Funny thing, deer have been pruning for thousands of years but have no idea of styling, you'd think they would learn something by now!!!!

With the size of the leaves you're gonna need a lot of trunk or it won't look good at all, hope you can either grow more trunk or reduce the leaves.
Something you can do to stop them: try it on one leaf first to make sure it can take it---use Hot Sauce and spray the leaves, after a while they will stop eating that. Old landscaper trick for azaileas and rhodes.

Bob

Hey, Bob!
You'd think that *I* would learn by now how the deer operate...! Ah well, the deer must have been
truly desperate if they were willing to browse the "stink leaf." Or maybe these deer are just that dumb!

I've moved my trees to a fenced area, so I shouldn't have to worry from here on out. I tried hot pepper
as a deterrent in the past, but I found that it didn't have the lasting power I needed.

As to the leaf-size....well, this tree will never make a good bonsai. I figure I'll keep chopping it back
to the base, until it either craps out or gives me a satisfying, re-sprouting stump.

Josh

This is where I keep some of my trees.
Completely fenced, not a chance of anything other than a raccoon working its way in. In the front, I have a Calocedrus decurrens (Incense cedar), two California Blue oaks, a "trident" maple seedling, two Ailanthus, one Osage, two California buckeyes, and in the back, a Cryptomeria - 'Sekkan Sugi.' Here's a family portrait.

{{gwi:14162}}

Josh

@Ry2Tree2 Bonsai, I got rid of the tree a long time ago.

I'd like to see your plant, though.

Josh

Ill try to remember to post an update once I dig it. Our ground is still mostly frozen in Ohio lol

I wish I could see the photos! For years, I've thought, "A 'weed-tree' (ailanthus) would make a GREAT Bonsai, because it's so fast growing and resilient!" Finally, a week ago I saved one small seedling growing in an empty pot of soil in my backyard, and put it in it's own small pot for now. I removed all the leaf clusters but one, and left the growing tip. I removed half the tap root. After a week, the tip has turned into a small healthy leaf cluster and the one I left has grown to twice its size. The trunk has grown about two inches. I just started looking for other experimenters online with the Heavenly Trees. Apparently, the fact that it's extremely fast growing might cause problems, as well as other problems like leaf size not diminishing in spite of bonsai training? If anyone knows of any successful work at Bonai-ing a Tree of Heaven and/or photos, please share it! I will hopefully be able to share my experiment soon.

They are magnets for Spotted Lantern Fly, a very invasive insect from China. It is very dangerous to grape vines and hop vines as well.

People asked for pictures so here you go! This one I dug from next to a dumpster in my neighborhood this past spring. There are so many mature specimen in the area that seedlings pop up everywhere, but most are very straight. I imagine this one got ran over by the dumpster to make its curves lol. The top had very large leaves a week or two ago but it got a little water stressed at one point and is now regrowing those leaves. The bottom leaves have stayed that size - possibly 1/2-1/3rd the usual leaf size. This gives me hope that the leaves can reduce with good technique as it gets older.

The leaves assuredly will not reduce as it gets older.