Should I just let this maple keep growing?

KennedyMarx

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Is the trunk the thickness you want? I would want it to be thicker, at least twice as thick as it is now. Let it grow a year or two then chop it back hard, I'm talking six inches tall. See where you get new growth and pick a leader a little lower than the chop site. Don't let multiple branches spout at the same node because you'll get swelling in those spots.
 

Johnnyd

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Having been down this road before, were it my tree, I would chop it as @Alain suggested - upper right branch becomes the new leader. Sometime in May or early June when the first flush has been hardened, cut back the leader. Don't cut anything else. This ought to give the tree many new low branches.

Just after leaf drop, I would bend any available branches and wire them into position to make approach grafts in positions (in spring 2017) on the trunk that you either want a branch but don't have one or to just to add more lower branches - these will help thicken the portion of the trunk below faster than the part above (once taken, of course). At this same time I can also wire young branches to point them where I want them to go or to give them some movement (not let anything be straight as an arrow). Since I have a tree (yours) with a nice smooth curve of movement, I want the branches to have similar smooth curves, so I will likely have a lot of wiring to do this coming fall (2016).

Then I want to continue grafting and heading it back by pruning harder the higher up the tree (i.e, making a very exaggerated Xmas tree) until it is getting near the proportions I want. It should also have some nice taper with little in the way of scars. At this point in the future, I would start eliminating extra branches and pruning hard to build the branching I want.
I see you recommend approach grafting low to thicken the trunk. Is it possible to also thread graft branches low to improve taper and thickness?
 

0soyoung

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Is it possible to also thread graft branches low to improve taper and thickness?
I now appreciate how much faster accomplishing a thread graft is, but only if the trunk is about an inch or more thick. For maples, I typically need about a 3/16th or quarter inch hole to pass the thread. I have troubles drilling the hole in a trunk much thinner than about an inch. But on thicker trunks, it is a snap. It is then easy to run the thread without damaging buds or bark, and the graft takes very quickly (one season) as compared to an approach graft (2 or 3 seasons to being mechanically robust). The entrance holes are not unsightly and can be 'healed' in a short time.
 
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