English elm defoliation

[JaseH]

Is it too late to defoliate English elms? In Melbourne BTW.

[Brian]

No. You can do it now but generally I defoliate around Christmas time.

[JaseH]

Thanks Brian, done!

[gerald randall]

Weather is obviously different in my area. Generally, however, if you think you are defoliating a bit late, I give it liquid fertiliser a weak after. Gets the leaves out quicker in order to harden. But also produces more shoots. Improves ramification, but too much fertilizer will give a massive growth spurt which may cause larger leaves. But, if ramification is what you are working towards, a bit of a booster has worked for me at times. I don't do that if ramification and smaller leaves are what I'm going for.

[JaseH]

Thanks Gerald, yes just building branches at the moment, I'll give it a feed next week

I have a few of these elms I collected last spring, they were root suckers so didn't have a lot of their own roots, but they have taken off fine. I was going to give them a year of un-molestered growth to settle in but they have taken off so well I figure I may as well try defoliate one and see how it responds.