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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Original poster

Acer Palmatum pruning?

30 replies

BreezySunnyDay · 31/05/2023 13:21

I've got a lovely Japanese maple in my garden, about 25 years old. Genuinely the best thing in my garden.

Today a very helpful and well meaning friend was doing a bit of gardening for me in the back and apparently a neighbour asked if he could prune the Acer as it was overhanging her garden. He went ahead and did it but I was shocked when I came out and saw it - about half the tree cut off.

I've always been told that you can't prune them. Will it survive? It also looks very oddly shaped now.

OP posts:
Original poster
BreezySunnyDay · 31/05/2023 20:25

Hopeful bump

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CatherinedeBourgh · 31/05/2023 20:31

ouch. Did they cut only the overhanging bits or did they go further?

The reason you aren't supposed to prune them is that it can spoil the shape, it shouldn't kill it though.

ChiefPearlClutcher · 31/05/2023 20:33

Oh no I believe you only prune them for shape

Simianwalk · 31/05/2023 20:34

Photo?

Original poster
BreezySunnyDay · 31/05/2023 23:41

I'll do a photo tomorrow but it looks really silly 😢

I was so upset when I saw it.

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Original poster
BreezySunnyDay · 31/05/2023 23:42

About half of it cut off, 25 year old tree

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Forgetmenott · 31/05/2023 23:46

It will probably survive but it’s always going to look a mess. I never understand why people get so arsey about beautiful tree branches hanging over the fence. Do they really prefer to look at the blunt ends of chopped off stumps?

Original poster
BreezySunnyDay · 01/06/2023 05:58

Yes exactly! After so many years of not saying anything I assumed she was ok with it and also had this now laughable idea that she understood it was special and wouldn't ask for it to be cut back.

If she had asked, I would have consulted a tree surgeon to see if it could be done properly.

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Original poster
BreezySunnyDay · 01/06/2023 07:22

Oh dear, just read that back and realised how ridiculous I sound!

Of course she has a right to complain if it's overhanging her garden.

Looking at the two thirds of the tree that was cut off, quite a lot actually was overhanging, and dropping red leaves on to a little white patio she has there.

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Peonyfun · 01/06/2023 07:25

Totally fine to cut them back. I’ve several. And I’m not joking. Eleven. 5 in the ground, 6 in pots. My husband loves them. We lop them regularly. They give not a shit.

Rina66 · 01/06/2023 07:32

Ours is over 25 years old and gets chopped bag every year and always grows back, we've found it grows back even more fluttery.

Peonyfun · 01/06/2023 08:59

We also have a very old one a previous owner tried to kill. It was lopped off half way up the trunk. I suspect it was struggling due to being under the canopy of another tree and they left half the trunk for birds. It’s now grown back as we lifted the canopy of the tree and it looks very odd, like it’s got a massive spiked hair cut with the new branches out the top of the trunk. 😂

LadyGardenersQuestionTime · 01/06/2023 09:07

My neighbour has a lovely one that conveniently hangs over the fence into my garden - I love it. A couple of years back his ‘gardener’ cut his side into a pudding bowl shape, leaving my side wild and free. It looked gobsmackingly ridiculous, like a poodle with a shaved arsehole; happily it has now grown back to a lovely natural shape so both sides match.

However, this won’t stop the general problem of overhang. I have taken some whole branches of neighbour’s acer off, right at the trunk, to raise the crown a little on my side so it still looks good.

Original poster
BreezySunnyDay · 01/06/2023 10:37

Peonyfun · 01/06/2023 07:25

Totally fine to cut them back. I’ve several. And I’m not joking. Eleven. 5 in the ground, 6 in pots. My husband loves them. We lop them regularly. They give not a shit.

They sound so lovely!

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Original poster
BreezySunnyDay · 01/06/2023 10:39

Rina66 · 01/06/2023 07:32

Ours is over 25 years old and gets chopped bag every year and always grows back, we've found it grows back even more fluttery.

See I clearly had the wrong idea completely!

Looking at what's left, it's all leggy, so I obviously should have been pruning it instead of letting us grow giant.

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Original poster
BreezySunnyDay · 01/06/2023 10:40

@LadyGardenersQuestionTime
I wish you were my neighbour 😂

Sounds hilarious!!

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Original poster
BreezySunnyDay · 01/06/2023 10:40

Peonyfun · 01/06/2023 08:59

We also have a very old one a previous owner tried to kill. It was lopped off half way up the trunk. I suspect it was struggling due to being under the canopy of another tree and they left half the trunk for birds. It’s now grown back as we lifted the canopy of the tree and it looks very odd, like it’s got a massive spiked hair cut with the new branches out the top of the trunk. 😂

Like a big leggy teenager with a spiky hair cut! Love it.

OP posts:
Original poster
BreezySunnyDay · 01/06/2023 10:42

Hopefully this will help. The two huge branches cut off were hanging lower than that main one that's left, making the fully shape of the canopy.

Acer Palmatum pruning?
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Peonyfun · 01/06/2023 13:09

Has it been pruned before, like small branches taken off, it’s unusual it’s so leggy . I guess the lower limbs coming off make it more leggy looking..

tailinthejam · 01/06/2023 14:48

Your neighbour is an utter Philistine.

I hate it when people butcher trees all lop-sided like this.

Original poster
BreezySunnyDay · 01/06/2023 16:49

Peonyfun · 01/06/2023 13:09

Has it been pruned before, like small branches taken off, it’s unusual it’s so leggy . I guess the lower limbs coming off make it more leggy looking..

No never, I wonder if it's because it was too close to the Choisya on the left? But yes, strange.

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Peonyfun · 01/06/2023 17:12

Yes it could have been struggling for water or root space. And likely light when smaller. I’d have expected its trunk to be thicker, but it was clearly shooting up for the light. I’ve one which literally grows on a diagonal line to the right, as it was reaching for the light.

Yamadori · 01/06/2023 17:44

Peonyfun · 01/06/2023 13:09

Has it been pruned before, like small branches taken off, it’s unusual it’s so leggy . I guess the lower limbs coming off make it more leggy looking..

There are hundreds of different varieties with different growth habits, some are dwarf and bushy, some like this one.

They do respond to pruning, but you need to do it with an eye to what the tree will look like in winter, so try to keep an attractive shape. It is better to remove longer branches altogether than to chop them off halfway and leave chunky stumps.

senua · 01/06/2023 18:11

Am I allowed to say that I think it looks fine?Smile You are obviously used to the pre-haircut tree but to my eye it looks an OK shape (if you take off those stumps. And maybe trim a little so the canopy thickens up).

Forgetmenott · 01/06/2023 22:03

That is very badly pruned. When you prune you take the branch all the way back to the trunk. You don’t cut it off in the middle of the branch and leave it poking out like a dead stick. Also you don’t prune acers in the summer because they bleed sap from the cuts and it can kill the tree - you do it between Nov and Feb when the tree is dormant.

Your tree will look much better if you trim those blunt branches back to the previous junction and cut them parallel to the trunk. Do not let this person free in your garden again with a pair of secateurs - he has no idea how to prune properly and no idea of the correct time of year to prune!