Amur Maple where to chop
- Thread starter Choppychan
- Start date
dr.tenebris
Mame
I'd cut on the yellow, reds too far
Juanmi
Mame
Yeah, it would be yellow for me too.
You should cut straight horizontally and let grow, then choose a new leader and adjust the cutting.
You should also get rid of that little stump near the red line (but I guess you already knew)
You should cut straight horizontally and let grow, then choose a new leader and adjust the cutting.
You should also get rid of that little stump near the red line (but I guess you already knew)
Choppychan
Yamadori
Something like this? Get rid of the buds in red too?
Out of curiosity why a horizontal cut? Is that to achieve a smaller wound meaning quicker healing and also leaving more space for future buds?
Learning as I go along..
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Eckhoffw
Masterpiece
Wait, I thought this was a field maple.?
19Mateo83
Masterpiece
This would be my move. And smooth out the last chop and apply cut paste to promote wound closure.
Choppychan
Yamadori
Whoops yes I do have a field maple and an amur maple. Must have replied in the wrong post. My bad
Choppychan
Yamadori
I thought I'd leave more of a stub in the larger cut so that I can clean it up next year.
Why would you recommend cutting so low?
Juanmi
Mame
It is correct, it'll be easier for your tree to recover from a straight cut than a diagonal cut, but also, being a maple you should expect some dieback.Something like this? Get rid of the buds in red too?
Out of curiosity why a horizontal cut? Is that to achieve a smaller wound meaning quicker healing and also leaving more space for future buds?
Learning as I go along..
Here are some photos of my Acer Platanoides. Last year I pruned it straight and it had some dieback. You can tell by the colour of the wood.
So today I adjusted the new cutting doing it diagonally trying not to cut much living part, but just getting rid of the dead part.
As you can see the wound show some green on the upper part and grey on the bottom. It had more dieback that expected, so it won't heal properly, but I don't mind, this is my practice tree
The Warm Canuck
Shohin
This.
And if this is in fact a Amur Maple, I would definitively leave a substantial stub, the species is notorious for unpredictable die back. So much so, that I personally would wait until summer once sap flow has slow down, to perform the cut. I've been working with the species and believe I receive less die back cutting back in the summer. Others will indicate that if your root prune, it reduces water loss, which may be the case with Maples, however, the Amur is finicky, so conservative measures are warranted. Furthermore, the root production can be aggressive in the species.
So, I would root prune at bud swell and cut back to where Mateo indicated in the summer. (oh and you could clean up that wound now also). That's just me two cents, I'm no expert but I have been working a lot with Amurs.
Choppychan
Yamadori
Sorry guys I hijacked my own post and created some confusion. My original post was about the amur maple as shown below but I also posted about my field maple.
Do you think the top branch will be fine? It did not bleed much in comparison to my field maple.
Can only learn from my mistakes but trying to minimise them if I can which I'd why this group is so helpful.
Thanks, I will keep it in mind next time I prune. Last week I pruned back this japanese maple. I did a diagonal cut, left a stub but maybe not enough.
Do you think the top branch will be fine? It did not bleed much in comparison to my field maple.
Can only learn from my mistakes but trying to minimise them if I can which I'd why this group is so helpful.
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Juanmi
Mame
I think your japanese maple will be fine, the diagonal cut has a soft angle, and the sap flow to the branch should stop the die back, especially if the tree is waking up and transferring the energy to the buds. You might even have new buds appearing on the internode that will help stopping the dieback.
Almost forgot... now with the new picture I agree with Matteo (I would maybe cut a bit less).
Choppychan
Yamadori
dr.tenebris
Mame
Very twiggy, lower branch has plenty of growth anticipate styling that come spring,
The twiggy branch will push hard as the top of the tree, so it needs a trim to encourage ramification o believe red is a good cut I see a few buds and smaller branches prime to take over but use your own discretion! We should only cut back approx 30 percent before leaving the tree to grow back.
All in all though high hopes
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dr.tenebris
Mame
Actually we have cut off quite a lot looking at the og! So possibly only blue or purple line,
Don't take too much lol! Might have to wait for fall, and you'll need to watch budding, try to encourage budding before the cut lines so we can have ramification lower on the branch and not Continue being a twiggy little thing
Choppychan
Yamadori
Thank you, yes I've cut off quite a bit. Ideally I'd like to cut it down to the first branch but that might be chancing my luck too much. Agreed on the twiggy branch needs to be trimmed a bit. I think the lower branch will give me some issue with reverse taper. Need to have a proper look to see if I can address that
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dr.tenebris
Mame
I certainly can see that, I do think anything to do with the lower branch will need to wait, in spring just monitor your bud's and pinch a few off to control growth.. think any cuts on the low branch are too risky rn, its your 1 100% functional branch and although its not pretty rn we need it for the trees further progression.
it's quite likely you'll get your chance to correct it next year!
Unfortunately bonsai isn't instant and this tree certainly has a journey ahead of it! But I can certainly see this tree being an absolute beauty with patience! In the next 4 years we'll see some incredible growth!
I know it's hard not being able to do a ton with our trees rn but it's almost spring! Hold in there
Choppychan
Yamadori
Cheers, will just snip trip the twiggy top branch and hold off for now.
Yes plenty of patience needed but I have many more to work on which I haven't addressed yet so will have my hands full lol
