growth and encourage buds to set lower down the branch closer to the trunk?
I have a Red Maple I am thinking of buying- nice thick base with some low branches but has long spindly branches shooting out the top I need to remove to start developing a shape... I would probably prefer to do it in the Spring when I could get some cuttings from the pruning (saying I am hooked on propagation is an understatement).. But I just worry it might weaken the tree or set my development back almost a whole season if I wait that long... Any thoughts? Am I over thinking it?
It seems that the common answer when asking about timing for most any major work is usually "early Spring right before bud break" whether you are talking a repot or a trunk chop or just hard pruning some decent sized branches. Ok, problem solved right....? Well maybe not... I guess it depends on what your goal is. It seems, according to what I have read that if you leave long branches all winter long, the Maples set the next Spring's buds in the Fall and in Spring start funneling the energy collected in the roots tot he branch tips which- with their Apical dominance- is where the dominant buds are set normally... So, if you come in once the buds have started to swell and lop off the ends of the branches, aren't you kind of weakening the tree? Aren't you also basically waisting a bunch of the previous year's stored energy? Aren't you also creating pretty major wounds at a time when there is some pretty heavy sap flow, thus further sapping the tree's strength? Perhaps pruning in early Spring right before/ right after bud break is a great time to do it if your desired result it to sustain the shape of an established tree, but in TRAINING an incomplete tree with the idea to direct growth and increase ramification, is that a good time to prune one? Wouldn't it make more sense to do major pruning in the Fall for trees still in development- after the tree has grown for a year to remove the unchecked growth and encourage buds to set lower down the branch closer to the trunk?
I have a Red Maple I am thinking of buying- nice thick base with some low branches but has long spindly branches shooting out the top I need to remove to start developing a shape... I would probably prefer to do it in the Spring when I could get some cuttings from the pruning (saying I am hooked on propagation is an understatement).. But I just worry it might weaken the tree or set my development back almost a whole season if I wait that long... Any thoughts? Am I over thinking it?