Japanese Maple Leaf Reduction

[jimlau]

I have a Japanese Maple. About 10" tall from soil line. I don't know the variety. It has nice nebari and trunk line and taper.

Only issue is leaf size. These leaves are after defoliating. Can I expect more leaf reduction next season?

Also, does anyone know what this is worth? may sell it but not sure what to expect. Feel free to PM me on that.

Thanks.

 

[Hack Yeah!]

Leaves should reduce with ramification. I'd guess $50 maybe 100??

 

[SaltySea]

It looks like the dwarf variety 'Mikawa Yatsubusa'. I'm no expert but from what I've experienced with my own is that everything bar the leaves are dwarf. It's a small tree with short internodes. It looks grafted which could impact the price too.

 

[jimlau]

It looks like the dwarf variety 'Mikawa Yatsubusa'. I'm no expert but from what I've experienced with my own is that everything bar the leaves are dwarf. It's a small tree with short internodes. It looks grafted which could impact the price too.

What do you mean regarding i"s that everything bar the leaves are dwarf"?

Thanks

 

[SaltySea]

What do you mean regarding i"s that everything bar the leaves are dwarf"?

Thanks

Everything but the leaves. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[jimlau]

Everything but the leaves. Sorry for the confusion.

So leaves cannot be reduced any further to be in proportion to my small tree?

 

[Wulfskaar]

I think there are ways to reduce leaf size on Japanese maples. I am not qualified because I've never done it, but I'm sure some people here know the answer.

 

[River's Edge]

Only issue is leaf size. These leaves are after defoliating. Can I expect more leaf reduction next season?

Leaf size is also affected by care routines, Extra fertilizer, extra water for example. without understanding the background of your trees care, clear comments on the possible reduction in size of the leaves is suspect at best. Perhaps give the readers a sense of the amount, frequency and type of fertilizer used. Another significant factor is how long ago was the tree repotted, vigorous growth occurs the second year after repotting normally. Just some other aspects to consider.

 

[pmalelis]

So leaves cannot be reduced any further to be in proportion to my small tree?

Needs more ramification and they will reduce

 

[Shibui]

Leaves are solar panels for the tree. If it has 10 leaves they will need to be big so the tree can collect enough sunlight. If it has 100 leaves each leaf can be smaller and the tree can still collect the same amount of sun.
That's where ramification comes in. If the tree has 2 branches there's a limit of how many leaves can grow. If it has 200 smaller branches there's plenty of spaces for lots of leaves.
Defoliation by itself does not reduce leaf size. Defoliation is just one technique that helps ramify the branching which will gradually produce more and more twigs and shoots.
Trimming or defoliating early in spring usually results in more large leaves and shoots with long internodes. Pruning and defoliating in late spring or summer can give more restrained regrowth, depending on other factors already mentioned - nutrients, watering, repotting, soil type and more.

Small leaves is way more complex than simply defoliating.

 

[rockm]

Leaves are solar panels for the tree. If it has 10 leaves they will need to be big so the tree can collect enough sunlight. If it has 100 leaves each leaf can be smaller and the tree can still collect the same amount of sun.
That's where ramification comes in. If the tree has 2 branches there's a limit of how many leaves can grow. If it has 200 smaller branches there's plenty of spaces for lots of leaves.
Defoliation by itself does not reduce leaf size. Defoliation is just one technique that helps ramify the branching which will gradually produce more and more twigs and shoots.
Trimming or defoliating early in spring usually results in more large leaves and shoots with long internodes. Pruning and defoliating in late spring or summer can give more restrained regrowth, depending on other factors already mentioned - nutrients, watering, repotting, soil type and more.

Small leaves is way more complex than simply defoliating.

Yep. Defoliating is NOT really a method to get smaller leaves. In fact, you can wind up with larger leaves. Increasing branch ramification is what makes smaller leaves and it happens gradually. You can't just defoliate and BAM small leaves, doesn't work that way.

 

[River's Edge]

What can confuse the situation is if you defoliate later in the growing season, the new leaves will be smaller. And this is often done to prepare for fall shows. However as has been pointed out this does not cause a reduction in size for subsequent leaf structure. They were simply smaller due to the shorter development time and less energy to produce after defoliation.