It was not even two weeks ago that I removed the leaves from my large Trident Maple, and today the leaves are already popping.  It has been a very hot and sunny Summer, so the risk of too much sun is always a concern.  However with leaves popping all over the tree I know it will be a very short time that this tree has its canopy back.

Here is a close up of one of the branches.  The brown stem on top is where the leaf was removed.  The large shoot to th right was the small bud at the base of the old leaf.

Here is another example of the end of a branch where two leaves were removed.  Although this looks to be one bud, there are two.  One formed at the base of the old leaves.  I’ll be sure to post future pictures to show how the size of these leaves were reduced by removing them.

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The weather today in Orlando was a high in the lower 90′s and sunny.  However in my back yard it has turned Fall for my Trident Maple.  Our growing season lasts for about 9 months here, and in the middle of Summer trees slow down a great deal and practically go dormant.  During that time we are able to defoliate our deciduous trees to gain a second growing season.  In effect, we can get two full growing seasons in one.

If you remember last year I let this tree grow for the entire year without really doing much to it, but you’ll also remember that I had areas along the trunk that failed to produce new branches.  I defoliated it this year for a number of reasons.  First to get a good look at the growth along the trunk.  Second, to let more light in so that branches that are developing can get more sunlight (these branches I left the leaves on).  Third to take advantage of our long growing season. 

I had a set back this year as my first (and most important branch dies) however the great news is that a new branch has begun to develop in an even better location.  With the leaves removed this branch can begin to thrive while the rest of the tree grows back its leaves.

However don’t worry this tree will recover.  When a leaf is pulled off a new one will grow a thrid smaller.  This is good to know for when the tree is ready for show to reduce the leaves.  In the picture above you can see the new leaves ready to grow.  It should only be a few weeks before the tree is once again leafed out.

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The Trident maple has begun to fill in but as you remember I opened this tree up pretty well.  So I have a lot of bare areas that need to fill in.  Also I broke the first main branch as I was trying to bend it, so now I need to develop a new one.  This tree really needs a lot of work, but I think it will come along quickly.

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So I got a chance to take a look and the trident maple now that the leaves are gone. What appeared to be a lot of new growth wound up being not very useable. The problem was that the growth from the lower part of the tree blocked out growth from the upper section, so no new branches near the top of the tree.

As you can see I was able to bend many of the branches down as planned. However what I exposed were few branches near the top.

Keep in mind, I am only focusing on developing the basic structure of this tree, not complete branches. The Secondary and Tirshiary will come in following years. So I am using wiring and bending, along with Clip and Grow to develop this tree.

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