Who defoliates oak? Suber?

Mike Corazzi

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Opinions seem to differ. Mine is growing very large NEW leaves. And in full sun.
 

Potawatomi13

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Personally remove larger leaves to encourage branching, new growth on weaker branches. Also possibly smaller leaves😉.
 

PaulH

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Healthy oaks can be defoliated. Cork oaks especially will bud back enthusiastically when completely defoliated. I've even removed all of the branches and grown a whole new branch structure from the hundreds of adventitious buds that pop all over the trunk.
 

Mike Corazzi

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Dammit, I meant Robur!
Does that make it different?
 
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Dammit, I meant Robur!
Does that make it different?

I would imagine so, given that suber is mediterranean and evergreen, whereas robur is neither of those. All the same, I have head that all oaks respond well to defoliation. But I have no direct experience with robur, so someone else will need to fill you in.
 

SevenOaks

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I am just going to put it here, in case someone else in the future looks for Quercus Robur and defoliation:

I had to remove all the leaves on one of my oaklings due to rust spots (learning how to water correctly). It was a bit slow in coming, but now the little one (about 9 cm high) is sprouting leaves again. Others have had several leaves removed and are still going too.
 

RKatzin

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Counterpoint, I've never defoliated my oaks. I never thought it necessary. They respond very well to pruning and trimming creating lots of backbudding and branching. Obviously something you can do, but do you really need to?
 
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