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Trim non-growing shoots?

9 years ago

last modified: 9 years ago

We got a beautiful Japanese Maple (Rhode Island Red) last autumn. As expected it lost most of its leaves over winter. Now it is growing beautifully, but all growth stops at a certain level as you can see in the picture below. A half-dozen stalks show buds but no signs of growth. Should we trim off those non-budding branches? Planted in a pot in San Francisco.

Thanks,
Ed

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Comments (4)

JazzUp
9 years ago
Oh no! Please don't trim. As far as I can tell from the picture, those are not dry buds. Give your tree a little more time and those buds will fully leaf out.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
9 years ago
Yes, the buds on the longer shoots are nice and plump and look completely viable - they should leaf out shortly. It is quite common for JM's to leaf out non-uniformly so no need to be concerned.
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Ed Brownson
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks to both of you for the answers. I'll leave it be. Growing a Japanese maple for the first time is a bit of a challenge; a "for dummies" resource would help.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
9 years ago
We can certainly try to help you with any questions you may have :-) I've been growing and selling Japanese maples for almost 30 years, so have a fair bit of experience.

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