Japanese maple?

[sbvfd592]

I have a Japanese maple in my yard and it is abough 20 years old so my dad says. I mow the lawn and there is one branch that is abought 3inches in diameter 5 ft from the ground so I have to duck in my 3 passes underit so I was whundering at this time of year if it is ok to cut it off ? thanks for the help
there is also a 15 yearold dogwood can i do some small light shapeing to it o ya I live up in the nyc area

 

[sbvfd592]

one more thing for my post is should i just tuff it out and cut it in the fall once the leaves drop?

 

[treeclimber165]

You can trim it off now.

 

[geofore]

If you trim it now it will bleed excessively and be prone to attacks from bugs. June or July it will bleed less and dryout better. I expect your going to get rain for the next two weeks anyway in NY. that ought to put you into June.

 

[Stumper]

Rule of thumb I use on Maples-Don't prune from late winter until the leaves are fullsized. Maples are about the only trees I work on which are "season sensitive".

 

[Nickrosis]

Like treeclimber said, you can cut the limb off, but in the interest of the tree, you should wait until the it has finished leafing out. If you cut it now, it's more stressful. If the limb is large, you should consider trimming some of it back and removing the rest of it in the winter. If it's a small branch, you can take it off at one time.

Read these two pages before you make a cut:
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Nickrosis