trimming hard maple ?

[mjs97]

i have this hard maple in my front yard and i am wondering if i should do something with the crotch in this tree. as you can see in the picture, it has a split about 12ft off the ground instead of having nice main trunk. will this split hurt the life of this tree? if i trim one of branches off, will it heal itself? and then grow straighter naturally? or am i better off leaving it alone? i should have dealt with it sooner, however thought it would be ok. now i am starting to wonder about it.

thanks,
matt

 

[NCPABill]

I'm no arborist, but I'd take the left fork out and let it grow. The right fork has a dog leg in it, but it also looks to be the central leader.

 

[chad556]

Co-dominant stems like that can be bad news. Luckily you are in the position to do something about it before it becomes serious. Here is a picture of what I would recommend if it were my tree.

How does that look? Over the years it should fill in nicely and be a well formed tree with a solid central leader. :msp_smile:

 

[mjs97]

thats what i was thinking. just wanted some 2nd opinions before cutting it. i hope that it doesnt cause a weak spot in the area of your red marker. will that kink grow straight over time. thats what im hoping.

thanks for input!!

 

[mjs97]

i live in north central iowa. can i still trim it or should i wait until next winter?


also should i cut at the angle you show in red? or more vertical.


thanks

 

[chad556]

Good questions. As far as timing goes I am not sure, I would say go for it, dormancy should just be breaking and the tree will be ready to heal but maybe someone will chime in with a second opinion. If you wait another year pruning it will just make the wound that much bigger and take that much longer to heal.

As for the location of the cut; right around that red line at about that angle should be close. Its hard to say without actually being face to face with it.

This picture shows the sequence of cuts you should make to remove it as well as showing the branch collar. The branch collar is probably not as well defined in your tree as it is in the image but there is one there and you should avoid cutting it at all costs. The location of you collar is how you determine the angle of your final cut, as seen in the illustration. If you make the cut properly in this manner you will not cause a weak spot in the tree and it should heal over completely within a few seasons and be almost completely unnoticeable 10 years or so down the line.

As far as the kink in the leader, it will always be there but will become less and less noticeable as the trunk grows and thickens. It adds a little character to the tree IMO, and since you have to choose one I think its better than the one on the left. Good luck on the pruning:msp_biggrin:.

 

[treeseer]

This picture shows the sequence of cuts you should make to remove it as well as showing the branch collar. The branch collar is probably not as well defined in your tree as it is in the image but there is one there and you should avoid cutting it at all costs. The location of you collar is how you determine the angle of your final cut, as seen in the illustration. If you make the cut properly in this manner you will not cause a weak spot in the tree ...

Chad, that codom does not have a collar. Codoms never do. About 8' above the fork is a lateral growing toward the camera. Why not just cut back to that, subordinating the codom into a branch. That would leave the tree fuller and more stable.

 

[mjs97]

that is an option also. leave that limb that is growing towards camera (that you are talking about) and cut rest of the problem branch off at that crotch.

i want to trim this soon, so appreciate advice asap.

thanks

 

[chad556]

Chad, that codom does not have a collar. Codoms never do. About 8' above the fork is a lateral growing toward the camera. Why not just cut back to that, subordinating the codom into a branch. That would leave the tree fuller and more stable.

You are correct, my bad. That is still an area (node is the correct term?) where the tree will compartmentalize the damage if the cut is made correctly (somewhere near where I drew my red line). Also, wouldn't leaving that 8" of co-dom still create a weak spot by allowing the two stems to grow into each other over time and eventually split? I always thought the only way to deal with a co-dominant stem problem was to remove one or the other at the root of the problem.

Oh and I found a better picture that illustrates the cut better (basically, don't harm the good part to get rid of the bad part):

 

[ch woodchuck]

All good info.I might do it a bit do it a bit different.Doesn't appear to be any lateral brancing On the inside right spar.Removing the entire left spar will give the tree an uneven CanopyMight leave the left spar go up a few whorls,take to a few left or front growing lateral,which would,in time fill in that left side canopy.
Only problem with this idea is that double spar might grow together and cause a bark inclussion.