Prune as they occur - as soon as you notice them. Allowing them to mature further uses photosynthate that could be directed toward other parts of the plant. The leaves will be energy sinks until approx 75% mature - only then do they reach a break-even point and become net producers of energy.

Al

How old is your plant? Beni shichihenge is not a big reverter. It is true that your spring leaves should show the most typical and variegated foliage, but you can get atypical leaves or non variegted leaves without it being a true reversion.

A reversion will be clearly palmate while an atypical on Beni shichihenge will be about twice the size of the typical leaf, a medium green with pointed lobes and serrated margins and have little or no variegation. There can be other types, but this is the most common I have seen. Most of the time it is due to excess fertility in the soil.

Atypical leaves will usually become typical in the second year of growth (this is most commonly used to refer to summer growth or a second flush of growth) but a reversion should be cut back as soon as it is noticed. If it is no big deal and you are not sure, mark it with some green garden tie and see what happen next year or later in the year. If it is still reverted, cut it out. We had a large Tennyo no hoshi that would put out quite a bit of reverted growth that I pruned out usually in the spring of the year following its identification.

MJH

mjh & tapla ,thank you for the responses.Tree is 4-5 years.After looking at tree again saw that on the large green leafed branches there are one or two slightly veriegated leaves ,say out of 15 to 20 though these slightly veriegated ones are still much larger than the "normal" Beni Sch. leaves. Have not fertilized yet this season.