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Juniper shaping 4 years 11 months ago #48579

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Hey guys, I understand that my wiring is very screwed up but I have decided to leave it on regardless. Anyways, I made a twist into the trunk, but I'm not very sure if this is the greatest idea. I wish to make this one of a kind, and am really thinking of which ways i could bend the trunk. If you have any tips or ideas, please tell me! Thank you.

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Juniper shaping 4 years 11 months ago #48583

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Hm.. You want to blunt and honest reply here?

I think you butchered the little think. :)

The wire you used looks almost like regular steel wire. For bonsai we typically use aluminium (Or, if more experienced, Copper) wire. This is much softer and allows you to put the wire on the trunk without ripping of the bark. It is a skill one needs to train in order to apply without accidents. It looks like you tried to put it on, but just did not manage to do this in neat coils.

THe reason for wanting it to be somewhat neat, is not just because it looks pretty. If done well, the wire supports the branches when bent. THe wire on the outside of a bend will reduce the risk of the branch breaking.

That being said.. The damage is done. So not stay away from it. Just water. Sun. A bit of fertilizer if you see this starts to push healthy growth. The damage to the back may not be too much for the tree and it should pull through. Do NOT remove the wire now. You will only damage the tree more. If you like the shape it is now, leave the wire on until fall. By then the trunk should have set in the shap you have wired it too, assuming good growth.

If you d not like the shape you have created, you could remove it earlier. But I would wait a month of two before removing it. And if you remove it, I would use wire clippers to clip it off, and not wire it off: This wire feels too stiff.

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Juniper shaping 4 years 11 months ago #48584

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and am really thinking of which ways i could bend the trunk. If you have any tips or ideas, please tell me! Thank you.


As to your specific question..
In winter (!) once the tree has recovered look at wiring the bottom section of the trunk. If a tree is completely straight for the first part of the trunk, and then gets twisty, you created a very unnatural looking tree. Either the trunk is twisty, starting right at soil level, or the tree is smoothly undulating to completely straight. And this patterns is repeated into the branches. Straight trunk: Straight branches. Coiled trunk: Coiled branches.

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Juniper shaping 4 years 11 months ago #48587

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Is there any way I can support new growth along the tree? Yes, I did kind of "butcher" it

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Juniper shaping 4 years 11 months ago #48588

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You may get new branches once the tree gets healthy (Which you can tell by looking at the new growth. If you see one branchtip take off, and extending well outside the existing grow the tree is at full health again. The growth is called a runner). Once you get runners, you might get new buts along the trunk, depending on the species and age of the trunk. Yours is still young so I would expect to get some backbudding.

Cutting back long runners (Say, you have shoots of 10-15cm pushed) may help induce backbudding .

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