Japanese Maples ~ To Prune or Not?

I bought two young 10-12 inch Japanese Maples last year and grew them on in pots, they grew really well and are now around 30 inches tall; they are upright varieties as opposed to weeping more prostrate varieties.

One has developed 2 clear stems and the other 3 with no side shoots as yet, now the question is do I prune them back a little to encourage side shoots or let them develop naturally suspecting that they will eventually branch in their own time as they age?

Thoughts please

TIA

 

Hi bilbo

I wouldn't prune now because there liable to bleed.
I would leave for another year and do it in December- February
On the RHS website it says this
Where you do need to reduce height and width, follow long branches back to a side branch and pruning it out at this point. This is not necessary on prostrate-growing trees because they should be allowed to spread naturally to gain the best effect.
Hope this helps

 

Thanks Mowgley, I'm feeling that I want to leave them and see how they develop by themselves anyway so we'll see how they look next autumn/winter. I wouldn't be pruning to reduce size, it would be just a case of minimal pruning to shape or encourage branching if necessary

 

You could just rub-out the leading bud? to encourage the others to break more strongly.

 

Bilbo, the Japanese never prune but as Kristen says rub out the leading buds to encourage side shoots to grow. If you want a particular shape, then use wire to wrap around the branch or stem to hold a shape then after a couple of years remove this and allow to grow on.
The branches are flexible enough to position how you want and then they will offer up side shoots to position if you so wish.

 

Dunno if this applies to Acers? but may be general?

When training an Espallier applie, to grow in horizontal "layers" along wires, the sideways-growing branches are first trained to a cane at 45-degrees, and then in the Autumn (i.e. before the new wood gets hard) they are untied from the canes and bent down onto the horizontal wires. Reason for this is that the more vertical growing position allows more growth hormones to reach the tip and encourage more growth. Once tied down to the horizontal the growth hormone is all along the top part of the branch, and that encourages laterals to grow upwards.

So maybe training "upwards" initially and then using the wire to bend down into the more desired position might be a faster method?

I have a weeping Cherry here which is disappointingly low - I suspect the weeping bit was grafted onto a standard, and the weeping variety only wants to grow downwards! I've bent the longest weeping stem upwards and attached to a stake to get a higher tier, like a wedding cake, of weepingness higher up. No idea if it will work, but time will tell certainly it I have seen people with the really shaggy Acers take a branch or two and attach to a vertical stake to get them to grow taller, and ultimately make a wider / taller "mound" when mature.

 

P.S. with the benefit of hindsight I wish I had done the "45-degrees during the season, then bend down in the Autumn" with my Pleached Lime. Training the side shoots horizontally means they take ages to make a couple of metres of growth to "touch" the neighbouring tree ...

 

I try NOT to prune my Japanese maples as I believe they take on better shape naturally. I will, however, periodically remove lower branches to help display the trunk
I would NEVER remove the leading bud unless I was wanting a dwarf tree or training for Bonsai
There can be a dilemma where a tree takes on two or even three main 'trunks' though. I have removed one of a pair on a Senkaki in the past with good result although the tree later died (not as a result I promise you ) Here it becomes a matter of preference
Pruning, as stated, is best done late autumn although very light pruning can ber done safely at any time of year
Have you any pics? Good advice is always better when a pic is available