Proper watering and feeding will give more energy to the tree increasing the leaf size and vigor of the tree. However low lighting will also cause bigger leafs. When a tree does not receive enough light it will create bigger leaves to catch more sunlight. Also it will create longer internodes. Internodes are the lengths in between leaves. If the leaves can’t catch light they form longer internodes so the branches are longer to reach further for the sunlight.
Don’t worry though, you can control leaf size. Please take into consideration fertilizing issues because they will affect the results of your efforts in leaf reductions if you don’t. However look at the base of the stem of your leaves. You will notice a new leaf bud right there. Just like a shark tooth waiting to replace a lost tooth a leaf bud is ready to pop to replace a lost leaf. If you remove the leave the new leaf will come in 1/3 smaller. Remove it again and it will replace 1/3 smaller. Don’t do it too often, or during dormant periods and you will have much smaller leaves.
Trident Maples grow pretty well in Central Florida, but tend to have their leave fry a bit in late July through August. So last year (as you may remember) I defoliated my maples to allow for a second growing season. This causes the tree to put a brand new flush of leaves, slightly smaller in size, but more importantly able to handle the hot sun.
So this year I again spent about an hour removing each leaf by hand. There were certainly more leaves than last year, but the tree is looking great. Lots of scars are healing over and the ramification has improved greatly. I am hoping for a new first bottom branch to develop. Last year I had one pop, but it didn’t make it this Spring.
There are some trees that I don’t sometimes remember why I added them to my collection, but with a trunk like this one, I’ll never forget it. It just needs a couple more years to develop and it’s going to be awesome.
This year’s winter in Florida has been the coldest one that I can remember. However one good thing is that it gave me a long time to do some major pruning, repotting, and even taking some photos. Here are just a couple of shots that I took recently.
Crape Myrtle - defoliated
I can’t believe that it has been 5 years since the dwarf crape myrtle branches were grafted onto this wonderful crape myrtle trunk. However the development continues to improve. It has a great shape and balance. This year it should be the year for this tree to shine. In on a few weeks the tree will begin to leaf out and the canopy should be very full and complete. Who knows how much better this tree will be in 5 more years?
Black Pine repotted
I took advantage of the cold weather to repot this pine. I didn’t really remove much of the root mass, but it is a much more expensive pot. I still have a lot of branch development to do on this tree, but it already has developed very well already. Next year we’ll try a smaller pot to show off this large base of this tree.
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.
Close up of Trident Maple bud
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.
2 leaf intersection
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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