AusBonsai

When you have a tree that really does not have a future or you can see no restyling in its current guise then you have a perfect opportunity to experiment with techniques you have read about but never tried. This little Cedar came to me when i took over the Bonsai barns stock and i thought i could move it on for a hundred bucks give or take. It sat and sat and sat. It presented to me a chance to try something i read about in Colin Lewis's "the Art of Bonsai design". It was to insert a wire into a tree to create more movement. I will give a blow by blow description with each picture. I reiterate that this is not my idea but when you start something like this you have to change some things to suit the present situation. The project took four hours and i wish i had someone to help from the start. My wife rescued me about 3/4 of the way through. It is a lot to put the tree through in one hit and i hope it survives its ordeal. Nevertheless, i did learn a remarkable amount about how much you can manipulate a tree and that alone makes it a success.

wow. a massive improvement there mate

Great work there mate Did the tree make it?? One other question what is that string u used, Where you get it? Looks kind a like thick twine, If thats how its spelt?

Hi Bodhi,

I realise I am only new to this but it amazes me some of the things that the experienced can do to a tree, things that a mere mortal would not even consider ...Thank you to yourself and the countless others for contributing your wealth of information to this forum, so newbies like myself may aspire to create these masterpieces ourselves one day....



cheers

Mick

If that tree did make it it is going to have some pretty awesome shape to it Is the scar on the one side of the tree going to completely heal over time? Or is that something no one can really answer at this stage..?

hi bohdi
that is one hell of a bending but i must say love the way you work
is the tree still alive
cheers dean

Nice Work Bodhi
Massive improvemnet and things like this is what we all need to do with boring stock.
It reminds me of my twisted Juniper I did last year and what I am trying to do to a Radiata Pine
Both of these are only with outside wire or benders. They are going really well tho

Ken

Just found the link here to mine
viewtopic.php?f=131&t=6410&start=0&hili ... uniper+ken

Way to go Bodhi,
Goes to show what thinking outside the square will do. Would you use a thicker wire inside the cut next time to enable bending without assisitance? Could you use two wires? Was the depth of the cut halfway thru the trunk, further, less? I like the end result.
Andrew

Thanks,All i can say was that it was a lot of fun to do.

Roka..it is a sisal twine that you can get most places. Time will tell if the tree survives or not.

Thanks loads Mick..It is because guys like yourself notice that we try to further our skills to share with fellow enthusiasts.

Kyushu..i will keep you posted on its progress and well being.

Dean..i will keep you posted also. To early to tell.

K.C.. thanks for the link. I remember it well.Glad yours are still going. Hope mine does to

G'day Andrew..the wire was already 4mm and the cut was definitely half way. I think if we also went in from the other side the tree would most certainly die. I think it would work o a thinner tree a lot better. It certainly helped achieving a more radical bend. In the end though it was only an experiment and now i want to see how the tree recuperates.

Hey Bodhi

Great work and great post mate.

I reckon tree will be fine (That's the glass half full)

Tony

Wow! Thanks for sharing bodhi! fantastic to see these advanced techniques demonstrated for us noobs!!
Look forward to updates in the future!

Tony Bebb wrote:Hey Bodhi

Great work and great post mate.

I reckon tree will be fine (That's the glass half full)

Tony

Thanks Tony, i am a glass half full type of guy myself

Thanks HBK..i will keep all posted on how long it takes to set in place and how its health goes.

Hi Bodhi,

I want to thank you. I too have an ugly Cedar, and your post has encouraged me to get stuck in and give it a whack! Here's my story posted together with yours as birds of a feather flock together!

I have been trying for ages to think what to do to this tree, and you can see why. Here it is before I got stuck in.
I couldn't figure it out, but then saw yours. I had a similar problem in that the tree was very straight and featureless with a good amount of foliage higher up and branches on only one side. Time to get set in with a router and biscuit joining bit!
Then in went two thick wires, a layer of elastoplast plaster and a a layer of plumbers tape. Added a few wraps of good solid wire and started to get some shape into it.
Problem I had was that the wire was not holding it, so I had to use cable ties to hold it in place once bent. I ran out of thick wire!!! I have also learnt that the branches on the outside of a bend tend to split away from the trunk at the top of the branch. One did and I had to wire it with heavy wire to get it back into place. Not sure if it will survive, but it is still connected at the bottom. So here it is after the main trunk was shaped. Gotta remember to cut the groove so that it stays on the back!
Then I decided to thin it out a bit to reduce the foliage mass and wire a few more branches into better positions. I gave it a bath in some Superthrive to help with the shock. Hope you like it, and thanks for the inspiration! I think it is an improvement. Now we hold thumbs that they both survive!

Nice work Bodhi and Andrew - now you got me thinking..... Lennard

Good onya Andrew, Nice work
Much improved

I was inspired by many posts of European collected trees on IBC, and Jow'sPost last year on how the japanese make nice stock by twisting and contorting trees while young.
Skippy ( where is he these days?), also did a similar thing to a radiata by splitting the trunk and wiring / taping / bending, but that one failed.

As we have seen here, there is no reason why we cannot do the same with older stock to give some nice material to develop. Our trees will still be a few years from show ready, but they will be infinitely better than they would ever be without the contorting

We just need to learn the limits to what we can do at a time with various tree varieties, and publish the results here for all to learn and benefit from.

Does anyone have thoughts on whether these techniques will work on Natives? Specifically our Callistimon? I suspect the trunks will break rather than bend but I may find out real soon as I have some tall ones that need to come down in size.


Ken