Going to look for the Holly Tone now, I know it’s around here somewhere. Haven’t used it since I killed the Sky Pencil Holly at the old house.
Remember I have the 14’ now maybe 16’ southern magnolia I planted last year to prune so it makes a canopy Japanese/Ornamental style. I will send you pics of that too to see if we need to get started this year.
RE: pruning, the arborist was instant I prune everything during the winter, do you concur?
Jap Maples should be pruned in early spring, before leaves; winter pruning can wake-up the tree and get it damaged/killed if it leafs-out in bad weather.
Some evergreens - pinus, doug fir, juniper, boxwoods etc - must be pruned in early spring since they only have 1 set of buds and none in reserve in case all branches are cut back hard, they will die from lack of foliage.
Whatever’s cut back MUST have some foliage left so leaves/needles can feed the plant, and if Holly-Tone’s applied in Sept-Oct, it will be absorbed to help push out new growth from the cut back areas.
Let’s get good pics of the ones you want to cut back, so I can categorize when to cut, and where to make the cuts.