In a message dated 6/26/2003 9:36:20 AM Eastern Standard Time,
writes:

I was wondering if defoliating the sacrifice branch was the proper/safest
thing to do even though it is contradictory (slows girth growth) to the
purpose of the sacrifice branch. I was concerned that if I left the leaves
on the sacrifice branch the tree, might give up on the, fairly well
developed, top.


Doug:

Healthy Tridents (and Maples in general) can be defoliated several times in a
season. However, I would recommend (1) selectively defoliating burned or
damaged leaves to improve cosmetics and (2) targeting extremely robust areas for
defoliation to accelerate growth in weaker areas of the tree.

Cordially,

Michael Persiano
members.aol.com/iasnob/index.html

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