
Using dull tools will create more work for you and can cause additional damage to the shrub, making it vulnerable to pests and disease. As we mentioned above, always be sure to use clean, sharp tools for your own sake as well as the sake of the shrub. This will help to ensure good airflow around the base of the plant and will help to discourage pests and disease. Make sure that mulch isn't piled up around the base and prune off any suckers or inward-growing shutes. With shrubs, it is especially important to make sure the base of the shrub has good air circulation since many of the branches come straight from the base of the plant. Think of it like this: removing more than 1/3 of a plant means you are abruptly taking away more than 1/3 of its energy reserves, which can easily shock or kill the plant. Even after your shrub is established, be sure to never remove more than 1/3 of the living tissue of the plant, as this could cause it to go into shock. The only pruning that should be done on newly planted shrubs is to prune off dead or damaged limbs. Remember to allow any newly planted shrub to establish itself before doing any pruning for shape. Use proper garden tools, such as the pruning shears, and make sure that you clean them with a strong bleach solution to avoid any kind of disease being transferred from one branch to the other.Shrubs require very similar pruning. You don’t need to wait till summer for performing a clean-up. You can remove the dead branches at any time of the year. You can prune the Maple branches once the leaves have fully expanded and turned dark green in color. You can prune your Maple from mid-summer to late-summer. Also, apply a quality sealant to keep the sap from bleeding. Yes, trim maple trees in late summer for the best results. Pruning the entire tree at the same time might shock the tree.This action will give you the exact idea about the look of the maple. Always remove the dead and dying branches and leaves before giving the desired size to the trees.For some trees, the practice of thinning branches is a necessity because canopy growth becomes too dense for tree health. (Figure 4, b) Cut back the resulting stub to the branch collar, not flush with the trunk. yes no Shape Pruning Maple trees may be pruned for shaping purposes this is the practice of thinning and trimming trees to make them look more attractive. (Figure 4, a) Make a second cut from the top, about 2-inches farther out from the under-cut, until the branch falls away.

Make a cut to the large branch at least a foot away from the actual trunk making sure that you don’t keep back any stubs of that branch. Undercut the bottom of the branch about a third of the way through, 612 inches out from the trunk. The proper time to prune trees, shrubs, and vines in Iowa is indicated below.

