Yesterday I was looking at a big maple I got from a growers field in fall and decided it was time.. Time to remove one of the two main trunks of this plant.

I did this major cut now (The first big push has extended and there is a good head of foliage on the tree, even after cutting) as the tree now has the rest of spring, and all summer to respond. It will effectively immediately after the cuts start to produce callus tissue. The very strong top-growth will push sugars towards the roots, aiding the closing of the cut area. The actively growing roots will help in reducing die-back by continuously pushing water and nutrients up. (This in contrast to late fall or winter where everything is in a pause mode and you have to wait months before anything happens.

The big rootstump bottom left will be removed later this year, or next spring.

Just out of curiosity, this year and next it will look like a tree with a fork where one fork was cut off, but eventually it will look like one trunk with great taper. How long would you think? Give years? Ten? Twenty?

Hard to say. THe big lump of roots on the base also needs to go. And the existing main trunk needs to be cut back. THen regrow the whole thing. I was actually thinking of growing out during crown development. So that will be long-term growing. I hope the area cut yesterday can be closed in 3-5 years. How long before it looks natural.. Hopefully in a similar period.

Key is lots of top growth. So I want to get the coot of this year. Then next spring cut the top and hope to have loads of branches along the trunk already.

My phylosophy: DO not think about how long it takes. Enjoy the steps in between else you just get frustrated. And looking back I see some nice developments over the last half decade. If I had thought about taking 5 years to get here.. I would not have started..