AusBonsai

Hi people,

I'm keen to hear of peoples experiences regarding defoliating Eucalypts - any species.
I am having a hard time finding information about it.
Does anyone have any experience defoliating Eucalypts?
What time a year has worked best for you?
Has complete or partial defoliation worked best for you?
How long has it taken the tree to show movement after defoliation?

Thanks.

I can't offer much knowledge atm but am currently pursuing, the act of defoliation via flame assistance.

I am only removing foliage by burning it off on several species of Euc. So far results are proving very promising, with profuse back budding on very old wood.

Waltron,

My two cents worth as Pup would say,


I am no expert on Eucs but I have tried full and partial defoliation on various varieties. The following processes I have used may or may not work for you. When I experimented with complete defoliation it was on polyanthemos and the resulting foliage was as big as a tennis ball. Since then I have trimmed back to two to three internodes were needed ( once a year ) and pinched back the tips of the new growth as it elongates. This seems to work with all the varieties I am working with currently( mannifera, nicholii, polyanthemos, sideroxylon and some unidentified ) It is also important to balance the foliage as you would a pine.


I hope this helps

Peter

Ignore the first thing Peter said. He is most definitely an expert on Eucs.

Jol

I dug up a eucylyptus last year, it defoliated itself and then came back real strong, gum trees were brought up on defoliation, wether thats by koalas or bushfire, I'm sure a healthy eucky would be able to be defoliated no problems, I was taught at the bonsai club that natives are fussy and don't like to be messed with, yesterday I threw a bucket full of full strength thrive fertilizer on it, lets see what it thinks about that

Some years ago I toyed with a E. maculata. I didn't defoliate it however a friendly grub did an expert job for me It was on the last leaf before I realised that the'branch' was infact a grub Long story short, my maculata never missed a beat. I would pinch the tips just like a maple which would promote new growth. This regime, when maintained lead to small leaves around the 2-3cm mark all over the tree. Hope this helps.

I have one on the go that I partially defoliated a while back, it responded really well with heaps of new buds. I also take off the biggest leaves every few weeks and are usually met with new buds where the old leaf was by the time I come to do it again. It is only a young tree and I'm still building the branch structure but in my experience even when trimming branches I usually get 2 to 3 new buds just back from the cut, it works really well to get that forked look our eucs have.

I have a euc here, not sure what type but about a month ago I broke off all the leaves and small branches and the tree has backbudded everywhere right down to the ground and its is nearly a metre tall, made me happy as previously only had a small amount of leaves at the very top. Now I'm going to try n layer her and hope for 2 trees.

good luck Nora