Timing of a drastic reduction of Japanese Maple

[Fred]

Hi Folks

I have a standard Acer Palmatum (Nursery potted stock) about 1.7m tall. The bulk of the growth is above 0.8m. I want to initially reduce it to about 0.7m. If I reduced it to this height I would leave a couple of young branches to keep it going until it back buds. I don't need to thicken the truck markedly.

My question is the timing of this:
(1) The Spring flush has finished and the Summer one has not started yet. If I cut it now, I can take advantage of the second flush for it to back bud and leaf up so that it can produce carbohydrates for storage before it shuts down for the Winter. This would give me a jump on next Spring but do I run the risk of sap bleed?

(2) If I leave it until the Autumn when the growth has hardened off there will be no bleed but not enough time for the new growth to develop and become useful.

(3) If I cut as the sap rises in the next Spring I will be safe but a year behind in development.

What do you think?

I can provide pics if necessary

Fred

[shibui]

Fred,
I find that maples usually only bleed when cut around budding time in early spring. Cutting after the leaves have hardened is safe though I haven't done really drastic pruning during summer. If you are only taking 1m off a 1.7 m tree Id think it would be ok to do it now. I pruned a couple of 2cm branches off one of mine a couple of weeks ago with no problem.

Hope the project goes well.

[Fred]

Hi Shibui

Thanks for your advice.

I am going to cut and see what happens.

Fred