Best time to style a maple?

[rockm]

"At this point, the new shoots from this year are bending over themselves. What used to be the tallest part of the tree is losing ground to more sturdy growth from previous years. I don't want another year's growth on these shoots. I'd rather have it lower on the tree than way up to where it seems to be doing no good. I think I'm cutting back after leaf drop. "

Your logic is flawed. You tree won't be doing much of anything from leaf drop to spring. Pruning it now won't produce anything until next spring (hopefully). Any new growth produced in the fall will be killed off in a few weeks, possibly weakening the tree. If no new growth is produced in the fall, the tree will wait until spring to push it. Why prune after leaf drop, have the tree wait with possible die back on the pruned shoots through winter, when pruning in the spring would avoid all those complications?

 

[Smoke]

Two more times might do the trick?

 

[rockm]

I completely understand the itchy trigger (pruner) finger. All my JMs are in the exact same shape, long extension growth that needs to be cut back. However, I've tamed by trigger finger over the years, learning that trees really don't care about my sense of esthetics and follow their own behavoirs.

I've lost leaders and limbs to impatience by cutting in October just because those shoots offended my sense of esthetics.

 

[Smoke]

I can't think of one benifit of pruning a tree in the fall.

Spring is always best.

 

[Smoke]

As display opportunities open up around the US (Portland Oregon) in the Fall and maybe winter, some may move to doing pruning for asthetic purposes then. Other than that, Spring.

 

[gergwebber]

Have you read this yet?

http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?3149-Trident-maples-a-chronical&highlight=trident+maple

UUHHHH....

so you realize you have to go and update this now right?

"nudge is as good as a wink to a blind bat,

ya know what i mean ya know what i mean?"

 

[TheDarkHorseOne]

Two more times might do the trick?

Why this, smoke?

 

[TheDarkHorseOne]

"At this point, the new shoots from this year are bending over themselves. What used to be the tallest part of the tree is losing ground to more sturdy growth from previous years. I don't want another year's growth on these shoots. I'd rather have it lower on the tree than way up to where it seems to be doing no good. I think I'm cutting back after leaf drop. "

Your logic is flawed. You tree won't be doing much of anything from leaf drop to spring. Pruning it now won't produce anything until next spring (hopefully). Any new growth produced in the fall will be killed off in a few weeks, possibly weakening the tree. If no new growth is produced in the fall, the tree will wait until spring to push it. Why prune after leaf drop, have the tree wait with possible die back on the pruned shoots through winter, when pruning in the spring would avoid all those complications?

Thanks for clarifying, rockm. We're moving into colder weather now, so I really doubt any new growth would spring up. Can you tell me this? If the object is to get rid of the offensive, overgrown limbs, what would I care about die back? That's what I WANT. Are you saying if I cut off an offending limb, it's going to die back to the root because of the period of time I chose to cut it? If not, and it's going to die back to the previous internode, then what's the difference if the object is to get rid of it? Health of the tree? If it's going into hibernation, then that's one less thing it has to worry about in that period of Winter, and it gets rid of a long limb that may simply die off on it's own, if the weather gets particularly nasty, and one I was going to remove anyway...

I see the logic of your post, but I'm not sure my logic is really that flawed. I'm here to learn, though, so learn me up.

 

[rockm]

"We're moving into colder weather now, so I really doubt any new growth would spring up."

You are wrong. It is entirely possible to stimulate new growth with hard pruning this early in the fall and pruning in early winter increases the chance of die back because the cold is just settling in...

"If the object is to get rid of the offensive, overgrown limbs, what would I care about die back?"

Because the portion of the limb left behind is presumably the portion you want to keep. Die back on those can run deep into the portion of the tree you're designing, depending on the winter. I've seen JMs give up entire trunks because of winter kill and winter dessication after pruning...

"If not, and it's going to die back to the previous internode, then what's the difference if the object is to get rid of it? Health of the tree?"
As noted, die back rarely goes only to the last internode, but can creep much deeper into limbs. You stand to lose SUBSTANTIAL portions of the trunk, limbs, etc. if the winter is hard enough. The larger the pruning wound, the more damage might be inflicted.

I think you're looking for someone to tell you this is perfectly OK. It's not. There is a potential deep down side.

The point here is definitely logical. IF YOU CAN AVOID ALL THIS BY SIMPLY WAITING UNTIL SPRING, WHY DO IT NOW?