I've got this trident maple, Acer buergerianum, that I've been working on for about two years now. It's my pride and joy, but I'm having some trouble with leaf reduction this spring. I thought defoliating would help it along, but I guess I went a bit overboard. I stripped too many leaves at once, and now it's looking a bit bare. I was under the impression that this would kickstart smaller leaf growth, but I'm not seeing the results I hoped for. Can't say it's anyone's fault but my own. Next time, I'll try removing fewer leaves gradually—lesson learned.

Also, I gotta mention, fertilizing has been tricky with this guy. I used to think more fertilizer meant more growth, but with the trident maple, I've had to dial it back. When I fertilized heavily, the leaves grew back, but they were just as large or even larger than before. I'm now using a balanced 10-10-10 fertilizer but at half strength, and I'm starting to see some improvement. Spring's a good time to experiment with this since the tree's waking up. Anyone else have the same issues, or is it just me?