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Defoliating a Japanese maple

May 6, 2022 by Jonas Dupuich

My shohin Japanese maple grew well this spring which makes it a good candidate for defoliating. I removed the leaves, pruned a few long shoots, and covered the surface of the soil with moss.

Before defoliating

Before defoliating

After defoliating

After defoliating – 7″ tall

When the new shoots begin to emerge, I’ll pinch them the same way I pinched them at the start of the growing season. I’ll plan to fertilize the tree in summer when the new leaves have hardened off.

Pacific Bonsai Expo Update

Last weekend marked the end of the submission period for the Pacific Bonsai Expo. We’re thrilled with the submissions that came in and are even more excited to see the trees in person. For everyone who submitted their trees, thank you!!!

Over the coming weeks we’ll be following up with submitters to get missing information and photos before sending the trees to the jury. Once we have the results back from the jury we’ll provide notice of which trees were selected for the exhibit, likely 4-6 weeks from now.

We’re planning to make tickets available around that same time, likely in mid-June. Stay tuned for updates as the date approaches.

Upcoming Events

The East Bay Bonsai Society and the Bonsai Society of San Francisco are hosting their annual auctions in the coming weeks. Here’s the info.

Bonsai Society of San Francisco Auction: Thursday, May 12, 2022 at the Recreation Room of the San Francisco County Fair Building from 7PM – 9PM. Bonsai, pre-bonsai, ceramics, tools, print publications, and all other items bonsai-related will be up for auction. All proceeds for the auction will go to funding the club’s operations.

East Bay Bonsai Society Annual Auction: June 8th at 666 Bellevue Ave., Lakeside Park Garden Center (Lake Merritt) in Oakland, California. The auction will start at 7:30 p.m. with a preview at 7:00 p.m. It will include established and starter bonsai trees, pots, tools, etc.

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Filed Under: Bonsai Development Tagged With: Defoliating, Japanese maple

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ricci says

    May 6, 2022 at 7:49 am

    Hi,
    I’m not 100 percent sure why you defoliate the tree? Is it to keep the leaves small? I have a robust trident as well. Should I do this now? Every year?
    Thanks
    Ricci

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      May 6, 2022 at 10:45 am

      The main reason for defoliating a Japanese maple is to slow the tree down so it produces smaller internodes. It’s common practice for trees in the later stages of development when you want to improve the branch density. It’s typically done once per year, but not more than that. If the tree isn’t growing strongly, cutting back to two leaves, removing every other leaf or leaf pruning are good options.

  2. Victor Taboada says

    May 6, 2022 at 9:10 am

    Hi Jonas. I always heard that of the maples only the trident should be defoliated. For Japanese Maple the recommendation is to cut the shoots to one pair of leaves and, if needed to improve light/air penetration, one of the leaves in the par can be cut.

    What are your thoughts/experience on this for Japanese Maple? I have a couple that could use the total defoliation, but I am unsure of being so aggresive.

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      May 6, 2022 at 10:42 am

      Hi Victor! Very healthy Japanese maples can be fully defoliated. I’ve tried a number of approaches for this tree and thought I’d fully defoliate this year and see how it goes. You can see some good examples of fully defoliated maples from Peter Tea.

      • Victor Taboada says

        May 7, 2022 at 8:19 am

        Thanks Jonas!

    • Zack Clayton, CBS Editor says

      May 10, 2022 at 11:40 am

      Victor, these techniques will work on any of the maples common to the United States. Kieth Scott, once Bonsai Curator of the Phipps conservatory advocated defoliation of maples in the spring. He was also a member of Columbus Bonsai Society. In his estimation Acer rubrum, red maple, was one of the best American species for bonsai. With leaf pruning sugar maple, rock maples, and the many hybrids that occur naturally will all reduce leaf size to acceptable levels.

  3. Alex V says

    May 7, 2022 at 12:27 pm

    Jonas,

    This tree is really starting to mature and looks great. Nice work and good write-up!

    Alex V

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      May 8, 2022 at 7:30 am

      Thanks, Alex!

  4. Lloyd M Christiansen says

    May 16, 2022 at 6:53 pm

    When removing the leaves, how far back on the shoot should you cut? Just enough to remove the leaf or, say, halfway back to the origin of the shoot?

    Thanks.

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      May 19, 2022 at 10:59 am

      Hi Lloyd – I leave a small amount of petiole when I cut the leaves. it doesn’t matter where you cut along the petiole, but it looks nicer when I cut closer to the buds.

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