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Great Lakes Gardening

Shaping a 25 year old maple

11 years ago

The silver maple I have in my front yard has a 18-20" diameter trunk and has grown tall enough to interfere with the power lines overhead. I've been kicking around ideas of taking the tops out, the main vertical branches being approximately 6-8" dia. where I would like to cut. How much would this stress the tree? What time of year would be best here in southern Michigan, if indeed this is possible? Thanks, Brian.

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Comment (1)

linda0913
11 years ago
This is a tricky operation.... Topping a maple, particularly in MI where maple dieback is around, can be a huge problem, especially on a large tree. And that's beyond just damaging the shape of the tree.
If there is a way to solve this, you will get better advice if you post this on the Trees forum. There are some true arborists that help out there, and they might be able to help.

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