When to Prune Vine Maple to Promote New Growth?

Reasons to Prune

• Pruning plants periodically helps them to maintain healthy foliage. Crowded leaves may eliminate much-needed sunlight from penetrating the canopy, and reduce the tree’s health and vigor. When you reduce the number of branches on which leaves can grow, the tree will produce a flush of growth that is healthy and even, spread uniformly among its branches to let in proper amounts of light. You should also prune vine maple to remove dead or diseased wood, to train its shape and to restrict growth to fit the planting area.

Pruning Times

• If you are pruning to restrict growth, do so before the tree leafs out. For one thing, it is easier to see how a vine maple fits into its planting area when its branches are bare. For another, pruning after the tree leafs out removes its ability to photosynthesize during that growing season, which could impact tree health. If instead you prune right before the tree leafs out -- late winter or early spring -- you will promote a flush of pretty, even growth instead of chopping it all off. However, if you are removing damaged or diseased wood, you can do that any time.

Pruning Techniques

• Vine maples are slow growing, so there is no need for you to prune it heavily unless it suffers serious damage. Rather, you can prune vine maples slowly, shaping them to a several-trunk structure and a rounded, erect canopy which will promote new growth. Because vine maple is delicate, you shouldn’t need more than pruning shears and lopping shears to manage it effectively. Thin the tree's stems and branches to promote an open canopy, pruning to a bud, stem or the trunk to avoid leaving blunt stubs.

Precautions

• Always use sharp tools, which will help you avoid injuring the tree by ripping or tearing its wood with blunt implements. When pruning at any time of year other than winter, the plant may bleed. However, resist the impulse to paint over the wound: this is an outdated practice that doesn’t help the vine maple but can trap disease or moisture, which could harm it.