When taking a hardwood cutting how many leaves should I leave on the cutting?

[KennedyMarx]

I just made a hardwood cutting from my willow leaf ficus and stuck it down into my regular bonsai soil. Should I just leave one leaf at the top of each of the branches or leave it as is? Right now it has several at the tops of the branches. I wasn't sure whether it would root better with more foliage to drive root growth or the added foliage would take nutrients away from root growth.

 

[jk_lewis]

Maybe 2 leaves per branch. HOWEVER, this cutting is leading directly to a "Y" shaped tree -- a slingshot tree. I think I would remove the larger "branch" and go with the other one with a couple of leaves left on it.

 

[Poink88]

That looks fine. If it cannot support it, it will just drop the leaves.

I have several Willow Leaf cuttings w/o any leaves to begin with and they burst out like crazy after a month.

Due to the time of the year & your location, are you keeping it inside? If you do, put a plastic dome over it to keep humidity up. Good luck!!!

 

[GrimLore]

That looks fine. If it cannot support it, it will just drop the leaves.

I have several Willow Leaf cuttings w/o any leaves to begin with and they burst out like crazy after a month.

Due to the time of the year & your location, are you keeping it inside? If you do, put a plastic dome over it to keep humidity up. Good luck!!!

Honest - What he said as long as you can keep it moist it will grow like crazy - my experience as well

 

[bonsaibp]

Actually warm and moist is the key.