Silver maple, is this side leader a problem?

[Skip B]

1. Theres a trunk on this silver maple, on the left of the first picture, where the crown is pretty far from the base of the tree. Is that going to break evetually? Can it be pruned or removed without killing the whole tree?

2. I have another silver maple, where it has surface roots that are outside the dripline. There used to be a big black cherry tree near it but it was completely hollow and I had it cut down and stump ground in 2015. It looks like the maple roots moved in to where the stump was. Can I cut these roots back? I want to plant some shrubs there now.

Thanks

 

[jomoco]

I'd do a uniform crown reduction by a third.

That way it'll be within reach of a bucket, to maintain it at that height, every three years or so.

I wouldn't cut into big wood at it's base.

Jomoco

 

[no tree to big]

Couple problems
Number one it's a silver maple, two it's a clump of silver maple.
It could hold together for many decades however the thing could split three different directions in the next wind. When you have multiple stems as they grow they try to push themselves apart. If you make a big ole cut down on the bottom itll cause a big pocket of decay and nastiness down there. It's kind of a loose loose loose situation.

As already recommended crown reduce and make sure you keep on a regular schedule. If you are concerned about it splitting apart have all the stems cabled together, total of 3 cables.

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