I wouldn't worry about pruning them, unless you decide you want to "shovel-prune" a couple of them. ;) I truly love Silver maples, and they are an excellent wildlife tree, but not the greatest landscape tree. There is a large 50+ year old Acer saccharinum about 25 feet from the southwest corner of my house. It provides important shade during the hot summer months, but that tree is a pain in the you-know-where. It has big gnarly surface roots that invade the lawn, septic tank, and have heaved the front sidewalk. They are very water-thirsty and I have had to slowly convert one of the front gardens to a xeric garden because the maple roots grow INTO the roots of the perennials, hogging the water. It drops about a million samaras in the Spring. They clog the gutter on that end of the house, which means I have to clean the gutters twice a year (if I don't then that downspout is clogged solid and little silver maples sprout in the gutter, lol). Oh, they also drop big branches from time to time. A good place for them to grow is a naturalized low-lying area, on the wet side, FAR away from house/gardens/septic system.

Silver maples have a very strong tendency not to grow with a central leader. A typical silver maple will divide fairly low down into 3 to 5 large ascending branches. Occasionally silver maples will grow one trunk up to 15 feet or more, but this is not typical. I have never done it with a silver maple, but you could try to prune the tree to grow with one main trunk up to 10 or 15 feet without too much trouble. If the strongest trunk/ascending branch is leaning a bit, it may not be a big problem. If you prune off the others, the one you leave will straighten up somewhat. It will probably want to divide into large ascending branches again, and you can prune it again to maintain the central trunk. But, personally, I would let the tree grow as it wishes, unless one or two of the lower branches are growing outward at angles that would make them a nuisance later. A silver maple with the typical form of dividing into large ascending branches fairly close to the ground (4 to 7 feet)can be quite attractive. But you do need a lot of space for these trees, and they are best away from a house where their special form and foliage can be best appreciated. They can break and shed limbs more than some other trees, so they are not the best tree for close to a house. --Spruce

You should clear a 3-4' circle around the tree from any grass. Spread a layer of compost first then cover with 2-3" of wood chips. Water in. Do this IMMEDIATELY. It is amazing to me how many people don't perform this simple, EXTREMELY beneficial task when planting a tree.

Travis, I have a feeling that like our winters, your trees are about to slow down or even get stressed due over heated soil and roots. Most plants in which their roots rise above 90 practically stop working and rest. Even my jades can be over watered in hot weather because they practically go dormant. If it were my tree, I would make sure that the weather is not so hot it will stress the tree and then cut it back. Or, you could stick the tree out of the sun all together keeping the roots cool. Or you could submerge the pot into the ground through the hottest days...These options would allow active growth. If I saw that the weather was too hot for my trees, especially in some sun, I would hold off on anything that would stress the tree until the weather cools off allowing active growth again. Hope this helps. I don't know your weather or how it would play a role in active verses inactive growth there, but once you determine the best time to do it, I would do the trim. I would leave the roots alone unless they need work at this time.