I was reading the book, Niwaki, which mentioned that in some Japanese gardens they remove leaves in very early summer or with summer transplanted trees to reduce transpiration. This supposedly produces better fall foliage, more brilliant colors. I have a few trees that have burnt tips that I would like to try this on but I have a few questions.

1.) Do I remove the petiole with the leaf?

2.) Would this be performed in young trees or just the older ones? I don't want to hurt my 1st and 2nd year trees.

thanks,Matt