Question
Picture of Tree
Jim,
First of all thanks for any help you can provide. As shown in the attached pictures I have what I've been told is a 3 clump Canadian maple in the front of my house (between the sidewalk and the street). It is a beatiful tree when it's leaves come on but I had three questions about it.
1) It does not stand straight, but leans to one side. Can one of the three clumps be removed which might make it look less skewed.
2) It is growing so wildly that I feel like I should prune the tree, particularly the interior, but really have no idea of where to start and have not been able to find information on how to do so successfully.
3) I'm concerned the tree is not yet full size and will eventually be too big for the spot it is in. Not sure what or if I should put something else in there.
Any information you can provide me would be helpful. I live in Southern Ohio, 25 miles north of Cincinnati. Thank you so much.
AnswerYou have a couple of options--the tree will live fine like they are but you will have to put up with the lean and the three trunks. The angle of the lean will not get any further down so there is no problem with the health of the trees. IF you leave them I would prune the limbs on the inside especially the ones crossing into the other trunk. This will leave the outer branches to grow.
Any branch lower than 8 feet up the trunk.should be pruned to allow people walking not to hit the the branches or cars hitting the over ahnging branches.
You can select the straightest of the three and cut the others. It will look a little lope sided for a while but after a couple of years the tree should fill out fine. I would go ahead and do this before the trees begin leafing out. Maples tend to bleed if pruned after the leaves have opened.
It is a fairly large tree but it can grow in that space. Maples usually do not have problems with the roots lifting the sidewalk.
