Tamarack Defoliation

fourteener · Jul 14, 2014

It's funny how something you've done for a decade arouses such lack of belief. Here is the work of defoliating my Tamarack. The first picture is how it's grown this spring. The second picture is after trimming off all the whips. I left about a quarter to half inch of new growth.
The third picture is taken after every needle is plucked.

This was done Monday July 14th. I'm gonna guess it will take 10-14 days to see some movement. For now I will water very little as there is no transpiration going on without any foliage.

It took about an hour on this small-medium sized tree. A good pair of tweezers is a must.

fourteener · Jul 14, 2014

Here are some branch close-ups to compare as the new buds emerge. I bet 3-4 buds will emerge from places where there is a single bud now.

That means some bud plucking will be in order later.

davetree · Jul 14, 2014

Thanks so much for showing this. You just rip them off ? Why tweezers instead of fingers ?

fourteener · Jul 14, 2014

davetree said:
Thanks so much for showing this. You just rip them off ? Why tweezers instead of fingers ?

I use my fingers to get the bulk of it off, but when you get down to the end it's hard to grab the last few without damaging something. And yes I do start ripping them all off starting with the ones that point high and dangle low, as I get to the end of the easy part, I start at the tip of the branch and work my way back to the trunk.

evmibo · Jul 15, 2014

Seems like a good time to wire? I've always wanted to work with that species.

GrimLore · Jul 15, 2014

fourteener said:
It's funny how something you've done for a decade arouses such lack of belief. Here is the work of defoliating my Tamarack.

This was done Monday July 14th. I'm gonna guess it will take 10-14 days to see some movement. For now I will water very little as there is no transpiration going on without any foliage.

It took about an hour on this small-medium sized tree. A good pair of tweezers is a must.

Curious why you said lack of belief, nice tree btw

Grimmy

fourteener · Aug 1, 2014

Next Monday it will be three weeks since I defoliated this Tamarack. Right now the buds are green, but needles have not emerged yet .

Wednesday July 30th I spent 7 hours defoliating my 15 tree forest. I plan on trying to really be minimalistic in my watering as it comes back to life. Plants figure out how to live with what they get and I know I overwater them and get foliage that is too shaggy.

A few things I'm noticing about buds...on branches where I cut back to old wood the is very little ramification happening. On branches where I left two or three buds of the news years growth there is a lot going on.

The news pics are of the defoliated forest. We'll see if three weeks is their time frame as well. If so this might be a good State Fair prospect.

GrimLore · Aug 1, 2014

Must respect the dedication it takes to spend hours/days on a planting. I find both the American and Japanese varieties have the same bud back here as you get there. It took me awhile to "catch on" and work them right from the start even if they are in a grow box or the ground. They can get very leggy very fast if not. You have a keen eye keeping those nice and tight.

Grimmy

M. Frary · Aug 1, 2014

When you do this will buds pop out on the trunk? Or only justbranches?

M. Frary · Aug 1, 2014

When you do this will buds pop out on the trunk? Or only just branches?

GrimLore · Aug 1, 2014

M. Frary said:
When you do this will buds pop out on the trunk? Or only just branches?

I tried something different this year on one Japanese Larch and it back budded on the trunk in three places. I let the branches grow out 6 to 9 inches and it looked like a bush. I did not defoliate as the others but I cut back all the new growth to about an inch from where it started. Four weeks has passed and there are now three new branches on the trunk. When it goes dormant I will then take off the leggy stuff and start in Spring with ramification on all of it. It seems there may be even more new branches by the end of this season as well.

Grimmy

M. Frary · Apr 30, 2015

Don't know how to post links but I do know how to find threads I want. Talking about the defoliating of larch.

0soyoung · Apr 30, 2015

M. Frary said:
Don't know how to post links but I do know how to find threads I want. Talking about the defoliating of larch.

Though off topic, right click on the '#12' in the lower right corner of your post, Mike (this copies the permalink to the specific post). The drag you cursor to highlight the words you want to display as the link, click the little chain icon on the edit menu bar, paste (ctrl-v), and click the 'insert link' button. Alternatively you can highlight the url in your browser's address window and copy (ctrl-c) that. Then, ibid. (this latter method links to the entire thread, unless you left click on the #12 which will put the post's permalink in the browser address bar.

M. Frary · Apr 30, 2015

By Jove! I got it! Thanks!

Tamarack Defoliation

fourteener

Omono

Attachments

fourteener

Omono

Attachments

davetree

Omono

fourteener

Omono

evmibo

Shohin

GrimLore

Bonsai Nut alumnus... we miss you

fourteener

Omono

Attachments

GrimLore

Bonsai Nut alumnus... we miss you

M. Frary

Bonsai Godzilla

M. Frary

Bonsai Godzilla

GrimLore

Bonsai Nut alumnus... we miss you

M. Frary

Bonsai Godzilla

0soyoung

Imperial Masterpiece

M. Frary

Bonsai Godzilla

Similar threads