Ash defoliation

[Matt S]

I often find that my Desert Ash (Fraxinus angustifolia) stop growing around Christmas and will quite happily do nothing but hang on to their leaves until late Autumn. This is most common with more advanced trees that I pinch regularly, as those that are in training pots or in the ground will keep growing well into March. Whatever the reason the best solution is to completely defoliate to get another flush of growth. You can actually do this multiple times over summer if the tree is healthy enough, the most I have heard of is six defoliations in one growing season.

My shed floor is now covered in Ash leaves but I took some photos before I tidy up.

ash new wall Jan23.JPG

ASH Jan23.JPG

ash raft Jan23.JPG

The first two trees I've posted about elsewhere but I think this is the first outing for the raft. It was purchased about 8 years ago as a bonsai from the now defunct Spirit of Bonsai nursery, after which I planted it into it's current training pot and left for a few years to thicken up. Still a long way to go but the connected raft roots and mature bark are really nice.


Matt.

[Matt S]

Ooh, I found an old photo of the raft just after I bought it in 2013. What a difference a decade makes!

ash raft Jul 2013.JPG

Matt.

[TimIAm]

That raft is gold. It's interesting when you look back at old photos and realise that you saw something special in them. If I saw the before, I'd probably pass up.

There are trees I have which I know will be good in 3 years, but there's still no guarantee of something stunning. I wonder if you saw that raft when you bought it and had a plan and thought about how many years to achieve it.

[longd_au]

Tks Matt. This is really good advice.
My ash does the 'no grow' every year after the first flush and some selective elongation. With fear of further weakening the tree, I tend to let it be until it drops leaf.
This mean it takes a long time to ramify.

Will try defoliating mine later this week. Thanks again.

[Watto]

You have talked me into it Matt, I will work on mine this week.
By the way, I do like the first two.

[PWC]

I found this to be true recently after one of mine had a bad reaction to heat and wind, nature decided it needed defoliating and did it for me. I took all the dead leaf off and a week later was powering away. I then did the others a week ago and they are shooting away already.

[Raging Bull]

Thanks for showing these trees. They look fantastic! I love the bark on them and you've done a great job shaping them . Keep it going and please post an update when they are in full leaf.
Cheers, Frank

[longd_au]

Defoliated as advised.

DSC_0392.JPG

Thanks again.

[Matt S]

Glad to hear that I've inspired a few people to push their Ash trees, and thanks for the photo, that's a great example. Any more out there?

I wonder if you saw that raft when you bought it and had a plan and thought about how many years to achieve it.

I bought it because of the great base (not obvious in these photos) and the mature bark on the main trunk. New trunks don't take long to grow or thicken so I figured I'd be able to do something with it in a reasonable length of time i.e. before I drop off.

Matt.