Liquidambar styraciflua - to prune or not to prune

[James147]

Hi All,

I recently blind purchased some 200/250cm liquidambar styraciflua. I was expecting to receive "trees" which would have had at least the bottom 60cm or more clear stemmed.

What I received were plants with branches remaining right from the base. Varying branch thickness and unfortunately varying degrees of balance have left me with a conundrum.

At a quick glance I thought it might be nice to plant them as they are however my original plan was to eventually have clear stems of approximately 150 - 175 cm. They are being planted along a 5 foot garden fence.

My fear when attempting to prune them (notwithstanding that time is running out if not already run out to prune this season) is that I'll be left with gnarly stems as some of the side branches are already rather strong.

Any suggestions either way would welcomed

 

[Marck]

Greetings, welcome to the Forums.

Keeping lower branches on saplings feeds the tree and helps increase the trunk girth. There is no need to remove them entirely at this stage. As the canopy develops, small, lower branches will often be shaded out and die off on their own.
However, you do want to keep low side branches relatively short, so that they will not compete with the dominant leader.

Here is a simple illustration found online that shows what I mean.

American Sweet-gum (Liquidambar styraciflua), is a deciduous tree, in the family Altingiaceae, native to the eastern and central U.S. and extending into Mexico and northern Central America at higher elevations. The tree silhouette is relatively narrow oval or cone with a dominant central leader. Trees commonly reach a height often at least 20 meters, with some exceptional trees reaching heights of 45 meters or more. The trees are noted for brilliant Autumn leaf color even in mild climates. The round fruit may sometimes hangs on in Winter, adding visual interest and food for finches and other songbirds. However extra care must be taken to rake up the spherical seed capsules from paths and walkways.