We reach that moment in spring, where new growth has extended and hardened off and we have this beautiful lush canopy.

You enjoy this for a while until you get the itch and you look for the scissors. You proceed to then prune it into shape. Great, you pat yourself on the back and it’s back on the bench.

Autumn rolls around, you enjoy the fall colours, but eventually they fade and you’re left with the winter silhouette.

You begin to notice…

Interior branching that was there weakened and maybe failed. Or/ and you didn’t get any new interior branching over the season. It’s beginning to look like the dreaded ‘pole’ with ‘fingers’ on the ends.

Where did I go wrong? What aren’t I doing? How do I get the ramification built from the interior like I see in Japan?

Partial defoliation is a major technique utilised to combat this.

As the terms suggests it’s pretty simple. You are removing a portion of leaves, majority being from the exterior of the canopy and leaving the leaves on the interior. Doing this towards the end of spring, species and climate dependant and before the buds on the interior are shaded out too long and die off.

What does this simple technique do?

It empowers the interior growth. The sunlight can now reach the interior of the tree and the interior branching can gain vigour rather than decline.

Enjoy those lush trees, but don’t forget the maintenance that will keep them improving year after year.