AusBonsai

The best time to defoliate according to a study done by the Russians is in the middle of summer. 26 of December. This is also quoted by Deborah Koreshoff in her book.
In fact she has a graph explaining it all . To early leaves do not stay small to late they do not grow as well

I used to do mine on Australia Day to help me remember now I do it Boxing Day. Ficus as well that way I can say no to all the party's

this pic is of the trident i bought off jow, the pic is about 3-4 weeks old now. but a lot of the new shoots, well the parts i want to use have stared hardening off, it has boomed even more since then so i pinched out the soft tip at the end to get it to stop. i was wanting to defoliate this so i could see what to keep and be able to wire easier because trying to wire around trident leaves when its so full is so hard its not funny. but like i said, last time i defoliated a trident it never came back. so i dont want it to happen to this one, can anyone see a reason why it would happen if i did defoliate to wire?
the branching really need sorting out before the get to brittle to wire.

thanks for advice in advance.

regards jamie


edit-forgot to post the pic

2 nd defoliation of figs here in my climate another one in late december depending on growth. 2nd budding of pines after i did candle removel on most a few weeks ago, have not defooliated any tridents yet but did a privet with very quick results (within a week budding)

hey noah, your further north than me, when do you defoliate your tridents????


jamie

Jamie, best to do the elm just before summer. Did you defoliate late winter? In brisbane mine wont drop unassited. All my figs were defoliated late winter also but havnt done that well due to the up and down temps over the last month or so.

Oops, i missed a page...

This means I can defoliate my sick trident? I have been waiting until December/January but it is dormant at the moment and I would love to remove all the disfigured leaves, respray with the fungicide and see if the problem has been solved. Inner Sydney.... can I safely defoliate a trident now??? Re 'sick'. The leaves are deformed but the tree pushed out its standard crop and there is no basic weakness in the tree itself.

Tim wrote:Jamie, best to do the elm just before summer. Did you defoliate late winter? In brisbane mine wont drop unassited. All my figs were defoliated late winter also but havnt done that well due to the up and down temps over the last month or so.

Tim wrote:Oops, i missed a page...

it wasnt the elm that went, it was a trident, and not the one i posted, but thats the other thing, the up and down temps. plus the way its been windy so much it has caused some problems to. so maybe i should wait for the weather to settle down before doing them???

i havent done figs yet either, but i know how strong my figs are and i might do them this weekend

hi all
when defoliating port jack fig in my area on advice given some years ago do early in growing season then around mid jan feed heavily till mid feb then defoliate completely leaves grow back but seem to harden of quicker at smaller size.hope this helps

regards michael

jamie111 wrote:hey noah, your further north than me, when do you defoliate your tridents????


jamie

Not sure why your trident never came back mate. What month did you do it, if you overwater after defoliation they can take longer to come back or may not at all. I did a liquid amber here last november and the thing sat in a dormant state all through summer (we are talking 35 degrees averages for 4 months, through last autumn and winter. Was still green under the bark so i watched my watering and hoped. 4 weeks ago i noticed the buds swelling and now its in full leaf again. That was 9months without a leaf on it. It must of used alot of stored energy. I did lose about 5% of branching but overall it appears strong atm. I cannot explain why it didnt leaf out within a few weeks? As for my tridents i do late november or later if i notice wind or sun burn to freshen the leaves. If the tree is heathy it should bud back quickly.

In hindsight, i would have waited. If you fertilise well before hand you will get a better result, this time of year. One of my small figs has slowed right down, hoping for good weather to continue!

the one that i defoliated would of been about the same time as you, nov.-dec. last year. it sat dormant but alive then about a month ago it had some buds swell and open ontop, 4 leaves came out of two buds, then got hit with wind burn, dried and shriveled off. then sat dormant again, then when i checked with the scratch test i had the oh bugger, RIP moment little trident.
the one i posted above i got in leaf from jow. it was in leaf when i got it and has been going nuts since then too.as i said it has hardened off somewhat to where i want so do you think defoliation should be ok? i dont want to lose this one, it has become a favourite


jamie

ps. i will post again so you dont have to scroll up.

tim, my elm has had a good fert program and has been pretty strong.

I defoliate once a year between boxing day and new years.
It makes it simple. I have time off and I dont have to worry about remembering and I have a whole week to not rush the process.
Maybe theres a more scientific approach but this seems to work for me.

From what you are all saying and looking at your geographical areas, I think I will err on the side of caution, keep feeding my trident and do it in mid December. I could consider partially defoliating it but when the big job was done any new leaves would be removed and I don't want to stretch the friendship. I'm Sydney, not Rockhampton or Brisbane and more patience seems a better thing.

a desert ash and a trident a month ago, theyre almost ready for another.
privetts yesterday.
will start on ficus this week too.