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Trident Maple Leaf Pruning:
What?
Leaf pruning is the cutting of mature leaves from a tree. Leaf pruning can remove all leaves or it can be done on selected parts of the tree for particular purposes.
How?
Use leaf pruners or shears. Cut at the base of the blade of the leaf. There are at least three kinds of leaf pruning:
- whole tree pruning, where every leaf of the tree is removed;
- partial leaf pruning, where a single branch or any number of branches have the leaves pruned, short of the entire tree;
- and single leaf pruning, where large leaves or leaves with long petioles are pruned individually after they have matured.
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When?
Leaf pruning is done when the first set of leaves have matured. In Colorado this usually means mid or late June. Usually there is only time for a second set of leaves to grow in our short growing season. My tridents come out in February so I can sometimes leaf prune at the end of April and have new foliage by show time--mid-June.
Why?
Leaf pruning is used to control the direction and quality of growth of the tree and its branches. Leaves are the food factories of trees. Removing leaves requires the tree to use stored food to produce a new set of leaves. Leaf pruning:
- reduces leaf size;
- increases fall color if trees are placed in full sun for development of the second set of leaves;
- reduces internodal length;
- increases adventitious nodal bud development and, therefore, branches and branch ramification;
- reduces the size of the growth in the leaf cut area when partial leaf pruning is done.
Bud Pinching] [Branch Pruning] [Leaf Pruning] [Repotting]
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