Hi, I have a Chinese Elm. Last winter the Elm didn’t lost its leaves. I understand it is common on Chinese Elms. I am preparing for this winter and I would like to know if it is recomended to manually cut the leaves didn’t fall by temself.
Thanks in advanced,
Wilson.
I would not remove the leaves. It will drop its leaves if they cost more energy than they provide. Cutting them off deprive the tree of minerals and sugars that are in the leaves. The species and some of the cultivars are very cold hardy so keeping the leaves and continuing to photosynthesize when the temperature is high enough for water mobility makes sense. If the water in the tree is full of sugars this may well be below the freezing point of pure water.