I wired this Fuji Cherry over the Winter and now it needed it removed due to rapid growth. This posed a problem due to all the dense leaves. I remembered that a few years ago it was attacked by caterpillars in early Spring and it responded by producing new leaves. I decided that I would have a little experiment and defoliate the tree. I could them trim back the extension growth to the first couple of nodes and remove the wire with ease. It had only managed to hold onto one cherry. I left this on for enjoyment.

Here it is before. I had already trimmed back the strongest growth as this stage.

and after defoliation.

I looked as best I could to see if cherry bonsai were ever defoliated but couldn’t find anything online. I’ll be interested to see what happens and what Autumn colour I have this year, if any!!!