I can get some tomorrow, hopefully, Bill.

i await the pix also ... but in the meantime .... your one fault lies in thinking that you need to do all the pruning in one fell swoop ..

with a tree that might live 60 to 100 years... if this project takes you 3 years to accomplish your goal... so what ...

so.. you might take one of the side ones in spring or this winter ... [where are you???] ... and perhaps shorten the other next fall ... etc ...

its not written anywhere.. that it must be done in one cutting ...

also ... remove height and weight away from the final cut ... so you dont damage that which you want to leave ...and a good tree saw is worth the rather small investment ...

pix plz ....

ken

I expect to be able to post a pic in a day or 2.

To answer a few Qs. I am in Inland OC, CA (Sunset Zone 22), about 5-6 mi. NNW of Disneyland.

Last Winter, I shortened half of the length & mass of both secondary leaders, leaving the tallest middle leader. That probably accounted for 40% of the entire tree. I was going to remove the rest of the 2 lesser leaders this yr. but to my surprise, they both grew and filled-out like crazy. That makes me worry that unless they are removed totally, I'll never be able to remove either since growth is so fast.

Happy New Year!

Finally ... and thanks!

Chopping back the two branches last winter was a correct decision. But what you needed to do was shorten those branches again during early to mid-summer. This can be done once the new spring growth is over a good foot in length. Removing the tips of the terminal new growth shoots will stunt the desired branches. Seems like it usually takes at least a couple of weeks for latent and axillary buds to break and begin growing new shoots from the cut branches again. And if that new growth is aggressive, lobotomize those branches yet another time. They may look ugly this upcoming summer but you are just keeping them there long enough for the middle stem to fatten up more, get bigger, and assert dominance. If they are not hacked back during the summer, as the first picture shows, they will just keep growing back and shading out and preventing a significant number of branches from forming on the desired middle trunk....thus suppressing its overall growth some as well.

Try it again this winter.

Very much appreciated! I have long been under the impression that a tree should not be pruned during the growing season.

So, do I prune 1/2 of the material on the 2nd & 3rd leader, now (dormancy)? Then wait until mid- Summer to trim-off the new growth since Spring, plus 1/2 of the older growth? --- Then follow-up with removing the rest or entirety of the 2 unwanted leaders next Fall or Winter? Doe that sound like a plan? If some changes are needed from this, can you make the necessary corrections?

"So, do I prune 1/2 of the material on the 2nd & 3rd leader, now (dormancy)?" Now or anytime before bud break in the spring.

"Then wait until mid- Summer to trim-off the new growth since Spring, plus 1/2 of the older growth?" Trimming the new growth back is what matters most when keeping those branches stunted. Trimming the old growth back more is optional but not necessary.

"Then follow-up with removing the rest or entirety of the 2 unwanted leaders next Fall or Winter?" Hopefully the middle leader will take over, fatten up, and fill in a lot this summer with the sides staying cut back. Then ideally, you can remove those branches completely next winter.

As for the 25%, 40%.... I think it's best to prune trees in stages if possible. Typically in the summer, I will remove low branches first after leaf out (or chop them back if they are needed for overall growth.) Then 3 or 4 weeks later I will corrective prune out forks and fix leaders. Another 3 or 4 weeks later I will do tip-backs if the branch growth is too long, wild, and droopy. This gives the trees time to recover between prunings and limits the likelihood of suppressing growth by removing too much canopy at one time.

Wow, you could not have been more helpful. This info is something I have never seen on-line. Thank you, again!

I'm not familiar with this maple. Is this a maple that even needs a strong central leader?

Yes, it does. It is a small 20-35' foot tree, however, googling pics almost always shows a single central leader. Mine is the cultivar, 'Main Street', very similar to 'Fire Dragon'. It's the 2nd one down: http://shantungmaple.com/cultivars.html