Fagus sylvatica 1/ European beech

[KiwiPlantGuy]

Hi Alain,
Great tree, so cool to see these on Bnut.
A question about defoliating please.
Why do you defoliate?
Is it smaller leaves? Or activating back buds? Or both?
Lol, or something else ?
Charles

 

[penumbra]

I love all beeches. They are by far my favorite deciduous tree. I would probably never have attempted this but I bought a tricolor a couple months ago that I am going to work on this year. It was left at the nursery because the bottom of this 6 foot tree has too many braches for most people looking for a yard tree. I am going to try air layering the top 4 feet off for a landscape tree and refining the bottom for a bonsai.
BTW, that beech pictured is very very nice.

 

[AlainK]

Is it smaller leaves? Or activating back buds? Or both?

When I do it, I do it from early- to mid-June. The new leaves are smaller, and it's the opportunity to do a bit of wiring and trimming.

From what I saw, it doesn't backbud on small branches, but only when older branches (3-4 years) are removed.

 

[just.wing.it]

Great tree Alain!
Its a real beauty.
I thought defoliating beech was dangerous.....
You don't do it every year, do you?

 

[AlainK]

Great tree Alain!
Its a real beauty.
I thought defoliating beech was dangerous.....
You don't do it every year, do you?

Thanks.

Everybody around me told me beech shouldn't be defoliated, and that's also what I read on French forums. Until I read a post by Walter Pall saying that he did, sometimes up to three times in a season, so I tried it, and it worked. But where I live is probably drier in summer than where WP lives, Fagus is a mountain tree, and one year, it took some time to produce new leaves and I thought I might have killed it.

So I don't do it every year, and only when I feel it's strong enough (what's "when I feel?" - hard to say).

 

[Walter Pall]

Thanks.

Everybody around me told me beech shouldn't be defoliated, and that's also what I read on French forums. Until I read a post by Walter Pall saying that he did, sometimes up to three times in a season, so I tried it, and it worked. But where I live is probably drier in summer than where WP lives, Fagus is a mountain tree, and one year, it took some time to produce new leaves and I thought I might have killed it.

So I don't do it every year, and only when I feel it's strong enough (what's "when I feel?" - hard to say).

This is partially very wrong and dangerous informatiaon: I do defoliate European beech when it seems very healty. I do it around 4 to 5 weeks after foliage appears, in mya area around beginning of June.
I WOULD NEVER EVER DOI IT MORE THATN OCNE A EAR. DOING IT THREE TIMES A SEASON WILL ABOSOLUTELY KILL THE TREE!

This makes me angry

 

[AlainK]

I WOULD NEVER EVER DOI IT MORE THATN OCNE A EAR. DOING IT THREE TIMES A SEASON WILL ABOSOLUTELY KILL THE TREE!

Sorry I misquoted you

Thanks for righting wy wrongs, kills another social network legend in the seed