‘Best time’ to prune your Japanese maples to ‘stimulate better growth’ and avoid ‘damage’

pushes a lot of new growth, and it helps the roots to begin expanding and establishing in the ground. 

If you want your to put on a lot of new growth, pruning is a great way to do this.

For instance, when you begin seeing a lot of twiggy growth, the plants start to slow down quite a bit. 

If you prune a Japanese Maple, it encourages a lot of growth, so it’s a great idea to keep growing it to make a beautiful tree in your garden.

To “stimulate better growth”, gardeners can’t just prune their maple trees at any time of the year, according to the pros at .

They explained, “Once you have your tools, it’s important to know what time of year is best for pruning. When you prune your Japanese Maple, it is directly linked to what you want to accomplish. 

“For heavy pruning, such as for shaping and stimulating better growth, it’s best to trim your Japanese maple in the summer or winter.”

As with most trees, winter is generally the best time to modify branch structure, while summer to very early autumn is best for thinning out the branches.

Keep in mind, however, that if you live in a hot and humid climate, you should avoid pruning on hot, sunny days, as it “causes more shock damage to the tree”.

If gardeners decide to prune these trees in spring or autumn, they need to be cautious.

The pros wanted: “Pruning too heavily in the spring can cause damage to new buds and stunt growth. 

“Whereas pruning too late in the season can stimulate new growth which can be quickly damaged by freezing late fall temperatures.”

The purpose of pruning is to encourage your tree’s natural growth habit. That being said, there are five types of branches you may want to consider removing from your Japanese maple.

These branches include those that are broken, diseased or damaged, branches growing inwardly or in the wrong direction, crossing branches, narrow branches and crowded branches.