What kind of maple are you using?

Chris

Palmatum is the variety that's irritating. Also have a Campestre, but expect long internodes on that one.

Let them grow for a bit, then cut them off about 1cm beyond the node. Two smaller secondary shoots with shorter internodes will then come out of the node. Once this has happened and the stub of the original has dried off you can remove it.

It's possible to get very small internodes even with Campestre.

There are a couple of things you can do for the acer palmatum. First, don't feed until after your first pinching in spring. With palmatums and Japanese white pines, we use the leaves we get this year instead of pruning and using the second budding, as we do with trident maples and Japanese black pines. Therefore we want to be certain not to push the first flush of growth too much.

Also, if you notice the growth habit, as the bud in the center extends, it grows long quite quickly. According to David DeGroot, curator of the Pacific Rim collection, (and if I understand him rightly) during this time it is actually adding new cells. Once the leaves open, it is merely extending them. So the key to shorter internodes is pinching that central bud out as soon as you can grasp it with a pair of tweezers. The second budding will ramify but have less time to extend and will be finer. Of course this is the technique only for the finest tertiary branching, if you are building the branch from the beginning you will be following Tom's advice.

Chris

Chris, are you saying to pinch out the bud and it will still send out a couple of newer small ones?

As that first flush of buds begins to come out, as soon as you can grip the center of it without crushing the other two leaves, pinch it out. Please understand I am no palmatum expert--but this is the advice I have received.

There are latent buds at the base of every leaf stalk (petiole). These are activated when the terminal is removed. With maples, these are opposed, first side to side, then up and down. Be sure not to choose only side to side buds or your branch can lack depth.

Chris