AusBonsai

just a few pictures to show you guys what size leaves mature trees can reduce to and maintain . This tree is a good 20 years old and about the last 2-3 years it has steady reduced its leaf size. even exptended new growth does not increase in size much . Ive been tip pruning abit that has helped but mainly the tree is doing its own thing . The tree is about 60 cm tall and I repot this annually so its not excessive root bound by any means ........

Sorry maybe I missed it there, is this with defoliation or another technique?

No defoliation just tip pruning on what I would call a mature tree where branch growing out has occurred . It just seems this tree has reached a stage where the leaf size remains constant even if I allow a branch to extend a foot or two.

interesting indeed, i'll have to watch what happens are more branching develops on my ones to see if a similar thing happens.