Defoliation Techniques

Which trees can I defoliate?
Most deciduous trees can be defoliated, but be sure to check out Tree species guides as some trees will not react well to this technique. Do not defoliate weakened trees (due to recent repotting, pruning or disease) or trees that are still in training.

Defoliation can also be used to reduce growth in specific parts of the tree; you might for example defoliate the top part of the tree while leaving the bottom part untouched, in doing so you restore balance in the tree.

When?
For most Bonsai tree-species December is the best month to defoliate, leaving enough time to grow new leaves and prepare for the winter season. The exact moment depends on the tree; defoliate after the new spring-growth has hardened off.

How to defoliate a Bonsai tree
Cut the leaves using a twig shears, leaving the leaf-stalk intact. Using the right Bonsai tools, like a leaf cutter, will help significantly. Check the step by step guide below for detailed information.
A defoliated tree does not need specific aftercare. When only partially defoliating a tree (for example, only pruning the top part of the tree) you better place the tree in the shadow for about a month to protect the exposed interior leaves. Also, in areas with very strong sun you can shade your defoliated trees to protect the bark from getting sunburned.

How to defoliate a Bonsai

 This is a Ficus tree in early summer, the right time to defoliate it.

A close up view on the top of the tree. If we want the apically dominant growth of top to be redistributed to the rest of the tree, we can choose to defoliate only the top of the tree.

We use a leaf cutter, but you can also use a normal twig shear.

For most tree species, we prune the leaf but leave the leaf-stem intact.

We defoliated the entire top section of the tree now.

In this case, we decide to defoliate the entire tree as our goal is to create finer ramification (not redistribute growth).

The tree after defoliation, which took about an hour in total.