Another last tree for the year:)

abqjoe

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Well, I hadn't planned on getting anymore tree's this year but when Don sent me pics of this Sharps Pygmy I couldn't resist:) It's a little bigger than I thought but is absolutely beautiful. I love it's natural look and will probably not do a whole lot of work to it outside of just making it a little bit more compact.







 
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Redwood Ryan

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You may want to consider removing one of those two first branches at some point. They're bar branches and will create problems down the road.
 

_#1_

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It does look natural. What's bar branch and why would it be a problem if the branches stays?
 

_#1_

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Ah I see it now! Thanks for clarifying @jcrossett. Much appreciated :)

I feel a sense of peace when I look at this tree. I dig it!
 

Giga

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Looks nice. I would probably only remove one lower branch then cut back in spring to make it more compact like you said. Not sure about the roots under the soil but you could root graft on the right side too.
 

drew33998

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Yep. One of the two bottom branches need to be removed. Then I would cut everything back to the first pair of buds to try to tighten it back up. Nice tree though.
 

Adair M

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Ok...

Sharpes Pigmy is a really wonderful cultivar. The leaf color in the fall is spectacular! It can get very nicely ramified with lots of little twigs. There is great potential here!

The thing about Japanese Maples is the cultivars vary as to how well they respond to cutting back. Some will only send out a single flush of growth in the spring. If you cut back, well, it's done. Others when you cut back respond by popping new shoots as the base of the existing leaves. Much like a JBP responds to decandling.

I don't know how Sharpe's Pigmy acts. Sergio, @MACH5, does. He has one. You should get him to guide you on this.

The fancy cultivars, like Sharpe's Pigmy, tend to be weaker than regular old green "Japanese Mountain Maple". The plain old JM make great bonsai easily because of its vigorous growth. The fancy cultivars are slower.

If this were my tree, I wouldn't do a thing until after fall color has started to fade. Then once most of the color has faded, cut off the leaves, and that's when you do your major cut backs. When the sap is falling to prepare for the winter. Of course, seal the cuts.

But, please contact @MACH5 before you do any cutting.
 

abqjoe

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Ok...

Sharpes Pigmy is a really wonderful cultivar. The leaf color in the fall is spectacular! It can get very nicely ramified with lots of little twigs. There is great potential here!

The thing about Japanese Maples is the cultivars vary as to how well they respond to cutting back. Some will only send out a single flush of growth in the spring. If you cut back, well, it's done. Others when you cut back respond by popping new shoots as the base of the existing leaves. Much like a JBP responds to decandling.

I don't know how Sharpe's Pigmy acts. Sergio, @MACH5, does. He has one. You should get him to guide you on this.

The fancy cultivars, like Sharpe's Pigmy, tend to be weaker than regular old green "Japanese Mountain Maple". The plain old JM make great bonsai easily because of its vigorous growth. The fancy cultivars are slower.

If this were my tree, I wouldn't do a thing until after fall color has started to fade. Then once most of the color has faded, cut off the leaves, and that's when you do your major cut backs. When the sap is falling to prepare for the winter. Of course, seal the cuts.

But, please contact @MACH5 before you do any cutting.

Yea I'm not going to do anything to this guy until spring.
 

Adair M

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Dad gum, Joe...

Did you read my post? The time to cut back is not Spring, it's late Fall.

See, it's just as important to get the timing right as it is to do whatever it is you're doing! Maybe even more important!
 

abqjoe

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Dad gum, Joe...

Did you read my post? The time to cut back is not Spring, it's late Fall.

See, it's just as important to get the timing right as it is to do whatever it is you're doing! Maybe even more important!

Thanks! That means I'll be able to use a few of the new tools that I have coming:)
 

coh

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Dad gum, Joe...

Did you read my post? The time to cut back is not Spring, it's late Fall.

See, it's just as important to get the timing right as it is to do whatever it is you're doing! Maybe even more important!

Not to confuse the issue, but...is this climate dependent? I've always done major cutbacks on Japanese maples in the spring, and have not had any problems. Pretty sure I've read/been told that major cutbacks in the fall in colder areas can lead to more die back than you might want. Any thoughts? @MACH5 @Don Blackmond ? Any thoughts to share based on your experience?
 
