Should I defoliate my stubborn maples?

[LanceMac10]

BRTs weeds here...

I still like you @Clicio but my BRT's want to stick you with their thorns!!

 

[Clicio]

I still like you @Clicio but my BRT's want to stick you with their thorns!!

Did you know there is a thornless variety of BRT? Same beast, different feeling...
And I happen to have a cork bark young BRT, doing well. Full of thorns, though.

 

[fredman]

The two factors that mostly triggers dormancy is the amount of daylight hours and the subsequent temperature drop. I don't think the tree has either of that in your climate. As a result the tree will be confused I would think.
Don't know how much (if any) it'll impact on the tree's health. You'll have to do some research on that.

 

[Clicio]

The two factors that mostly triggers dormancy is the amount of daylight hours and the subsequent temperature drop. I don't think the tree has either of that in your climate. As a result the tree will be confused I would think.

Hummm...
Perhaps, but days get shorter, nights longer, there is much less light intensity, it gets colder. Today it was 11°C in the morning.
Fact is many deciduous trees know exactly when to go dormant (dropping all leaves) and out of dormancy here, so there is surely enough triggers for them. I wonder if it is not just a matter of adaptation to a different climate.
Just strolling around my street right now:

 

[leatherback]

Finally! some pictures. I was wondering why this thread was so booriing!

 

[Clicio]

Finally! some pictures. I was wondering why this thread was so booriing!

Because we need your testimony!
And them pix!

 

[leatherback]

Sao Paulo stinks. Even your spring is hot.
Bleuh.

Wish I was there.

 

[leatherback]

What temperate people thinks is acontinuum, for tropicals is huge swings in temp and humidity. Summer. Winter. Maybe not. But certainly seasons. Something triggers the wholesale flowering at the same time.

 

[leatherback]

Ecuator..

The Forest That Blooms Brilliantly for Just a Few Days a Year

In southern Ecuador, flowering guayacán trees paint the landscape yellow—but not for long.

www.atlasobscura.com

 

[Clicio]

What temperate people thinks is acontinuum, for tropicals is huge swings in temp and humidity. Summer. Winter.

If one realizes that Brazil is almost a continent by itself, from the Equator/Amazon jungle up north, to the cold pampas and mountains in the far south, then of course we have many different micro climates and of course one can't think of Brazil as "that huge tropical oneness" .
It can snow in the south; it can be cold for months up in the mountains.
But Copacabana is what lives in the imaginary of most people.

 

[Clicio]

Ah, on a side note, thank you guys!
I didn't defoliate after all.

 

[leatherback]

Copacabana

ahhh.. yeah!

And that when there are japanese gardens to visit!