defoliation

Hi, I’ll start by saying I’m super new to bonsai I am gradually learning how great this community is and how shared ideas, thoughts and opinions have made me that much more endeared to bonsai. I bought a Katsura back in late April and really fell in love with the cultivar. When I got the try...

Hello, I gave my partner a cotoneaster horizontalis, from a bonsai nursery, for her birthday in early April. About a month later, some leaves started turning yellow. She thought she didn't water correctly, but that now turned out was not the source of the problem. Unfortunately, we went on...

For several years I overwintered my Chinese Elm without leaves at -1C/+5C (30F/41F). I forcibly removed the leaves every winter. This year I was advised not to remove the leaves, but I'm afraid that due to the evaporation of moisture from the leaves, the branches will dry out, as the substrate...

Here’s my little pyracantha I’ve been training for a few years now. This year the leaves have really gained some size & I feel it ruins the appearance a little. Can pyracantha be defoliate to stimulate a second flush in the same way I’d defoliate a JM? I’m in the south of the UK.

Question about managing branch thickness on a fairly mature portulacaria afra... Let's say you have a first branch that's half an inch thick near its base, but you have a third branch that's 3/4 of an inch thick near its base. And you want that first branch to be a hearty soul, much thicker than...

I have a Chinese Elm, in South Florida (10b climate zone), where there is hardly ever enough cold temps to allow my tree to drop leaves substantially. I notice all through spring and summer it doesn’t throw much of anything out as far as new growth, very little. It seems it drops more leaves...

Hi all! I just repotted my cork bark jade for the first time today. I had grown it indoors for a good while but decided to transfer it outside about a week and a half ago. To my astonishment after two days the poor thing looked terrible and had dropped a bunch of petals. Some looked kinda...

I’m quite impulsive but I admit that I panicked... Will my Duranta Bonsai live? In FL we get abundant sunshine throughout the year, and as an indoor tree the house temperature is in the 70s (F). I had a whitefly infestation that I noticed yesterday and identified this morning, I plucked out all...

In general, is it wise to do a trunk chop after defoliation (a planned trunk chop obviously) so the regrowth energy doesn't get wasted on parts of the tree that are unwanted? I've recently defoliated a tree and am intending on chopping it around half way. Above the intended cut there are a lot...

A question I have that I can never find a straight answer to is should I begin defoliating my Trident Maple forest before the Winter hits or should I let the leaves fall off naturally with time? I’ve been told both answers but not quite sure what to do. The leaves are just now beginning to die...

From the posts I’ve read on here I’m a little confused and there seem to be conflicting thoughts on whether or not defoliating helps to thicken a trunk faster. What I currently have is an Acer Palmatum still in he nursery pot. I bought it this year and wanted to wait (at least) until next...

My maples have lengthened and lignified, so I took the day to defoliate three. I’ve not done it for years, but the growth was so vigorous in their new home, decided this was the year. FIVE GALLONS OF LEAVES! Considering it was only 3 trees, sure seemed like a heck of a lot of leaves. I did...

Well, folks, here in Brazil summer came with strong and regular 90'sF every day. So I thought "what about defoliating that mallsai I am trying to save"? And believe me, in one week it is surely back-budding like crazy! Plan is to prune and defoliate again in late summer to fill-in the empty...