Seagrape defoliation?

I'm wondering if anyone can tell me of their experience with defoliating a seagrape. I bought a beautiful plant and this summer I will be potting in a bonsai pot. I would very much like to reduce the leaf size but I am reluctant to defoliate without more knowledge and some guidance.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jane

Jane,

Khaimraj is the only person in the world who grows this tree.hehehe. and oh! another piece belongs to Jose Luis. you can send them PM if they don't see your post I am sure they are willing to give you inputs,,,lot of inputs.

regards,
jun

jun wrote:Jane,

Khaimraj is the only person in the world who grows this tree.hehehe. and oh! another piece belongs to Jose Luis. you can send them PM if they don't see your post I am sure they are willing to give you inputs,,,lot of inputs.

regards,
jun

Inch to inch and a half leafsize.. ..used as an accent planting here:

-dorothy

Jaybird wrote:I'm wondering if anyone can tell me of their experience with defoliating a seagrape. I bought a beautiful plant and this summer I will be potting in a bonsai pot. I would very much like to reduce the leaf size but I am reluctant to defoliate without more knowledge and some guidance.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jane

Sea grape can be defoliated totally. I have done it in two that I have. When the new leaves appear they will be in a light purplish color. At that time stop the watering until the leave turns green. This will help you out reducing drastically the size of the leave. Hope this helps.

Regards

Ortiz

dorothy7774 wrote:

jun wrote:Jane,

Khaimraj is the only person in the world who grows this tree.hehehe. and oh! another piece belongs to Jose Luis. you can send them PM if they don't see your post I am sure they are willing to give you inputs,,,lot of inputs.

regards,
jun

Inch to inch and a half leafsize.. ..used as an accent planting here:

-dorothy

...and a little one belongs to Dorothy...I stand corrected. hehe

ortizdhs wrote:

Jaybird wrote:I'm wondering if anyone can tell me of their experience with defoliating a seagrape. I bought a beautiful plant and this summer I will be potting in a bonsai pot. I would very much like to reduce the leaf size but I am reluctant to defoliate without more knowledge and some guidance.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jane

Sea grape can be defoliated totally. I have done it in two that I have. When the new leaves appear they will be in a light purplish color. At that time stop the watering until the leave turns green. This will help you out reducing drastically the size of the leave. Hope this helps.

Regards

Ortiz

Ortiz,

Thanks for the tip regarding further reduction of the leaves. I have one in training but it is nowhere near the state of development (leaf size and branchlets) of Khaimraj's and Jose Luis' specimens, nor for the matter, Dorothy's.

Jane,

There is an old post in which Khaimraj and Jose Luis both displayed their sea grape trees you could look for

Though I have never done it on mine you can fully defoliate sea grapes.
Would be good to see a picture of your plant, it would help the more experienced growers to offer further advice if you desire it.
I'll post a recent pic of mine later if possible.

Nigel

Jane,

I normally fertilize for one month and then defoliate. My humidity would be around 60 to 55 % and the tree would be in full sun from 6 to 6.
Watering is normal.

I use a different philosophy to the other growers. The more healthy and vigorous the plant, the greater the desire to put out buds. The full sun then stunts the growth, as does the plant trying to grow more than normal number of buds.
I normally defoliate only around March to April [ the height of our dry season.]

Please test any ideas on an expendable seagrape thingee and not your pride and joy.

Hello Nigel---------- no, I am not back, just hopping around.
Stay well you two.

L.L.B,

I mischievously wish you healthy and happy Bonsai with BIG LEAVES

Laters All.
Khaimraj [ laughing, L.L.B can always make me smile from ear to ear. chuckle.]


Grown from the seedling stage [ two leaves ] from around 96.

A little larger, but my baby .....................
Probably close to 30 something years.
Khaimraj

Khaimraj Seepersad wrote:A little larger, but my baby .....................
Probably close to 30 something years.
Khaimraj

Khaimraj,

I see you've retired your old tape measure.

Nigel

Nigel,

you are a classic - ha ha ha ha.
Good one.
Khaimraj

Hey Nigel,

I just defoliated the bigger seagrape, I got over 70 leaves, as single leaves on branchlets, now I am going to try for 140 leaves.

Hey imagine if I can get the leaves to about 1" [ 2.5 cm ] in size and at 140 in number.

I also need to scrub the tree, as some sort of ruffled fungus [ looks like the edible Chinese black fungus ] is trying to grow on a few of the branches.

Wish me luck.
Khaimraj

Khaimraj,

Good luck with that fungus, hope it has not set in yet.

All the best to reaching your leaf count, BTW have you ever tried the technique Ortiz mentioned earlier in this thread about withholding water once the leaves emerge to reduce size. Of course, I know you are more interested in increasing branchlets than leaf reduction but maybe smaller leaves may lead the tree to think it has to put out more leaves to achieve the same level of production it had before the defoliation.

Just a thought, it may lead somewhere

I think I'll try it on mine and let you know.

Regards,
Nigel

Nigel,

I use full sun, and normal watering, after 1 month of fertilizing. The idea is that the tree will attempt to put out more buds and in doing so under our sun, the greater number of leaves will force the tree to share the energy, reducing the size of the leaves.

I got a few 1" [ 2.5 cm ] leaves and the largest was just 2.5" [ 6.5 cm ].

Note also I am using the lower humidity to also control the leaf size, it is coming up to the height of the dry season for us, and the buds should appear in 2 to 3 weeks.
[ today it may rain - ha ha ha ]

Also cut back my buttonwood from seed to see how the leaves will work out, ditto the test fustic.

As you asked, the white pine from Japan, may not have a top temperature higher than 30 deg.C and even then for maybe just a few days. So even our temperature in the shade might damage it, Still, a seed might have a back-up gene in there, who knows ?
[ After all, the whole world was supposed to be tropical at one point. ]

I may also be at my genetic limit with this seagrape, as I recorded one lost branch, when another small one grew in.
Oh so many tests. chuckle.
Later will greater.
Khaimraj