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Not to confuse the issue, but...is this climate dependent? I've always done major cutbacks on Japanese maples in the spring, and have not had any problems. Pretty sure I've read/been told that major cutbacks in the fall in colder areas can lead to more die back than you might want. Any thoughts? @MACH5 @Don Blackmond ? Any thoughts to share based on your experience?
The theory is, if you cut back in the Fall the tree will not waste energy in the Spring on branches/buds removed in the Fall, whereas if you do the work in the Spring the tree will use energy on the stuff you are about to remove.
I do major work in both seasons but if I had only a couple trees I'd do it in the Fall, seal the wounds and provide Winter protection. In my experience here in Michigan, Japanese Maples are more likely to suffer dieback if cut in the Fall while sap flow is slowed. But, if you don't treat wounds properly in the Spring you will get bleed out and make conditions favorable to disease/pests.
Sharps Pygmy is an excellent cultivar, vigorous with small leaves and short internode spacing.
 

coh

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The theory is, if you cut back in the Fall the tree will not waste energy in the Spring on branches/buds removed in the Fall, whereas if you do the work in the Spring the tree will use energy on the stuff you are about to remove.
I do major work in both seasons but if I had only a couple trees I'd do it in the Fall, seal the wounds and provide Winter protection. In my experience here in Michigan, Japanese Maples are more likely to suffer dieback if cut in the Fall while sap flow is slowed. But, if you don't treat wounds properly in the Spring you will get bleed out and make conditions favorable to disease/pests.
Sharps Pygmy is an excellent cultivar, vigorous with small leaves and short internode spacing.

Thanks Don. What level of winter protection are you talking about when you do fall cutbacks? Our climate here in western NY is similar to yours (though probably not as extreme in terms of cold). I keep all my trees in shelters due to rodent problems outside, so most get kept at 27-28 F. I also have slightly warmer and slightly colder options.

Would a possible compromise be to do the cut backs in late winter or very early spring, before the sap starts to flow but when the worst of the cold is past?

Chris
 

music~maker

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Dad gum, Joe...

Did you read my post? The time to cut back is not Spring, it's late Fall.

See, it's just as important to get the timing right as it is to do whatever it is you're doing! Maybe even more important!

I know we've chatted about this before, and I've taken away from those conversations that fall pruning works better than I thought it did, but why the insistence on fall pruning? I often cut back maples (and lots of other things) in early spring, and I've gotten great results doing so. I usually do it just as the buds swell - the same time I would do a major repot. Doing it then pretty much eliminates (or significantly reduces) the risk of die back, and the tree has the entire growing season to recover. I re-grew an entire acer palmatum trunk from scratch doing exactly this.

Based on our previous discussions, I am going to experiment with some of my maples this fall, but I'm curious to hear what the big advantage would be given that early spring pruning has in fact worked well for me over the years across a wide variety of species.

I trust you that there's probably a good reason, but spring pruning isn't outright wrong as far as I'm concerned. The only thing I can think of is that maybe pruning in fall lets the tree set buds sooner so it gets a jump start on the spring? I could maybe see that being a bit more optimal if it's something like that. Would you mind elaborating a bit on the why?

I've definitely done both, and my early experiences with fall pruning where that you risked winter die back if you pruned at the wrong time or if the tree wasn't happy with what you did. It's likely that was a timing issue that I was unaware of at the time, though, so definitely going to try it again.

Just curious to hear some more of your thoughts on the topic ...

Thanks!
 

music~maker

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Thanks Don. What level of winter protection are you talking about when you do fall cutbacks? Our climate here in western NY is similar to yours (though probably not as extreme in terms of cold). I keep all my trees in shelters due to rodent problems outside, so most get kept at 27-28 F. I also have slightly warmer and slightly colder options.

Would a possible compromise be to do the cut backs in late winter or very early spring, before the sap starts to flow but when the worst of the cold is past?

Chris

I usually wait until just as the buds start to swell, because then the branches are usually flexible enough to wire at the same time. They're also awake enough to compartmentalize the damage right away.

I get pretty harsh winters sometimes, and when I started doing it that way, my winter die back reduced dramatically.

Adair's giving me second thoughts about the whole thing, though. =)
 

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In my experience with JM, in my climate, fall pruning brings more problems than solutions. Note that my trees will see temperatures touching single digits, most often in February!!!:(
 

LanceMac10

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With the OP's limited horticultural experience, for safeties sake, perhaps a spring prune would be more judicious?
 
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