How to proceed?

9 years ago

So i have this tree, as you can see it's been butchered. This tree came with the house we just purchased and when we first moved in i thought this tree was dead. Half of it was absolutely for certain dead so i removed half and waited a month and only a leaf on the other side had grown and all the other branches were bear.

So i cut the trunk in half was hopes of removing the actual tree i started to dig it out as i have several around here that had been neglected and died and i sawed more than half way through the trunk at the bottom cause i couldn't get it out i was going to put loads of earth over it and let the flowers i would of planted feed on it.

My family and I went away for vacation and when we got back there were loads of new shoots on the trunk and now several months later as you can see this is what it's grown to.

But what do i do now? Do i just let it keep growing, will it grow much larger as i doubt the trunk is going to spring up again this tree is considerable low to the ground. My husband thinks its an interesting feature at the moment and since it's worked so hard to get where it is, i'm inclined to leave it.

What are your suggestions and advise and what's the best way to over winter this tree? Just mulch it and call it good? Pruning?

Thanks again!
Scarlet

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Comments (8)

kaesgarden
Original Author
9 years ago
I cant get the full sized photo's to load on here for some reason but here's a close up.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
its your tree.. probably Jap maple ... you do.. whatever you want with it ...

you will NEVER kill anything.. well.. most anything.. simply by cutting it down.. if you want to be rid of it.. you would treat the cut with stump killer or round up ... or dig it out ...

but on this one.. i encourage you to leave it.. because this will be a great plant.. for you to learn all about pruning for shape .... how to look at something.. and see the future .... and how to make cuts to achieve the future ...

because a lot of the top of the tree died back.. you have a rather large.. intact root mass ... so this thing should take off like rockets for the next year or two ...

a good time.. to start thinking about the future.. and how to prune.. will be when the leaves fall off.. and WE can see what is in there ... and if you post some pix ... we can offer some guidance ...

and if you end up butchering it.. lol.. then you can kill it.. and be done with it ...

ken
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kaesgarden
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks Ken,

I'd like to see this tree flourish and my husband has really taken to it. I'm clueless about pruning and wouldn't even know where to begin.

As soon as the leaves are gone i will post again in hopes that i can be guided for pruning. I believe i have 3 different variety Jap tree's on this property. Only one that was in full shade and not growing i transplanted right away and it's doubled in size and even produced a new shoot.

That's fairly encouraging news. The leaves, some, have already dropped so it's probably only a matter of time.

thanks again Ken, You are quite a handy source. :)
Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
9 years ago
Scarletsflowers, what par5 of the world are you in? I ask because this winter got to a lot of Japanese maples around here.

FWIW, many folks spend much time pruning Japanese maples into all sorts of shapes.
kaesgarden
Original Author
9 years ago
Wa state, skagit county, zone 8a, So not to bad up here. Maybe i should snap a photo of the other two. The one i transplanted though it still looks to be in shock i know will be alright there is a incredibly large variety someone planted far to close to the home i believe and then cut it in half and now i have a ton of shoots popping out all over the place as well.

I think whom ever owned this home before just didn't care.
kaesgarden
Original Author
9 years ago
Here's the one i transplanted i took an up close photo as you can see it's still in shock. I believe it's Rose something - my 2 yr old misplaced the tag i found it.
kaesgarden
Original Author
9 years ago
This is the one that's next to my home.
kaesgarden
Original Author
9 years ago
Here's where someone had cut it