Bonsai Defoliation
To understand how this works let s review some information we ve covered in previous articles.
Bonsai defoliation. Bonsai defoliation or leaf cutting is a technique of bonsai styling in which all or a large part of the leaves and all buds at the end of each shoot of a bonsai tree are removed with a sharp bonsai scissors. This short video describes the essential task of partial defoliation of outer leaves in late spring early summer on well refined japanese maple bonsai and other densely ramified bonsai. After a few days e g. This technique should only be used on deciduous trees healthy enough to withstand this demanding technique.
Defoliation tends to cause ramification branching which in turn has the side effect of producing smaller leaves. The technique is used to reduce the leaf size thus making the replacement leaves smaller and in better scale to the tree s. Bonsai defoliation involves cutting all the leaves of a tree during the summer. The cambium layer in all plants consists of meristem cells.
Defoliation explained it has been a longstanding belief in the bonsai community that defoliation was used as a primary method to reduce leaf size but this is not the case. These cells are the only ones in the plant that can form into anything needed by the plant. 3 i have read the novice s defense in every bonsai book i own that defoliation of maples a should be done only once every other year as it weakens the tree excessively and b this is the last step in bonsai development the purpose of which is leaf size reduction. When to defoliate bonsai defoliation is done only after the plant has had a change to replenish reserves.
Deciduous trees invest a lot of their energy reserves in creating new leaves in early spring. Allow the tree to grow and develop a dense canopy before thinning. It forces the bonsai to produce a replacement set of leaves in a second false spring flush of growth. Horse chestnut the buds of the bonsai will sprout completely new.
In doing so you force the tree to grow new leaves leading to a reduction in the size of leaves and an increase in ramification. Chinese elm bonsai or weeks e g.