I purchased a lovely trident maple bonsai last year and it is doing quiet
well. It is extremely health and has a beautiful shape. My question is why
would the leaf stems be so long? Some are in excess of 4 inches. I visited
the National Arboretum yesterday to look at a number of trident maples and
the trees there have very short leaf stems. I clip new shoots to one or two
sets, but 99% of the leaves are on stems in excess of 4 inches.



What am I doing wrong, or what do I need to do to shorten these stems?



Thanks for your suggestions.

Stephen

Stephen Moran wrote:
I purchased a lovely trident maple bonsai last year and it is doing quiet
well. It is extremely health and has a beautiful shape. My question is why
would the leaf stems be so long? Some are in excess of 4 inches. I visited
the National Arboretum yesterday to look at a number of trident maples and
the trees there have very short leaf stems. I clip new shoots to one or two
sets, but 99% of the leaves are on stems in excess of 4 inches.



What am I doing wrong, or what do I need to do to shorten these stems?



How large is the tree?
How large are the leaves themselves?
Do you keep it in the shade?
How and with what do you fertilize?
Were the petioles that long when you bought it? (Probably
not, or you wouldn't ask. Or, was it leafless when you
bought it?)
Have you ever defoliated the entire tree?

Defoliate a part of the tree. Then, try using a fertilizer
with no or much less nitrogen. And, try keeping it in more
sun. Let us know if the leaves in the defoliated area come
back with shorter petioles.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Nature
encourages no looseness, pardons no errors. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Stephen Moran wrote:

I purchased a lovely trident maple bonsai last year and it is doing quiet
well. It is extremely health and has a beautiful shape. My question is why
would the leaf stems be so long? Some are in excess of 4 inches. I visited
the National Arboretum yesterday to look at a number of trident maples and
the trees there have very short leaf stems. I clip new shoots to one or two
sets, but 99% of the leaves are on stems in excess of 4 inches.

maybe it is the variety of the trident you have, exists quite e few ones
and not all are the same
but the leave often does
beware with too much fertilizer or watering
try to reduce that way if it does not work it is the variety
I checked on my trident that is following and intense fertilization program ,
the longest stem is 5 cm =2 " long ,the normal is 1.5 cm more than half an inch ..
more teh branches frow longer more teh leaves gets bigger and stems longer





What am I doing wrong, or what do I need to do to shorten these stems?



Thanks for your suggestions.

Stephen