Quote:
|
Originally Posted by soonami
You have to chop it down and regrow a new leader constantly or else you tree will have no taper
|
I am sorry, but I have to strongly differ with this advice. Perhaps others that grow maples will also chime in with their experiences here.
My experience has been to grow the trunk to almost the desired caliper, and make your cut, usually at the first branch but definitely at a node, because as Soonami stated, this is where your branching grows. Taper is achieved, because the branch will become your new leader. You will continue to grow out after the first chop, making sucessive chops, only after each section of the trunk almost reaches the desired caliper. In any result by the time you have grown your trunk and achieved your taper, your branches may well be out of scale with the rest of the tree, and you may need to grow new branches. Once again, we have a difference here, that I hope others can clear up. I don't know what the expected time frame is, but in my experience Japanese maples heal from cuts rather quickly (a few years), especially, if the cut is made at the node, where new branches are grown.