AusBonsai

I have a large, healthy Liqiudambar that could be a bit root bound, (its been in the same "larger size" pot for almost 3 years)..... I know the best time to root prune deciduous trees is early spring as the buds start swelling (that is my plan). But i am wondering about leaf pruning....

((I have only ever defoliated Figs!))..... My gut tells me i could get away with a full defoliation now... maybe even two this season... but considering it may be a little root bound and i will be root pruning it at the start of next grow season... is this wise?

Thanks
NS

It is my understanding that when a liquidambar is defoloated we should not expect too much. Leaf size does not easily reduce as it does with many other species.
One strategy which you could employ in this case would be to remove a few large leaves daily, and keep your plan for a late winter / early spring repot.

Gerard wrote:It is my understanding that when a liquidambar is defoloated we should not expect too much. Leaf size does not easily reduce as it does with many other species.
One strategy which you could employ in this case would be to remove a few large leaves daily, and keep your plan for a late winter / early spring repot.

Thanks! And good info on board!... What i am looking for is ramification... i think if i refresh the leaf growth it may show love in lots of places that would normally be shaded.... the next boom of growth will be spread over a larger area.....
It is sad that Liquidambar leaves don't reduce in size well!!...... ohwell never give up i say
NS

has anyone more info on when to defoliate to maximize new branch structure?
NS

Gerard has great advice for you there. from what i know the ideal day for defoliation with maximum reshooting is boxing day, good luck matey

NaturalSelection wrote:

Gerard wrote:It is my understanding that when a liquidambar is defoloated we should not expect too much. Leaf size does not easily reduce as it does with many other species.
One strategy which you could employ in this case would be to remove a few large leaves daily, and keep your plan for a late winter / early spring repot.

Thanks! And good info on board!... What i am looking for is ramification... i think if i refresh the leaf growth it may show love in lots of places that would normally be shaded.... the next boom of growth will be spread over a larger area.....
It is sad that Liquidambar leaves don't reduce in size well!!...... ohwell never give up i say
NS

There was an elderly gentleman in the bonsai society of Victoria ( Jack Tripovitch ) who used to pinch off any liquidambar leaves that were large. He managed to get the leaf size down to fingernail size, similar to a trident maple leaf. This is a technique for a finished bonsai in a bonsai pot. Not for a tree growing vigorously in a poly box with the rapid growth method.

As a general rule you should be piching/cutting off the larger leaves as it grows, and keeping the smaller ones, this generally applies to most trees grown for bonsai purposes,

I actually defoliated mine today.
I want to build the branches and ramification on it now so have defoliated and then cut back the tips on each branch now so they start to ramify ( hopefully)
The rest of the season, I will just cut off leaves as they grow too large for the tree.


Ken

I have a Liquidambar that was one of my first trees it was collected in 1987 when I knew nothing of them. I have and do defoliate every year on Boxing day, for two reasons ramification and leaf reduction. the tree is large at nearly 1 metre, with the leaves at about a 50 cent piece or smaller ramification is good.

The only thing with them is I have never been lucky with cuttings, seed is OK aerial layers also inarch grafting good but no bloody luck with cuttings.

Cheers Pup

Pup wrote:I have a Liquidambar that was one of my first trees it was collected in 1987 when I knew nothing of them. I have and do defoliate every year on Boxing day, for two reasons ramification and leaf reduction. the tree is large at nearly 1 metre, with the leaves at about a 50 cent piece or smaller ramification is good.

The only thing with them is I have never been lucky with cuttings, seed is OK aerial layers also inarch grafting good but no bloody luck with cuttings.

Cheers Pup

Have you tried semi-hardwood or hardwood cuttings? I have a few liquidambars one which I have 3 air-layers on atm, and I took a number of cuttings off it when I set the layers. I have taken many cuttings prior to this on various Liquidambars to no avail, but they were all softwood cuttings (I used "clonex"). It seems every softwood cutting has died except one which is hanging on (barely) But the semi-hardwood- hardwood seems to be doing fine (I used hardwood rooting powder on these). Although I am unsure how long cuttings take to root, they are definitely putting out new growth, and showing no signs of dying anytime soon