AusBonsai

Anyone?

No reason why that would be an issue. I am assuming it will be watered whilenu are away

Defoliate just 8 weeks after a drastic root prune
I'd prefer to leave trees that have had such a drastic root reduction for most of a growing season before trimming or leaf pruning so that the new roots can get fed and grow strong. Do you really need to defoliate? What will you gain by putting the tree through such stress so soon?
That said, this IS a bougie (tough as) and you ARE in a warm climate so recovery will be pretty rapid. Maybe it won't hurt?

It will be about 10 weeks since the root prune , I'm not concerned about the trees health because I have never seen a tree grow as fast as this one I am feeding it nearly every time I water with all sorts of different ferts. I'm also adding 1 dash of vinegar to the watering can every now and again to help flush calcium and keep the soil acidic. I pitched the tops of a few dominant branches 2 days ago and they have already started growing new buds. The roots are growing out the bottom of the pot already. The only thing stopping this plant is going to be when the temps rise above the 40s, I'm guessing.

So I reckon I can defoliate this tree to get another flush of growth, remove what I don't need and wire it before The temps get high and growth stops. I will wait and make a decision closer to my holiday. I will set up an automatic irrigation system for when I'm gone.

Also my main concern with defoliating now was that I'm not sure if the green shoots will die off or not

Just an update on how this bougainvillea is progressing.

I defoialated it and wired and set some of the primary branches , I hope to farther develop the branch structure and thicken the tops of the 2 leaders in the coming years.

Bougainvillea put out on there best growth up here in Karratha during the colder months and seen to go dormant over the summer. Hence me carrying out this work it this time of year.

Photos will follow .

Any constructive critique is more than welcome.

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I guess it makes sense that they'd grow best in Winter. I'm in the sub-tropics and they're all flowering madly here. Do you know when yours flowers?

Yea right now all the bougainvillea in my area are in full bloom.