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Structural pruning a young maple - not enough!
Pruning trees should focus on reducing defects such as upright stems. (see before and after photos below)
Before pruning: This maple has many upright stems competing with the leader. They need to be shortened to produce good structure. If left to grow, weak structure results and tree is likely to break apart at an early age.
After pruning: Stems oriented upright were shortened back to live lateral branches. Too small a pruning dose was administed to the tree shown above. All three stems originating about 2/3 the way up the main trunk should have been removed, not shortened because the angles of attachment are too narrow and they are growing from the same point on the trunk. The large upright branch on the left should have been shortened even more. Other than that, this was a good job.
