Hey guys, I just picked up an Acer from a local shop in the reduced to clear section. It’s a little on the large side and just wondering how hard I can or should prune it to try and tame it a bit. If I cut the branches back to remove most, will more sprout closer to the main trunk?

I am in the UK so also wondering whether it’s best to leave it until spring to do any work?

Thoughts would be appreciated.

Acers can take quite severe prunning, will backbud on a bare trunk if given the right aftercare.

Personally I never work on newly purshased trees until at least a full growing season passed.

Hard prunning of Acer is best done in late summer. If you do it in spring they bleed a lot.

Wait till leaf drop. Once leaves start to drop, you have an ideal time to trim this back, assuming it is NOT due to early frosts!

Note however, you might want to let the tree grow a bit and develop more trunk there.

Thanks for the advice, all good to know.

@leatherback - I did think that about the thin trunk. I know planting out into the ground can help with that right? If I was to do that and prune the branches would that be a good idea? Or would the tree then focus mor eon branch regrowth rather than trunk growth?

The more leafs left on the tree, the faster trunk development. So not prunning will be faster than prunning.