Maple Checkup (Photos Attached)

[Brian2412]

I've recently moved to Richland, WA (Eastern Washington) and have young maple tree (of some sort) in the back yard. This is probably the best tree I have been left by the previous owners. The house was built in 2005 so I can assume that the tree was planted some time since then.

My questions are:
1) When should I prune (late dormancy or mid-summer)? I plan on pruning all of my trees in the late winter, but before spring (probably early February).
2) Is this tree over crowded with limbs? It looks like it needs thinned out to me.
3) Should I spread any of the limbs out?
4) Are my proposed pruning cuts / spreader bars reasonable/needed? Please make recommendations

Attached are photo's of the tree. The first and second photos are unedited and show the tree from two different perspectives. The third photo shows my proposed pruning cuts (in red) with spreaders in orange.

We are zone 7 (although, probably closer to a high 6). My soil is like beach sand when I dig. I have plenty of water available, but this is a desert (hot summers, cold winters with minimal precip ~7 inches a year). At the recommendation of the local nursery, I added soil amendments to try to help the tree (cutting out grass around the base) and mixing native soil with compost. I've also staked it to help with our high spring winds.

Thank you in advance for the help.

 

[patandchickens]

Hi, welcome to TEG

Honestly I would not suggest doing much to that maple, it looks pretty well-grown and shapely and not really in need of much if anything. Unfortunately it is not possible to tell from a photo what branches are crossing or nearly so, versus one going in front of the other with several feet or more of distance between them.

If any of the branches are crossing, or would touch when blown by a normal wind, then remove one or the other of them back to its origin. Otherwise I would suggest keeping the pruners away from it, at least for a few years while it gets established.

If you *are* going to do any pruning, it is usually recommended that you prune maples in early summer (once fully leafed out) to avoid excessive bleeding. For a few small cuts this really does not make much if any difference though (aside from cosmetic), so if there were a compelling reason to prune in late winter you probably could.

May I suggest slackening the guywires a bit, at least the downwind two. While you don't want the tree to blow over or the rootball to be rocked, it is important that the trunk have free range to flex in the wind or it won't develop normally and strongly. Usually you'd want to leave enough slack that the rope would only snug up if the tree started to keel over.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat