Hi all,

I'm interested in your advice and opinion.

I have 2 Fig trees that I'm growing primarily for ornamental purposes (fig bonsai). I let one go dormant and kept the other awake all winter under a light.

Here comes spring, the dormant one is awake and leafed out, the one that was awake all winter is doing great as well. However, some of the leaves look... not unhealthy, but worn out? I've heard that Carica grown in climates that don't allow for a dormancy will shed their older leaves over time. I'm wondering if it makes sense just to defoliate, which would encourage new leaves that are more efficient photosynthesizers, as well as ramification (I have numerous buds that would immediately start growing new branches if they were encouraged to do so)? Or are the leaves just "nicely hardened" and perfectly fine - I should let them fall off naturally?