Laceleaf Maple lost major limb--keep it?

14 years ago

Hi,

We moved into our house last August and this Laceleaf Maple was virtually buried under a bunch of weeds and a crazy, dead Mugo pine. I've uncovered the maple and don't know if I should keep it or not given that a major limb is gone. You can see it has kind of a bonsai shape to it and the stump of the missing limb was left there. Many sprouts are coming out of it and they reappear as fast as I cut them.

Is there any way to fix this tree? I could at least prune that stump at a better angle so it can't collect water.

Should I just leave it as it is or would you replace it? I'd rather keep it because of the cost of removal and replacement, but not if it's an eyesore. I haven't made up my mind if it's an eyesore or not lol! But I would love to know if there's a way to make it look normal again.

Thanks for any guidance!

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Comments (3)

mylespickett
14 years ago
Wow the caliper of that trunk looks well over 5"! I'd say (and I'm no expert), KEEP IT. It can get pretty costly to find a specimen sized tree similar to that. Might look a little ugly for a couple of years but you could get some unique growth from letting it grow on out from the wound of the lost limb.
sonuptosondown
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for your input! And I had a brain hiccup when posting--it's a Japanese Garnet Maple. It is quite large.
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botann
14 years ago
I would enhance the bonsai look by removing some of the lower foliage on the branch that remains. Think snow or ice load next winter. I would also keep a lot of those sprouts coming off the trunk where the branch broke because of possible sun scald due to the sudden sun exposure when you removed the weeds and dead Pinus mugo. You can select the best after a few years to keep the trunk shaded a bit.
What a nice specimen to work with!
Mike