Hello all, I picked up this damaged Tamukeyama Japanese Maple. Looks like it had two branches and one of them have broken off. I would like to get some suggestions as to what I should do with this tree. You can see in the pics the damage and the shape of the young tree now. The brown wood in the picture is the stake for the tree. The greener wood is the maple itself. I was thinking about just trying to slowly bring the one bent branch up into more of an upright position over time. And other thoughts?
Thanks in advance for the help.
foots

to the forums, foots!
Great idea with staking up. Try to get it as far upright as you can now and work with any side branches it produces to continue the shaping. You could also bend some of the current side branches to balance the shape. Like pull some of those back to the bare side. At this stage they should be pretty flexible.

Thank you for your thoughts on this CPPgardener, That's what I'll work on. Thanks again.

My worry is two-fold:

The remaining branch isn't supported by a lot of trunk. It is precarious and could simply snap off.

There appears to be another dead spot below the green tape and a split coming down from the dead branch side.

I wouldn't work really hard at changing the shape but rather encourage what you've got. I have one that, when given to me by my Uncle, was a fall. In a tall pot with the tree sweeping down below the rim of the pot. Then my husband dropped a palm tree on it... The next rendition was a little more upright but still sweeping. A branch fell off a tree in a wind storm and it was suddenly shorter. Now its in its 3rd more upright rendition but I didn't realize it wasn't getting water last summer during a heat wave and most of the top now appears to be dead. Next spring, on to rendition #4. Let the tree guide you - maybe something windswept for now.

Alternatively, you could prune heavily during the dormant season, to try to encourage a different shape coming from the trunk (probably in whatever direction the buds are pointing). But you'd have to be careful not to introduce disease, or get too close to the graft... and be prepared to nip off anything growing from below the graft as it grew.
This seems to me a little like a risky suggestion (if you might get additional wind or critter damage, for instance), but also a valid one to consider. So I'm putting it out there. If it's well established, you could expect to see a good amount of growth in the spring.

The grafting tape has or soon will cut off flow of photosynthate and growth regulators which move through phloem tissues to the roots, so that needs to come off before the tree leafs out in the spring.

I can't see what surrounds the tree (fence, home, garden, etc), but here is what I would do. First, I would forget about a formal upright tree and embrace the tree's curves, incorporating them into an interesting trunkline. Moving up the trunk beyond where it veers left you'll see a trifurcation consisting of the main branch which runs through and 2 lateral branches. If you pinch out (prune/remove) the middle branch/leader, the top branch of the trifurcation will serve as the new leader/trunkline. The lower branch bifurcates (makes a 'Y') not far beyond where the center of the trifurcation was removed. Prune both branches of the bifurcation back to the first pair of buds immediately distal to the bifurcation. Each pair of buds will produce 2 new branches in the spring.

Notice the node just beyond where the trunk veers left. You're going to get 2 branches from that node. Select the one that grows somewhere near opposite of the low branch on the opposite side and rub the other off. Maples look best if primary and secondary branching consists of all bifurcations.



If the tree is still in a nursery can, or isn't well-established, you can also change the planting angle significantly. This particular tree's trunk should grow toward what you consider to be the main viewing point, so it leans forward in greeting.

There is no physiological reason not to do this, so let your preference be your guide. The images are of a trident maple, native to Japan.

The one in the middle with a big white scar.










.... happy to answer questions if you have them.

Al

Al, thank you so much for a very informative reply. That's a great idea. I might give what you suggest a try and see how it goes. Thank you again!

Dale