Saving a maple

[eryk2kartman]

You want to get it recovered and gain vigor again,
Im not saying its impossible to prune(if tree grows really well by mid summer) but i would rather stay away and let it grow unrestricted,
2nd winter is really important too, i lost couple of trees due to pruning them to early i guess.
Try to get another tree - maybe nursery material and play with that
Honestly - if that was my tree i would not touch it until spring 2022.
Simply water and feed it......

 

[sorce]

This thing needs work or it's just going to remain that ball of difficulty.

At least go in and remove that which can not be seen from the outside. The little garbage that makes the ball worse.

Maybe a few select branches also impeding the future.

Seems to be quite enjoying it's new xliter pot!

Sorce

 

[leatherback]

This is a field maple.

As said before, I would have done basic pruning straight as you got it, to remove all the small stumps. That not being an option anymore.. Somewhere mid-spring your tree will be energy-positive: The plant is returning the energy needed to build the canopy back into the tree and starts to bulk up again. At that point I would not be concerned removing half of the branches. Note: Leaving half of the growing tips is key: that is what keep the motor running, so to speak.

Right now, I would look through the tree and flip off fresh green sprouts on obviouly bad spots: At the base of branches that have growth higher up, clumps of fresh growth (reduce to one) etcetc. This could easily be 1/3 of all sprouts on there now. I did this yesterday on my field maple which was repotted with a 95% removal of roots, and nailed to a board.

I think people who have never grown field maple do not realize how strong these really are.