Trunk Chop question

brrr21

Last winter I dug up a Japanese maple with a three inch trunk, did a trunk chop and put it in a large pot. Eight or ten branches budded out around the perimeter of the cut and the branches grew to about tree feet. The tree seems very healthy.

Problem - I realize I should have done the chop lower. The chop was done at 18 inches, I wish Ihad done it at 6". Can (and when) I do another chop at a more appropriate height?

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badlad52

You can shorten the shoots now, which should help some buds to begin developing down lower. When they start to break, you can cut back the trunk, but leave plenty of room above the bud for die back.

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bwaynef

I'd leave it alone this year. Feed it. Foster any low branching you might be able to take advantage of eventually. You can let the top grow wild if you like (though that may weaken the lower branching you could eventually use). This is basically what I'm planning to do with a dogwood I dug last year. I didn't chop it low enough after collection ...but I was a little more concerned with it surviving.

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Carl_Bergstrom

I disagree. While this might work, you're taking a big risk by doing so. Chopping the trunk last year weakened the tree; doing it again is asking the tree to draw on reserves that might not be there. Among other things, you risk losing the tree entirely or losing parts of the root system if you chop again now.

Wait until next year unless you really don't mind taking a big gamble.

Best regards,
Carl

badlad52

...doing it again is asking the tree to draw on reserves that might not be there.


If it had 8-10 branches grow to three feet in one season, it is obviously well (re)established. Any risk to the tree is going to be very minimal. But it's all about how well you take care of it! At the very least, some of these branches need to be removed, because it sounds like they are all coming from the same height on the tree.

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Carl_Bergstrom

I guess I'd want to see the tree first hand before proclaiming this with the sort of the certainty that you have.

Sure, it may survive the chop just fine. But a tree needs to do more than just survive after a chop - it needs a vigorous and active root system all the way around to push buds through the entire circumference of the tree. It needs to respond and grow actively and rapidly to aggressively heal over the large wound. Doing two chops two years in a row reduces the tree's ability to do this well. Yes, of course it depends on how well you take care of it --- but no matter how well you take care of it, the tree is not going to be at all full vigor the year after a trunk chop, and so you'll improve your odds and get a more vigorous response if you wait another year.

If anyone has any firsthand experience to the contrary with Japanese maple, please let me know.

Best regards,
Carl

bonsaial1

If this were a trident maple I would say go for it.

Japanese maples in my experience are much more finnicky and tend to stress more. They are not that vigorous even after the first year of chopping, much less twice in two years. Find another maple and chop that one lower. Like Carl says, why take the risk?

Al

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RedPine

I agree that double chopping a Japanese maple will most likely leave you with a frown,it sure did me.5 years ago I spent right about 70$ on a nice thick landscape acer palmn.Chopped it down in spring then a couple weeks later relised I needed a lower chop for my "grand design".Ok no problem one of those lil' branches can be my leader .So I rechopped it and let it grow.All the new growth that came from around the cut was pale and weak,by the end of the month the tree wasn't growing at all.

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bwaynef

I'd say I'm going with the majority ...but I gave my opinion before others reinforced it. The long shoot growth is a product of the tree's will to survive. Any reserves the tree had were pumped into the growth. Energy that would normally just be used for leaves, was directed to growing branches AND leaves. The extra growth of the branches (and probably limited growth of foliage) means that the roots are likely to not have the reserves in them that it appears on the surface.

Consider how your tree would normally grow. Consider how much branch growth in inches you'd get at the end of the branch. Then consider how many leaves that new branch growth takes to support it. I suspect that the growth you got post-chop is a ratio of many more inches-to-leaves.

The length of the shoot isn't necessarily an indication of vigor. Trees often send out long lanky growth because its cheaper. Collected trees really shouldn't be worked w/in a year of collection anyway. Wait. Feed it. Give it adequate lighting (some J. Maples turn crispy. ...Be careful.) Work it next spring.

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