Not all trees are the same when it comes to pruning. While most species of trees are pruned in winter to early spring, some are pruned at other times such as the maple tree.
When is the best time to prune maple trees? Mid-summer, no later than early fall so that the cut has time to heal or harden off before winter hits. Maple, Birch and Walnut trees all fall into this category that tend to ooze sap when pruned.
If needed you can lightly prune maple trees at other times of the year under different situations and circumstances. Read on to learn about them.
Best Time To Trim Maple Trees
While most trees are supposed to be pruned earlier in the year, that is when the maple tree is pumping sap. Most have heard of Maple Syrup. From late winter to early spring is when maple trees are tapped to collect the maple sap which is then boiled down into syrup.
To avoid excessive oozing of sap, maples should be pruned in the mid-summer time frame. This is when sap production is greatly reduced and it will give the trees time to harden off or heal the cut before winter comes along.
For a visual, observe when the leaves are fully developed. This is when the sap stops running and it is better to prune.
Mature maple trees can withstand light pruning during the peek sap season. It may look like you are hurting the tree with all the sap running out of the tree, but a mature tree can handle this.
If you are working with maple saplings it is another story. Avoid pruning them during peak sap season if at all possible. Their support networks are not completely developed yet and the tree will suffer greatly.
A secondary time frame when you can think about pruning maples is when the tree is fully dormant during the dead of winter just before the sap starts pumping up through the tree.
When Should You Prune Red Maple Trees?
In the maple species there are “hard” maples and “soft” maples. Soft maples will grow much faster than hard maples. The red maple tree falls into the soft category meaning it is fast growing tree which is good and bad.
Since it grows faster the limbs tend to be weaker, so wind and ice storms can damage them easier than a hard maple tree. After any storm you will want to inspect the tree for damage. If you spot storm damaged limbs take immediate action to remove them no matter what season it might be. This will prevent the damaged limb for hurting surrounding branches or possibly falling on something or someone.
You will also want to pay close attention to weak limbs and bad crotches (forks) as the tree matures. If you notice a bad fork off the main trunk you will want to prune this limb during the mid-summer months.
Dead limbs can be pruned anytime during the year as long as you are not cutting into “live” wood. If there is a situation when you have to remove more than just the dead wood it is best to avoid the peak sap producing time. But dead limbs can cause a safety issue if they were to fall, so it is best to take care of them when you notice them.
The time when you prune red maple trees is the same as any maple tree; mid-summer or in the fully dormant state just before the sap starts to run.
When To Trim Japanese Maple Trees?
There are 2 main types of Japanese maple trees; Upright Japanese maples and Laceleaf Japanese maples. You would prune the upright Japanese maple as you would a regular maple trees during mid-summer or during the fully dormant stage in the winter just before the sap starts to flow.
With the Laceleaf variety you want to be careful not to prune too much of the canopy or shell during the summer months because you can cause the trunk to get sunburned since it has very tender bark.
Dead limbs and suckers should be removed when you notice them any time of the year. You can also do light pruning most of the year.
You should avoid pruning for the couple of weeks as the leaves are coming out and for the couple of weeks when the leaves are turning color and falling off.
Can Maple Tree Be Pruned In The Fall?
Yes, but it is not the optimal time since the cuts will not have time to heal or harden off before winter hits.
The biggest issue is that when you prune a tree it can encourage new growth. If a plant puts on new growth just before the hard winter months, it can freeze the growth. All of this can stress the plant which can affect the growth in the following year.
The worst time to prune is when the sap Is flowing in the early spring.
Times When You Should Prune When It’s Not Optimal
Storm Damage: Storm damaged limbs should be tended to immediately regardless of the season. If a limb is cracked or broken off but still attach go ahead and prune the limb properly to allow it to start the healing process as soon as possible.
If a limb broke off the tree and left a stub, go ahead and properly cut the stub back to the trunk or nearest forked branch if the remaining limb will still get sunlight to the remaining leaves.
Dead Limbs: Dead limbs can be pruned anytime as long as you are not cutting into “live” wood. You will want to take care of dead limbs as they occur for safety reasons so that a limb doesn’t fall on property under the tree or an unsuspecting pedestrian.
Limbs in the Way: As the tree produces leaves for the new season it tends to weight the limb down. From time to time you might have older limbs that were just fine last year, now become in the way to walk under the tree. Cutting off a few limbs here and there is not an issue, so go ahead and remove the limbs that are blocking the way.
You can try to just take off some of the length to see if it will rise enough to not be a hazard anymore, by cutting the end of the limb off to a fork in the branch. If when you are just trimming the end off the limb causes the remaining leaves to all be “in the dark” you should go ahead and remove the whole limb back to the trunk. If a limb’s leaves do not get enough sunlight the limb will just die anyway.
Need to Transplant: Anytime you transplant a maple tree you will need to prune it. The amount you remove should be close to the same volume of roots cut. Usually this will be 1/3 to ½ of the plant. You will know if you cut out enough limbs because the leaves will be normal size and the plant will thrive. If you don’t prune out enough the leaves that form maybe much smaller than normal and the plant might take a long time to recover from the transplant.
Related Questions
Should You “Top” Maple Trees? No, but they will grow back. This puts a lot of stress on the plant and invites diseases through the big cuts. You see this with the softer maple like the silver maple more than with the harder maple trees that grow slower. This practice comes from the fact that soft maples tend to get storm damage easier since they grow so quickly.
Contrary to this belief it doesn’t really make the tree stronger, in fact the opposite happens because this practice weakens and stresses the tree overall which makes is susceptible to diseases which can ultimately kill the tree.
Can Over Pruning Kill a Tree? Usually not. There is always a slight chance with trees depending how severe the pruning was and the amount of care given afterwards.
If a tree is severely pruned it can take a couple of years to recover fully and much longer to outgrow the damage.
