How much, if any, shaping of a potential collected bonsai should you do when the plant is in the ground? Would you ever put wire on a tree while it is planted in the ground. I have several potential bonsai in my backyard that I am wondering about.

rtmann wrote: How much, if any, shaping of a potential collected bonsai should you do when the plant is in the ground? Would you ever put wire on a tree while it is planted in the ground. I have several potential bonsai in my backyard that I am wondering about.

Impossible to answer without knowing species, age, shape.

I would never put wire on a tree in the ground though.

I wire plants when convenient. Several of my junipers and larch are wired while in the ground. Personal preference, really.

leatherback wrote: I wire plants when convenient. Several of my junipers and larch are wired while in the ground. Personal preference, really.

Why I don't do that is because I would expect them to grow faster so the wire grows in more quickly ?

I prefer to not get straight trunks and branches

leatherback wrote: I prefer to not get straight trunks and branches

True... but I don't like scars.

There is a tree at the Pacific Bonsai Museum that is used as an example of using weights hung from branches, rather than wires. It is to give an example of an early technique. They are using rocks wrapped with string.

I use this method with fishing weights for trees that become brittle when the growth hardens, and are far more maleable while growth is green. For these trees, that green growth can be very fragile, and a small weight works, although only in one direction!

My trees in the ground have some minimal wiring: a western hemlock and a giant sequoia. I check those trees as part of my daily bonsai rounds, so I'm not worried about scars. They will be in the ground for several years yet, and without some initial training, they are not likely to develop any character on your own.