I purchased this home in December and it came with a well established Japanese style garden. In my font yard there are 3 of what I would call Japanese Maples. One is trained to grow against and along the wall - it's quite interesting - however the one that has me the most concerned. The other two are in good shape though they havent been tended to in a few years but the one trained to the wall is in desperate need of some delicate pruning. I'm going to need to tackle this plant soon as it's starting to grow away from the wall and into the walkway.
My point here - I don't know where to start and I suspect there are a few here who could guide me in the right direction for Japanese Maple maintenance. I'm a total newbie here an d dont know the first thing so something written for an elementary child would be a good starting point -
Here's a shot of the plant and as you can see it was someone's project, soon to become my project. For some reason the angle of the picture makes it look a lot smaller than it actually is - The tree is at least 7feet tall by 7 feet wide. (edited to add - the american in me used feet when 2-3 meters tall/wide would have been appropriate)
I would prune the tree before the sap starts rising for the spring growth
Prune right back to the trunk, taking care to leave the little 'knuckle' which will grow over the cut to heal the wound
Japanese maples should always be pruned when asleep for the winter, otherwise they will bleed sap. Having said that, small cuts are possible at any time if you are careful
I have never seen a Japanese Maple trained this way before, but I suppose there is no real reason why not
Good luck
Last edited by whis4ey on Mar 11, 2006 5:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
I suspect that in northern California the sap might already be running, and pruning now could kill the tree. I would wait until it is fully leafed out to do some minor pruning and finish the job in the fall after the leaves fall.
That said, I have to add that that is the simply worst use and siting of a Japanese maple I have ever seen! I doubt the tree can be moved at this point; if that were my property, I would chuck the tree and plant something more suitable.
Viktoria
Many a great tune has been played on an older fiddle.
Well - Im out of luck here. The pic I posted was taken about 2 weeks ago and below are shots from this morning. As you can see here in Northern California the tree is already awake. Good thing I posted here when I did though, because my thoughts were to cut the plant back a bit once it started to grow again so I could have a better visualization and not create bare spots. I could have done serious if not fatal damage. Living with the walkway intrusion until the end of summer, won't be so bad. I suppose I'll just tie back the main branches that have come loose from the grid and be patient.
I've also attached pics of the two additional maples, one is large and awake while the other is just waking up. Too late on all three accounts to do any work on them. Which is probably better for the plants, giving me enough time to LEARN how to do it right before I do anything at all. Seeing first hand the seasonal growth should help me guage how much to cut back.
Hi
Sam where's your posts gone?
I would trim it back nearly to the trunk and dig it up with quite a bit of root on it and put it in a large container in the shade out of the way of the sun and wind and if it survives into next year make it into a bonsai because it sure don't look much good for anything else.
George.
Anyone who never made a mistake never made anything
Karyn judging by the pictures I'd say your safest bet till it becomes time to prune or transplant, would be to tie it back to give it support, it looks to be a nice tree. I'm not sure what genus it is but George would probably be able to tell you that.
Colin
When confronted by a difficult problem, you can solve it more easily by reducing it to the question, "How would the Lone Ranger handle this?"
Japanese maples can also be pruned when they are in summer dormancy without ill effect. They really are strong growing trees.
If this were my tree, I would do air layers on the two big branch areas in the crotch of the tree RIGHT NOW and hope to be able to remove them this fall. You should have a long growing season in N. CA and be able to get sufficient roots to plant into a pot by fall, when you would cut most of the branches off so the roots don't have to support the foliage. If you don't have sufficient roots, then you probably need to recut the layer area, rewrap and leave until next year.
Once the air layers are removed, then I would dig the tree and pot it up. With luck, you could end up with two nice trees and a great bonsai if the graft isn't noticeable.
