Somerset,
United Kingdom 
My Acer has delveloped Coral Spot over the past two years. I've washed the plant several times and carried out several cuts to try and halt the spread of this.
Unfortunately each year the plant loses a branch or two and now I think the only way to save the plant is to cut through the main trunk (eek), just above where I have some small branches forming.
Is it safe to do this, is this my last resort, when would be the best time to do this?
13 Jul, 2010
Previous question
Cutting back to healthy growth is fine - just would have been better to do it before end of June, but where you live, in the balmy West, it should be okay to do it now. If the wood is dead anyway, it won't matter at all, just cut back to live wood.
13 Jul, 2010