I have 3 large silver maple trees in my back yard. Probably 60+ years old and very large. I think they need a good trimming (not only because I want to keep them from shading my fruit trees)
We are thinking we will cut them down to about 20 feet. I’m not sure how the trees will react.
We will have a professional come in and take care of these but rather than going with whatever they say I wanted to throw this out hear and get the unbiased opinions and suggestions of the group. Any input is appreciated.
Only structure (dangerous limbs) should be completely pruned out.
Bad idea.
Either level them or do nothing at all or have an assessment of which limbs may be dangerous and those removed.
Dax
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Taking them down to 20 feet will only result in a bushy “hedge” of regrowth. It’s terrible for most trees (look up “pollarding”). Occasionally it’s done for a certain landscaping effect but on silvers it’s just not a good idea.
Considering too that silvers aren’t very strong and are given to sudden breaks once the limbs get large it’s small wonder that people are being discouraged from planting them any longer. So I’m with Dax- best plan is to remove them entirely.
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At this time of year they will also ‘bleed’ excessively. Silvers are very prone to internal rots, break randomly in storms, and have a massive root system which will stunt your other trees. I’m with them, 1" haircuts.
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Thank you gentlemen. Definitely gave me something to think about.
What did you end up doing with your maple trees? I have a 3 trunked silver maple that I need to address as well. It’s easily 60+ years old. It’s growing out more and causing shading issues since the trees around it were removed. Was considering whether I (through a company with a crane) could take off some of the newer side growth, maybe 10-15’ of top growth and the obvious dead branches up top without causing a rush of water sprouts that would make it all a waste of money. If I did this in a few weeks, might it respond like fruit trees and grow slower?
Don’t love the idea of removing it entirely.
If I ultimately have to remove it down to the top of the fence, I’m thinking I could graft a red maple to the stump? Which goes to my question I just put in the grafting basics thread related to the redbud next to it- cut it and graft it at the end of winter? Spring?
@Eme Silver Maple are notorious for having included bark in the crotches, which makes the crotches very weak despite their enormous size.
Silver Maple do not respond well at all to pruning, they are slow at closing up cuts and rot so fast that any exposed cuts just cause a weak spot from the rotting wood.
I would not do any pruning on a Silver Maple other than removing dead branches or large branches with included bark that are in reach of a house or structure.
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Thank you so much for the advice.
We have quite a few large silvers around here -I almost consider them trash trees. As you say, given to weak crotches and slow to heal.
Grafting a red maple (acer rubrum) might be an option.
So, to add a new question- has anyone grafted to silver maple? What did you try and how did it work?
(Planting a new tree in the general location is not an option due to space and “soil” or lack thereof)
I haven’t but I would expect it to be workable.
If the tree is cut down it is likely to throw up new shoots which could be grafted to, but that’s no guarantee, is it? Do you see other silvers in your area which have been cut back and have then shown new growth?
Good question. I’ll have to look. I think, mostly people just cut them down once they get unruly and start to die for all the reasons listed here. When we had to remove a bunch of them from the lot years ago for construction, the arborist told us they called them the “widow maker”. This one sits on the back property line and was unassuming, so we left it.