Trident Maple ramification

digger714

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Hello to all. I have some tridents that i am ready to start developing new branches. What is the process to get better ramification? I was told to prune at the second set of leaves, but they are spaced out almost 2 inches between the first and second set. Should i take the entire branch off, and start again? Thanks in advance.
 

garywood

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Digger, you have us at a distinct disadvantage :confused: You know what you are looking at, we can only guess. You raise more questions than you ask. For instance; Is the tree ready or you? Why in the middle of August? Is the tree strong? Are the priorities for development in the right order? All sorts of questions that are hard to answer with such a general question and no photo so everyone can get on the same page. Ramifying is also a vague term because it means differing things to different people depending on their understanding and exposure. I don't mean to sound like I'm lecturing, just trying to make a point of trying to help without enough info.
Wood
 

Attila Soos

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Hello to all. I have some tridents that i am ready to start developing new branches. What is the process to get better ramification? I was told to prune at the second set of leaves, but they are spaced out almost 2 inches between the first and second set. Should i take the entire branch off, and start again? Thanks in advance.

You should cut the branch back to the last pair of leaves that ends a short internode.This means that all the long internodes are removed. You don't need to remove the whole branch, only the portion that is too coarse.

With trident maple, this happens a lot, especially after a heavy pruning: the tree sends out vigorous shoots with very long internodes. Once these portions are removed, during mid- or late summer, the growth that follows has much shorter internodes.
 

digger714

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That makes total sense Wood. I guess it comes back to the terminology again. I am wanting to keep the internodes shortened on the future branches i am working on. I have sacrificial branches also, but thought the keepers should be pruned accordingly. Thanks Attila, thats what i had in mind. Heres a pic of one tree. Its just the branches closeup, so hope it helps.
 

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