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Looking out for swelling on recently wired branches

June 2, 2015 by Jonas Dupuich

Spring is a time of year when bonsai grow fast. That’s cause for both celebration and caution. For trees that have been wired, spring is when the wires are most likely to cut in.

A casual glance at trees that have been wired often isn’t enough.

Black pine

3 1/2 year-old black pine – the wire looks ok from here

Wire

The wire looks good up close too

Turning the tree around, however, reveals a spot where the wire is cutting in.

Wire digging in

The wire is cutting in

It looks like the wire was a bit tight at this spot. To prevent it from getting any worse, I removed the wire.

Removing wire

Removing the wire one section at a time

Wire mark

The wire mark

I left the wire on the lower branches as these wires have yet to cut in.

After removing main wire

After removing the main wire – the lower wires remain

The next tree I picket up also looked good at a glance.

Black pine

Young black pine

It looked good up close, too, so I’ll leave the wires in place for now. I’ll check again next month as the tree is growing quickly.

Black pine

Wires are tight but not digging in

I went though all of my young pines today and found quite a few with wires that needed removing.

Black pine

Wire looks good on this side

Wire digging in

On the other side, the top turn on the trunk is cutting in

Wire digging in

Swelling around the wire

Wire mark

After removing the wire

As these trees are young, minor marks like this aren’t a significant problem. Letting the wire cut in a bit is good as it can help set curves and cause the trunk to swell – a good thing if this happens near the base of the tree and not higher up.

Some trees lost their shape a bit when the wire came off. The plan is to prune and re-wire in fall or winter.

Black pine

Wire cutting in a bit

After removing main wire

After removing the wire

More mature trees need checking too.

Black pine

11 year-old pine

I’ll be decandling this tree in a couple weeks, but don’t want any further swelling on the fine branches so I removed the wire today.

After removing wire

After removing the wire

Some varieties thicken up more quickly than others – pay especially close attention to deciduous varieties like trident maple and conifers like Western juniper.

✕

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Filed Under: Bonsai Care Tagged With: Black Pine

Previous Post: « Displaying a Korean hornbeam
Next Post: Review: The Bonsai Beginner’s Course »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. பிரபுவின் says

    June 5, 2015 at 12:21 am

    wow.superb post.

  2. turoart says

    June 10, 2015 at 6:26 am

    Hi
    i’m curious about what is the expected trunk movement in the big curve of this tree http://dupuich.smugmug.com/Bonsai/Development/Developing-young-Japanese-black-/i-LQfHrKw/0/S/20150602-57-backyard-S.jpg

    When the tree grow this kind of curve will be smooth or it will look similar to the way it looks now?

    Regards, pura vida!

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      June 10, 2015 at 8:40 am

      Ha – very good question about the big bend. I expect to remove the top part of the trunk and use one of the side branches to become the new leader down the road. The curve is there to bend the escape branch away from the branches I want to keep so they get more light and to keep the tree from getting tippy.

  3. turoart says

    June 10, 2015 at 2:13 pm

    thank you very much for the explanation,

    please keep sharing your process in those early stages of development, there is little info about it

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