AusBonsai

I was given this maple over the weekend, I can see some potential in it but it's very lanky at the moment. Could I do a fairly hard prune now or would it be best to wait till winter? Thanks in advance
Elmer

Hi Elmer, I was always told to prune in Autumn/Winter just before the last few leaves fall.
Cheers
Kirky

Autumn and early winter are good time to prune maples but summer is also a great time. They are growing well and heal quickly at this time of year. With advanced trees, summer pruning is difficult because you cannot see the structure but it is very easy to see this one so I would prune now. You should get good regrowth in a couple of weeks.
Best to remove all long internodes, even if that means removing an entire branch. that regrowth has shorter internodes so you can build better structure. Also try to remove straighter sections to give more interesting structure. With opposite budding maples taking the centre shoot out and leaving the 2 side branches is a good way to give branches some movement.