bonsaiTALK Community - View Single Post - Best time to trunk chop japanese maple

If it is a named cultivar of Japanese Maple, it is probably grafted. Grafts can often be identified by a change in the texture of the bark, or a localized swelling. Having experience helps, so I don't know if you could tell or not.

When you chop the trunk you generally want to have a lot of firepower behind it to force top growth. That means leaving a lot of roots. Maples can bleed a lot when they are trunk chopped so it might be a good idea to trim the rootball back a little to relieve the pressure, but I wouldn't reduce the rootball much at the time I chopped it back. Save that for another year.

Tridents can be treated much more roughly because they are a lot stronger grower.

Why not trunk chop it in the ground, where it is, for the reasons cited above? It will come back a lot stronger.

Regards,

Matt

7-Oct-2004	#9
TreeBay Tips:5¢ Advice:Free *MODERATOR GROUP* Join Date: Aug-2001 Location: Silicon Valley Country: USA USDA Zone: 9 AHS Heat Zone: 4 Posts: 9,745	If it is a named cultivar of Japanese Maple, it is probably grafted. Grafts can often be identified by a change in the texture of the bark, or a localized swelling. Having experience helps, so I don't know if you could tell or not. When you chop the trunk you generally want to have a lot of firepower behind it to force top growth. That means leaving a lot of roots. Maples can bleed a lot when they are trunk chopped so it might be a good idea to trim the rootball back a little to relieve the pressure, but I wouldn't reduce the rootball much at the time I chopped it back. Save that for another year. Tridents can be treated much more roughly because they are a lot stronger grower. Why not trunk chop it in the ground, where it is, for the reasons cited above? It will come back a lot stronger. Regards, Matt __________________ Want to be a seller on bonsaiAUCTIONS? Get authorized today! bonsaiTALK: Over 100,005.36 Megabytes Served this Month!