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Sat, Nov 8, 08 at 20:00
| Hi everyone my question is about a cherry blossom tree. It has a formal upright 1/4" trunk and it is about 10" tall. I bought this pre bonsai cherry this summer and repoted it in a ttraining pot to let the roots grow and to thiken the trunk.
When i bought the tree it only had one leaf at the internodes and there were about 12 intersections going up the tree. The buds at the base of the leaves were well developed and looked like they might put out one more burst of growth before winter. Well, about a month ago 5/12 of the single leaves fell off at the bottom but didnt go all the way to the top. I wasnt sure at first if I should pull the rest off since I thought it might go in to shock. As i predicted it was in fact puting out the second growth at the bottom and by the time i had pulled off the rest of the leaves there was already five shoots coming out of the first 4" of the tree that all had at least four leafs. This caused the nodes at the top half to not get enough energy to put out their second growth. My question now is. Do I have time to do one last prune on the botom shoots to force the growth in the mid and top sections to grow to the same maturity as the bottom. Thus concluding that next year i dont have an unproportionate tree from top to bottom. Also I live in Gilbert AZ and the average temp lately has been in the 70's, and not one of my trees has started to show signs of fall color or going into hibernation. So I think that my trees will be able to grow for at least another three weeks till they go into a hibernative state. do you think i should leave the cherry alone or go for the trim? thanks for the help. Elijah |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Elijah, better a disproportionate tree than a dead one. Seriously. If you pull(ed) leaves off now, however warm it might seem to you, you stimulate new leaf growth alright, but the tree still knows it's autumn and even if it puts out new leaves, they will be killed by frosts as you'll have turned their schedule upside down. In other words, they may put out new leaves, but those won't be programmed (now) to begin falling, and if all are killed off instead, the tree will likely not survive, never mind the stress of having been 'asked' to put out one crop too many this year. Stop trying to play god and find something else to fiddle with if you need it, but give your trees a chance to live. |
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- Posted by betula_pondula (My Page) on Sat, Nov 8, 08 at 23:35
| sorry this is only my third year growing bonsai. but thank you |
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| Don't be sorry - I should be. What I shouldn't do is write anything at midnight when my brain has mostly switched off! |
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- Posted by betula_pondula (My Page) on Mon, Nov 10, 08 at 18:23
| its fine. thanks again |
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