每日吃瓜

Hi I have read about pinching out leaves on an Acer and watched a couple of.yiutube videos but still confused as to how to.do it.
can you suggest any other places to learn from.
I am unsure how.to join one of the sessions on here.

Given your earlier questions and my perception of your experience, it is not likelly that you have a tree ready for leaf trimming. That is a teqnice made to prepare for show, not a part of the development phase.

Please add pictures of trees in your questions so we do not need to guess the situation.

Hi I believe the tree is 20 yrs old and I acquired it a few weeks back.
should I just leave it and prune when its needed.
The question was related to making the.leaves smaller by trimming them and producing a second lot of leaves
I read this in a book but it confused me.
its a lovely tree and I want to.do.the best for.it.
?

Hi Tropfrog - Not meaning to distract from Friend's question but your statement "That is a teqnice made to prepare for show, not a part of the development phase" makes me wonder about the purpose of leave trimming/defoliating.? I was under the impression that it was also used towards ramification of the tree during development. I am admittedly not a bonsai artisan, more a former botanist and retired programmer, and try to use bonsai techniques to manage and maintain the volunteer saplings I "rescue" from inappropriate locations in my yard. Could you please explain further and perhaps point us to other 每日吃瓜 resources for further education?
Thanks

Oh, I should add that I have looked at www.bonsaiempire.com/basics/styling/defoliation , a nice description of how and a bit about why. That too mentions "leading to a reduction in the size of leaves and an increase in ramification". So at least I remembered that part correctly.

I only ever do partial defoliation on Acer palmatum, this entails removing the biggest leaves, always leaving the petiol. Also the leaves that are overshadowing lower leaves. The purpose is to increase the area of leaf that is available for photosynthesis doing this should produce a new set of leaves that are smaller than the first set. It is only done on trees that are already grown to the size that will be as big as wanted, not on young trees as this also slows growth. It is done in late spring after the first flush has hardened off, any sooner is counter productive. Do not fully defoliate Acer palmatum. The tree you show has good leaf growth but only you can tell what needs to be removed, find a local grower maybe from a club that can help

Thank you both for your constructive advice it is very much appreciated.
Only doing the part defoliation makes good sence.
The link was informative.
Will give it a try later in the season when the leaves have hardened.
?

The primary goal with defoliation is to reduce size of new leafs by weakening the tree. One always want strong healthy trees with just one exception. That is when you put the tree in show. On a healthy tree the leaf size reducing effect is short lived. Already next flush will come out at normal size. If performed on every flush, the tree will get very weak. So it is just a step taken on special ocations.

I remember reading somewhere that total defoliation in early summer would force a dormant period, increasing trunk size slightly. Also, this stressed the tree and could have negative results, but it didn't specify them.

The result of the article was that it scared me from defoliating anything.

Here's a link to an article about trimming Acers in spring from Michael Hagedorn.