Defoliation and Wiring

[florida_bonsai]

About a month ago i bought, what I believe is, a little ulmus parvifolia. It has been growing like crazy so I went in to do a little pruning on it today. While I was pruning i noticed that the foliage was very dense, almost overwhelmingly so. I know that, since I live in soth florida, my growing season is longer than most so my question is when would be a food time to defoliate this tree and work on wiring the branches. Also how do i defoliate an elm? Do i remove the entire leaf and leave a stem, cut off a portion of the leaf or remove the entire leaf structure from the branch?

Photo 1: tree comes home
Photo 2: today before pruning
Photo 3: today after pruning (there is a basil bush in the background and it looks like its growing from the left side of the tree)

All photos are from the same side of the tree. Not sure whether it is the front or not, still trying to decide.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[M. Frary]

You really don't need to defoliate Chinese elms or most other elms for that matter. If you're looking for smaller leaves they get smaller from the regular cutting back of new shoots. If your looking for ramification you get that from regular cutting back of new growth. Every time you cut the tip of a branch off the tree will push new buds back along the branch to form new branches. The best time to wire these is in the late winter when there is no leaves so you see the branches better. In the spring when it starts growing again check the wire every so often for biting in. 3 to 4 weeks and you can take the wire off.

 

[florida_bonsai]

You really don't need to defoliate Chinese elms or most other elms for that matter. If you're looking for smaller leaves they get smaller from the regular cutting back of new shoots. If your looking for ramification you get that from regular cutting back of new growth. Every time you cut the tip of a branch off the tree will push new buds back along the branch to form new branches. The best time to wire these is in the late winter when there is no leaves so you see the branches better. In the spring when it starts growing again check the wire every so often for biting in. 3 to 4 weeks and you can take the wire off.

Thanks Mike! For the time being I'll continue to let it grow and cut it back and when January/February/March rolls around I'll look into getting some wire on it.

I'll post more pictures when I get to that stage.

 

[Stan Kengai]

Thanks Mike! For the time being I'll continue to let it grow and cut it back and when January/February/March rolls around I'll look into getting some wire on it.

I'll post more pictures when I get to that stage.

Where you live, this plant will be, at least, semi-evergreen. That means that it will not go completely dormant, losing all of its leaves, in the winter. Consult people who live near you and have experience with this plant for the best time to defoliate, but I would think you could easily defoliate at the end of "winter" and again in mid summer, if your plant is healthy.