Content
- Cut Norway maple without mistakes - tips on timing and cutting
- When is the best time?
- What does the gardener pay special attention to when pruning?
- Seal cuts or not?
- Tips
The maple should not be cut during the growth phase
Cut Norway maple without mistakes - tips on timing and cutting
With pruning shears and a saw, a maple (Acer platanoides) does not want to be bothered. Its shapely silhouette and dense foliage unfold naturally magnificent. Nevertheless, a pruning is not completely excluded if it is carried out expertly at the right time. This guide explains when and how to model your maple.
When is the best time?
The strong juice flow of a maple makes the pruning a sticky undertaking. In the middle of the growing season, cuts literally bleed. With a careful appointment choice you avoid this problem. The best time to cut Norway maple and its varieties is in autumn, when the fall of leaves has begun. At this time, the sap flow within the pathways almost stops.
What does the gardener pay special attention to when pruning?
With a few exceptions, all maple species are struggling to expel from old wood again. This circumstance should be taken into account when cutting the maple. How to do it right:
If you discover a thick, dead branch in Norway maple, a different cut is required. First cut the branch from bottom to center at a distance of 30 cm from the trunk. Now move the saw outwards a few centimeters. Now saw from above until the branch breaks off. Please cut off the stub so that the astring between shoot and trunk is not damaged.
Seal cuts or not?
Small cuts on the maple close by themselves. If the pruning leaves a wound of the diameter of a 2-Euro-coin or larger, we recommend a wound treatment. To protect the dividable cambium wood under the bark from frost, thinly coat the wound edges with tree wax. Next spring, the cut will be covered with fresh wood.
Tips
While a shape cut on the maple is at your discretion, this does not apply to the infestation with vermilion. This tree disease resists all known fungicides. Only a consistent pruning into healthy wood can save a maple from ruin.