You take all the leaves off of a healthy tree ONCE a
year in about June.

What you do otherwise is called pinching, because it
should be done when you can pinch tips with your
fingers, but you can use shears. Please see ah
er...illustration? below:

*=Leaves
- = branches

* * *
A -----/---/---/---*
\ \ \
* * *
^
here now

* *
/ /
B ---------------------------*
\ \
* *

What you want to do is pinch when the branch looks
like"A". You want to leave the two leaves closest to
the branch. If you wait until "B" you can see the
internodes get longer. You will get new branches from
the base of the leaves remaining. Repeat until all
the leaves fall of in fall.

Kitsune Miko




--- MadSweeney wrote:
i live in los angeles, zone 10, and we just had a
couple weeks of rain
followed by a week long hot streak, on top of normal
spring sunlight. my
trident maple (age unknow but a 1.5-2" diameter
trunk) has really filled out
with leaves quickly. i read on another post that
you can clip the leaves of
a trident 2 or 3 times in the growing season. is
this true? and if so when
is it time to do it?


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************************************************** ******************************
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+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++