A couple of deciduous question.

Hello everyone,

I have been looking at this site and gathering lots of good information from here for a while but this is my first post so.... Hello!

I just have a couple of questions.

1)I recently acquired a old elm last month variety unknown and it was very overgrown so I gave it a light trimming. Now this tree is popping out new buds/shoots all over the place, even on some very old wood. My concern is that they wont harden off and become new branches in time for winter and some of the new buds are in some great places for new branches to start. I am wondering how long would you say it takes for the branches to become strong enough to survive? Where I live it may get into the low 30's in the coldest time of winter. The next few months will have highs of around 60 and lows in the 40's.

2)I have a few trident maples in the ground only about a pencil thickness but around 3 feet tall with hardly any movement in the lower parts of the trunk. I have shoots down low and I am wondering if I just keep letting them grow or do I start the trunk chops at a young age? Or.....should I just begin wiring the trunks to force movement that way?

Thanks in advance,

Aaron

Low 30s -- even the VERY low thirties, like 30 -- won't hurt the elm. And by then, in your area (are you on the beach or in the mountains?) your trees will have "hardened off, anyway -- unless you do more top work in the fall.

I think you could chop the maples in late winter, before the sap flows. I has been so long since I've had any trees of that age, that I could easily get corrected.

Thanks Jim and I am in the mountain area