Is there any kind of disease at play?

I recently posted about this tree in questions section, so I apologize if this seems like a double post. It occurred to me that this might be some kind of disease that I'm not aware of, and I wanted ask for your expertise.



Both leaves are from the same species(Ulmus Pumila) but from different plants. The smaller leaves belong to a specific tree which has significantly smaller leaves. From my observation, I haven't seen any powdery substances or bugs. The Leaves don't have spots and everything seems to be in decent condition. Is there anything you guys see that would indicate any kind of disease?

If you guys want pictures of the whole tree, I'll try to take some tomorrow.

Both look very healthy. One just grows bigger leaves. Does the smaller one have a lot more leaves? If it does then there is your answer. It has smaller leaves because it can spread out its sun absorption through smaller and more numerous leaves. Pics of both trees would help to solve this mystery.

Jkd2572 wrote:Both look very healthy. One just grows bigger leaves. Does the smaller one have a lot more leaves?  If it does then there is your answer. It has smaller leaves because it can spread out its sun absorption through smaller and more numerous leaves. Pics of both trees would help to solve this mystery.

I'll do my best to get pictures tomorrow. We're set for a ton of overcast/rainy weather so it might be hard.

The thing that is puzzling me is the coloration of the smaller leaves. This sounds strange, but the best way I can describe them is to say that they look like candied fruit. They also feel slightly different, almost like a succulent plants leaves. The normal leaves are thinner and more papery, while the smaller ones feel thicker and slightly leathery. Now that you mention it, I can see the correlation between more leaves and the leaves being smaller. On the other hand, what would cause it to produce more ramified branches with smaller leaves? It's had identical growing conditions to the other trees.

More than solving the mystery, I want to make sure this tree isn't sick.

Pics of the total trees would be helpful. Need to see total foliage between the two. Once again both trees look healthy.

The environment that the trees were growing could affect the leaf size. Also leaf sizes can vary from tree to tree.

Chill. There is no disease. Where did the seeds come from? As far as I can tell, the trees with larger leaves are Siberian elm. The specimen with small leaves is Chinese elm. Get rid of the Siberian elms or put them in a hedge. They are inferior for bonsai. Keep the Chinese elm. It is good bonsai material.
Iris