Defoliation time for Ginseng Retusa Microcarpa ?

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Defoliation time for Ginseng Retusa Microcarpa ?

Post by boristhebadseed »

I am wondering when is a good time to start or completely defoliate my Ficus to generate smaller leaves. I am currently in Nth Qld and I was waiting for cooler months so that the trees metabolism had slowed and it doesn't bleed too much.Itbis very healthy and vigorous and is still sprouting new leaves but I don't think this wiill stop up here in the tropics as it just kept growing last year.

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Re: Defoliation time for Ginseng Retusa Microcarpa ?

Post by KIRKY »

To work figs the best time is the hotter the better. Down here in Melbourne generally I keep Boxing Day as Fig day. Up where you are it should be ok to work now best results are while over night temps are above 18. Also if it’s still pushing new growth it’s a sign that conditions are favourable, so I would go for it.
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Re: Defoliation time for Ginseng Retusa Microcarpa ?

Post by kvan64 »

I would do this a month ago when it was still warm and that would allow the new leaves to shoot out and stay more compact as it gets cold. I did that with my figs. Will post my progress soon.
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Re: Defoliation time for Ginseng Retusa Microcarpa ?

Post by KIRKY »

I suppose it will depend on just how far Nth Qld you are in? Nth Qld would be warmer than Brisbane I would have thought DK. Looking at Townsville 27 with over night 19 looks good to me for figs. :imo:
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Re: Defoliation time for Ginseng Retusa Microcarpa ?

Post by shibui »

Just defoliating does not suddenly create small leaves. If the tip of branches is left intact the next leaf will just unroll as big as before. Always prune the tips in conjunction with defoliating ficus.
Your tree has long, mostly unbranched shoots. You really need to concentrate on pruning to create ramification. Cut all the long shoots back to just 2 or 3 leaves. New shoots should emerge from each leaf axil making many more new shoots to create ramified branches and a real canopy. Ramification is the real key to smaller leaves on ficus. The more growing shoots you have the more leaves there will be to share the load of absorbing sun and the smaller those individual leaves will be.
I have seen good results where growers simply nipped off any leaf that looked a bit too big. Selective defoliation does not put such a strain on the tree and can still produce good results.

As already mentioned the bet time for pruning and defoliation is when the tree is active as it will recover quicker so less strain on its resources.

I have not noticed much difference in 'bleeding' from figs at different times of the year. Bleeding does not seem to cause any problems but it usually stops almost immediately if the cut ends are sprayed with water.
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Re: Defoliation time for Ginseng Retusa Microcarpa ?

Post by boristhebadseed »

Thank you all for the valuable advice. I will look at reducing the branches to ramify and then defoliate maybe next yr during the warmer months on rtn to VIC. Cheers.

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Re: Defoliation time for Ginseng Retusa Microcarpa ?

Post by dansai »

I agree with Shibui that the best way to get smaller leaves is to have many branches. If you defoliate, or cut back you will find the fig will produce 2 or 3 small leaves and then they will start to grow bigger. I usually trim back to the first 2 or 3 leaves once I see this and maybe cut any larger leaves down in size rather than defoliate. This seems to produce much more even growth across the tree by distributing the energy, whereas full defoliation can make the tree put more energy into a few areas rather than evenly across the tree.

That being said, I don't see the need to cut back this tree at this stage. You appear to have rather thin branches coming off a rather thick trunks/roots. If it were mine, Id let it grow out some more and thicken the branches and cut back hard once the wether has warmed up again. If you are looking at returning to Victoria before summer is in full swing I also wouldn't be cutting back hard yet as you will have young leaves that may not like the change in climate which mays trees the tree.

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Re: Defoliation time for Ginseng Retusa Microcarpa ?

Post by boristhebadseed »

Thanks Dan, I appreciate your advice, I am returning to VIC in Nov/Dec. It will be very humid here by then compared with Kilmore,Vic. I haven't worked out how to get it back there yet...but am very keen to see it into the future.

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Re: Defoliation time for Ginseng Retusa Microcarpa ?

Post by kvan64 »

You're right. Brisbane is definitely colder than that now. Right now it's 12C but can get down much lower later. I often defoliate my figs here just before it gets cold and when the new shoots come out, they do stay smaller as it is cold and slows the grow rate down (even for evergreen species like figs).
Some people successfully harden and compact the newly developed leaves with this method in conjunction with some feeding program. Keep us updated with this one and see what happens to it.
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Re: Defoliation time for Ginseng Retusa Microcarpa ?

Post by Eric »

I bypassed the weather years ago when I set my house up with grow tents and led lights, I have been growing tropical figs indoors for over 10 years. Some varieties are a little temperamental but over the years I've managed to work out which ones will thrive indoors with the minimum of fuss. Once I work out how to post pics I will so you can see how fig crazy I am :)
Last edited by Eric on July 25th, 2021, 6:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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