Trident maple advice needed - large tree

[kbt43210]

I have a trident maple in my new backyard. It is big, so not bonsai, however I have a dilemma about how to prune. I started watching YouTube videos and was delighted to see these trees can be trained and be bonsais. It is a beautiful tree and I do want to prune it correctly but the tree has 3 shoots coming out of the ground. Should I follow/identify the one that is the tallest and cut the rest. I’ve watched other YouTube videos that say not to cut more than 20% of the tree at one time. Seems like I should wait until we are well into summer before pruning too. Any advice from you all with this tree?

You will see behind my tree, a neighbor has a trident maple that is very tall!

 

[TimberLakers]

Doesn't appear to be a super interesting piece of material at present. Trunks are quite thin - and you've got three trunks without much spacing in between.

Good thing is you can remove way more than 20% from a durable tree like a trident, bad news is if you want to cut this back to induce movement and taper in the trunk, you're going to be left with not much more than a stump.

I (think) what I'd do is remove the middle trunk as close to the base as possible, grind down with a Dremel, then seal up... let the outer two trunks go nuts for a few years.

Set yourself up for a nice twin trunk down the line when you get some thickness established.

 

[Srt8madness]

Not too big to dig up and make a bonsai

 

[19Mateo83]

Where abouts are you in NC?

 

[Shibui]

Assuming you wish to develop a landscape tree with this one and not for bonsai.
The 3 trunks close together are a problem for landscape trees. As the trunks thicken they do not join together well due to bark between so that's always a source of weakness and trees like this frequently split as they grow larger.
Tree pruning advice is always remove close V trunks. Pick the most upright of the thicker, stronger trunks and saw off the others.
20% pruning is just a ballpark advisory. Most species will cope with way more and trident maple is one of the toughest out there so no problem taking off more than half in one go if necessary.

As the trunk thickens and branches get longer you can remove lower branches that get in the way of mowing, maintenance, etc. Your tree should look more like the neighbour's tree in a few years.

 

[nuttiest]

And you can chop all the two branches into fat cuttings and put in deep pots.

 

[rockm]

I have a trident maple in my new backyard. It is big, so not bonsai, however I have a dilemma about how to prune. I started watching YouTube videos and was delighted to see these trees can be trained and be bonsais. It is a beautiful tree and I do want to prune it correctly but the tree has 3 shoots coming out of the ground. Should I follow/identify the one that is the tallest and cut the rest. I’ve watched other YouTube videos that say not to cut more than 20% of the tree at one time. Seems like I should wait until we are well into summer before pruning too. Any advice from you all with this tree?

You will see behind my tree, a neighbor has a trident maple that is very tall!

FWIW, this tree isn't too big for bonsai. It is almost too SMALL to use as bonsai. You can use trident stumps up to as big as your thigh to make bonsai. They are tough and resilient trees and can take extremely aggressive root and top reduction (in the right season--early spring. and also, whoever told you not to reduce beyond 20 percent doesn't know what they're talking about--some trees are chopped to only a foot or two from 25-30 FEET of initial height). The tree you have there could be easily dug up and chopped to less than a third its height to begin a bonsai.

 

[Hack Yeah!]

BONSAI!