Thinning out the crown is sufficient
Although the ball trumpet tree is very pruning-friendly, it doesn't hold it against you even when it comes to cutting its crown, but a regular back or tapering cut is basically superfluous. With older trees in particular, it is sufficient to only thin out the crown from time to time and cut out dead or diseased wood. However, you should be careful not to just shorten individual shoots - because the ball trumpet tree likes to react to such a measure by developing unsightly spider veins. Otherwise, new shoots occur very quickly even after a more radical pruning.
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Bringing young trees into shape
If you bought your ball trumpet tree in a nursery, you will have been advised to cut it back after planting - if this has not already been done by a specialist. Such a pruning can indeed be very useful in young trees, because it causes the crown to sprout more densely. In addition, the subsequent leaves often become larger afterwards. But here, too, the following applies: Under no circumstances just shorten individual branches, but carry out a courageous head tree cut.
Do not prune the ball trumpet tree in autumn
Since the ball trumpet tree is quite sensitive to very frosty temperatures, you should never cut it in autumn - otherwise it could happen that the tree has no reserves over the winter and simply freezes away completely. Instead, the frozen shoots can also be removed in spring, whereby the pruning should ideally be done on a warm day between February and April. A later pruning does not harm the ball trumpet tree, after all it does not sprout until very late.
Tips
After a harsh winter or a violent storm, you may have to completely cut your ball trumpet tree. However, this does not harm the wood if you prune the crown above the grafting point.
