Can fig leaves be reduced in size?

[Mike Corazzi]

Cuttings off of yard fig. Rooted well but leaves are same size as yard tree.
Google wasn't any help.

Can they be reduced and if so, when and how? Defoliate?

 

[sorce]

Ramification in tiny pot culture!

Now!

Sorce

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Yes they can be reduced, but you have to think of the tree as a complex system where all the parts have to work together to get you smaller leaves and shorter internodes.

(1) The fig needs to be in a bonsai pot to restrain its roots. If the fig is in early development, and is planted in a large grow pot, it will push big leaves and long internodes.
(2) The more ramification, the better. If a fig has only a handful of buds, they will grow more strongly than if the same fig had 4x as many buds (but still the same root mass).
(3) Yes, defoliation will help. However it is a short term fix that will only work if (1) and (2) are already met. Defoliate a fig in an Anderson grow flat with only a handful of branches and few buds, and your leaves will still be large.

 

[AlainK]

From our late friend Michel Sacal:

http://www.espritsdegoshin.fr/forum-bonsai/topic.html?id=4543

Michel lived near Bordeaux, mild temperate weather (very rare frost).

He did leaf-removing in mid-July.

I saw this tree again in 2008, and after his death in one of his friends'care. It was thriving and the leaves were plenty, very small, one inch (2.5 cm) and less.

It's a pity Clem has had enough of being bullied, he would have posted updates.

 

[0soyoung]

It's a pity Clem has had enough of being bullied, he would have posted updates.

Teach him how to thicken up his skin to be a bit more like the thickness of yours.