Thread: Japanese Maples
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Old 12-17-2007, 06:22 AM   #4 (permalink)
Shady Side Bonsai
 
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Glen Rock, Pa. Zone 6b
Posts: 36
Matt, Depends on what your trying to accomplish when pruning. Pruning in the winter will benefit you several ways. The callous for your pruned area will be thinner and not as bulbous as it will heal slowly over winter and into spring. Versus a spring cut were the growth is rapid and the callouses tend to be a bit thicker and rounder. While pruning in the winter helps keep sap loss to a minimum. Pruning in the spring when the meristem hormone is at its highest will benefit you with a profusion of back budding, vs. a milder back bud from a winter prune. A personal note here. I have yet to see a tree bleed out from a spring prune. In fact when using cut paste there is virtually none.

So the choice boils done to Winter pruning for structural design or Spring pruning for ramification
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