wrote:

I heard or read somewhere that crabapples respond poorly to
defoliation: the leaves come back just as big. Hopefully they
will reduce as the tree
becomes twiggier.
Iris


FWIW I tried defoliating one of my crabapples, a wild collected
specimen, a couple of
years ago. I saw no change in leaf size. This is why my
crabapples and apples are on
the large side.


OTOH, I have a 7 inch common pear whose leaves have reduced from
about 4 inches to about 3/4 inch. It has been in a mame/shohin
pot now since the early 90s.

It -- patting myself on the back -- won first prize in our clubs
"Shohin showdown" last weekend. ;-)

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Who won 2nd
and 4th, too. :-X

************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by John Quinn++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++