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Hi there,

i have a friend that works at a nursery and they have a sale of stock they want to sell. i can get 4 japanese that are about 4 to 5 feet tall for $10 each. near the top the trunks have curved and bent. other than that they are perfect. my question is, can i cut the trunk lower to the bottom and leave to grow branches? will it grow branches? i am new to this.

Yes you can!

Have a read;

that make perfect sense. i have to go and see how many i can get.

Yes you can cut hard and they should back bud quite easily. Depending on where the graft is will dictate how low you can do it, but don't disturb the roots at the same time, alllow the plant to recover for a year, if it is potbound I would just go into a slightly bigger pot otherwise leave roots alone.

Before you cut all of them.. Consider taking a few airlayers of the curved section in the top. Maybe cut down 2 and use 2 to take air layers next spring?

Ok i bought 1. The root is nice I think.

Looks like you got a nice and healthy starter! If it were me, and I must say that I am still in the learning stages myself, I would probably chop it down to the branch visible in your third pic. It looks like it is in a nice place to become the top of your tree.

I'm not sure where you are located, but I wouldn't do it this late in the year if you are in the States. It might be better for you to leave it as is and then do a hard chop on it next spring.

Maybe some other more seasoned veterans can give you better advice. Good luck! Maples are definitely my favorite species so far!

If you do top it at the end of summer, don't repot it for at least a year. Give that developed root system at a year or more to reestablish more branches and leaves. I attempted to repot a nursery pine once, then 5 months later topped it to see if it would handle it. It died immediately after topping. I should have topped it when I got it, then after a year repotted it once it recovered. Pines are of course more delicate, but better to play it conservative, the health of the tree should always come first.

There is a big difference between Maples and Pines. But re potting and heavy pruning can be done at the same time without problem. If the pine died there was probably another reason for it.
Your pine was already as good as dead when you cut it down.
You may have done it at the wrong time of the year. Some pines are fussy about when it is done.
By all means cut the top off the Maple, it will be fine.
We do that all the time and they are ok, sometimes the cut will bleed but cut paste will take care of it.

It didn't die because I topped it. It died because I repotted it, then I topped it 5 months later. It was not fully established in its pot yet. The tree was healthy and growing before the top took place. How can you know where the edge is, if you don't push it? I have yet to meet an expert grower that has never killed a tree, or gone too far. It was a $17 tree, and my education is worth much more than that. Not to mention my other pines are flourishing now. Getting back to the point, topping the maple wont be a problem, but leaving the tree in balance with a good root structure is crucial in future growth and development. There is lots of energy stored in that root ball. If the tree were to survive such an ordeal as being topped and repotted at one time, it is highly likely it would have stunted growth.