AusBonsai

Has anyone tried letting a banksia's bark role over like the (frowned upon) method of thickening Japanese Black Pine?

I would guess the Serrata and perhaps the Integrifolia may lend themselves to this method, with Ericifolia & Marginata perhaps showing the scarring over the long-term.

Does anyone have previous experience? Otherwise, I'll have to be the guinea pig...

In my limited (N=2) experience, they thicken pretty fast as is, so I’m not sure how much cage wiring might add. Plus I find banksia bark to be a big part of their appeal, and cage wiring might risk that. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, though - let us know how you go!

Agreed and it’s certainly not a complaint on the speed of thickening. It’s more they have the characteristics to hide the scarring.

I’m waiting on serrata tube stock at my local, but will wire up some integrifolia in the mean time!

My understanding of cage wiring is to wire very loosely so you don't mark the bark. It sounds like you mean leave the wire on and let it heal over??

Personally I would never recommend this. Even for Junipers and JBP like I've seen done. Letting them scar fairly deeply and then heal seems to me a better option. I have had a couple of trees where wire has been left it. A JBP I cut back and found wire. I was going to jin the stump but the wire meant I had to cut back harder and try to heal the cut. And a juniper I put a shari in only to find wire embedded. I wasn't happy with either.

Putting some tight bends down low and removing the wire when you still can will give better results Banksia will thicken really rapidly in pots, particularly when root bound.

dansai wrote: ↑April 28th, 2025, 4:53 pm My understanding of cage wiring is to wire very loosely so you don't mark the bark. It sounds like you mean leave the wire on and let it heal over??

Yes, apologies the terminology wasn't quite right - I do mean letting the bark role over and then absorbing the wire.

Agreed - I've personally had good results on deep scarring junipers, never fully letting it envelop the wire. Pines I have seen decent results after enveloping the wire, but the application and spacing is very important.

It's more a thought into the abyss - I'll give it a go and see what kind of Serrata-Frankenstein is born.

dansai wrote: ↑April 28th, 2025, 4:53 pm
Personally I would never recommend this. Even for Junipers and JBP like I've seen done. Letting them scar fairly deeply and then heal seems to me a better option. I have had a couple of trees where wire has been left it. A JBP I cut back and found wire. I was going to jin the stump but the wire meant I had to cut back harder and try to heal the cut. And a juniper I put a shari in only to find wire embedded. I wasn't happy with either.

To this, i agree that would be frustrating. Though this is probably less of a concern for Banksias, that don't usually lend themselves to sharis & jins.

The other issue with this technique is the tree will do whatever it deems fit to deal with the wire left on. You really have no control over the outcome.
As an example, I have an Austrian Black Pine with wire embedded (unintentionally) that has taken it upon itself to "heal" over like this ... Clearly there are now big taper issues as it swelled around the wire more in some places than others in order to deal with the wire.
There is nothing to say that the tree won't deal with the wire in a way that is like you intend, but there is nothing to say it won't either... it's a crap shoot.
Just a heads up in case this isn't something you have considered.

Ryceman3 wrote: ↑April 29th, 2025, 10:44 am
Clearly there are now big taper issues as it swelled around the wire more in some places than others in order to deal with the wire.
There is nothing to say that the tree won't deal with the wire in a way that is like you intend, but there is nothing to say it won't either... it's a crap shoot.

Appreciate the heads up - overall I don't love the outcome for JBP. As you say, it's easy to create inverse taper (especially if your wire spacing is inconsistent or if your wire isn't tight near the base).

I'm only going to try it on Serrata tubestock, I think the others will look horrible. I'll also do some without any wire bite just to have something easy to compare to.

Banksia is by far one of the most prone species to bulging. What you suggest would easily encourage that and if you don’t like reverse taper, you’re going to be in a world of hurt.

I’m with most responses, in that Banksia is the fastest thickening tree I grow. It’s faster than figs for me. Actually, that’s not quite true, Eucalyptus would be the fastest for me. But I don’t even wire banksia at all. You usually get so many options and so quickly and the branches take quite a while to harden up that I don’t see the point to your suggestion.

Most native trees when they encounter a tightening, often shoot below this to counter a problem they detect might impede the growth. This results in a mass of new shoots usually around that area and Banksia thicken VERY quickly when they have bar branching.
The ONLY way to counter reverse taper in Banksia is then to either cut it off before that, or cut back on the bulging area over time. It’s redundant in my opinion, but good luck