bonsai paste

August44

Omono
Messages
1,879
Reaction score
1,338
Location
NE Oregon
USDA Zone
5-6
Can someone recommend a good quality Bonsai paste that is easily applied and maybe different colors that would match bark somewhat. I have tried the yellow stuff...easy to apply etc, but why does it have to be so obvious...bright orange? I just bought the two tubs of paste (from Japan), one for conifers and one for deciduous. Very stiff/thick and tough to apply. I did buy some here in town, the black stuff that looks like tar and even smells like it. There has to be a better product out there. Help appreciated. Thanks!
 
Messages
141
Reaction score
158
Too many questions and not enough answers. This topic has been done to death. Quit being lazy and google it
 

Mellow Mullet

Masterpiece
Messages
3,967
Reaction score
11,229
Location
Mobile, Alabama-The Heart of Dixie
USDA Zone
8-9
Too many questions and not enough answers. This topic has been done to death. Quit being lazy and google it

Why don't you not be lazy and answer the questions? Why would you use Google when you are a member of a bonsai forum?
 

markyscott

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
6,112
Reaction score
21,382
Location
Delaplane VA
USDA Zone
6B
The yellow stuff you’re using is Top Jin. It has it’s place. It’s kind of like wood glue - it’s an orange liquid and it dries hard. It contains Thiophanate-methyl, the same fungicide in Cleary’s 3336F. I’ve mostly used it on cuts where I’ve had a little rot as a moisture seal and then applied some other kind of cut paste over the top of it.

For big cuts, I really like duct seal (click). It’s really exactly the same as the bonsai version. If its not pliable enough, I mix it with a bit of neem oil so that I can work it. I always have a big tub of it handy.

For small cuts, I really like this kind of cut paste:
D21DC8C2-23BF-4ECA-94CA-83775AF2AFF9.jpeg

It goes on as a liquid and dries kind of pliable. It doesn’t seem to get caught up as much in the callous tissue as the wound heals over and it can be removed pretty easily if you need to take it off. A little bottle goes a long way as long as you have the duct seal handy for big cuts. You can get it here.
 

August44

Omono
Messages
1,879
Reaction score
1,338
Location
NE Oregon
USDA Zone
5-6
The yellow stuff you’re using is Top Jin. It has it’s place. It’s kind of like wood glue - it’s an orange liquid and it dries hard. It contains Thiophanate-methyl, the same fungicide in Cleary’s 3336F. I’ve mostly used it on cuts where I’ve had a little rot as a moisture seal and then applied some other kind of cut paste over the top of it.

For big cuts, I really like duct seal (click). It’s really exactly the same as the bonsai version. If its not pliable enough, I mix it with a bit of neem oil so that I can work it. I always have a big tub of it handy.

For small cuts, I really like this kind of cut paste:
View attachment 233590

It goes on as a liquid and dries kind of pliable. It doesn’t seem to get caught up as much in the callous tissue as the wound heals over and it can be removed pretty easily if you need to take it off. A little bottle goes a long way as long as you have the duct seal handy for big cuts. You can get it here.

Thanks for the input and the links and the detail. Peter
 

Dav4

Drop Branch Murphy
Messages
13,017
Reaction score
29,696
Location
SE MI- Bonsai'd for 12 years both MA and N GA
USDA Zone
6a
Can someone recommend a good quality Bonsai paste that is easily applied and maybe different colors that would match bark somewhat. I have tried the yellow stuff...easy to apply etc, but why does it have to be so obvious...bright orange? I just bought the two tubs of paste (from Japan), one for conifers and one for deciduous. Very stiff/thick and tough to apply. I did buy some here in town, the black stuff that looks like tar and even smells like it. There has to be a better product out there. Help appreciated. Thanks!
I've used this duct seal paste for years and love it... pick up a 1 pound block at HD for $3. I've recently started using the liquid paste that Markyscott is recommending... more expensive but easier to successfully apply to smaller cut wounds and more effective with species that don't callus well.
1553339016830.png
 

Forsoothe!

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
6,878
Reaction score
9,248
Location
Michigan
USDA Zone
6b
One of the Myth's of Gardening... The research showed that there was no difference from using many different kinds of dressing and using nothing at all, except some made the wound worse by harboring this or that pathogen or interfereing with the tree's own chemistry. To wit:

MYTH 5 Tree wounds need dressing
Countless generations of gardeners have painted tar or paint on wounds after lopping off branches. It was believed that, without protection, trees would be vulnerable to pests and disease. That myth was conclusively debunked in the 1970s and 80s by Dr Alex Shigo of the US Forest Service. Shigo was a passionate tree specialist whose theory of compartmentalisation of tree decay changed the way trees are pruned. He showed that, when trees are injured, they respond with chemical and physical changes, forming barriers that stop or slow the spread of disease and decay to the rest of the plant.

In 1983 in the Journal of Arboriculture, Shigo published results of 13 years of research on wound dressings. Applying tar does nothing to aid this process but can provide a home and protective layer for pests and fungi, he showed. It also inhibits the process of compartmentalisation.

In spite of my being in possession of this great and incontrovertible evidence, I still paint shut all JM wounds greater than 1 1/2" in my yard. And in some cases it doesn't help at all. Stupid is as stupid does?
 

Adair M

Pinus Envy
Messages
14,402
Reaction score
34,873
Location
NEGeorgia
USDA Zone
7a
One of the Myth's of Gardening... The research showed that there was no difference from using many different kinds of dressing and using nothing at all, except some made the wound worse by harboring this or that pathogen or interfereing with the tree's own chemistry. To wit:

MYTH 5 Tree wounds need dressing
Countless generations of gardeners have painted tar or paint on wounds after lopping off branches. It was believed that, without protection, trees would be vulnerable to pests and disease. That myth was conclusively debunked in the 1970s and 80s by Dr Alex Shigo of the US Forest Service. Shigo was a passionate tree specialist whose theory of compartmentalisation of tree decay changed the way trees are pruned. He showed that, when trees are injured, they respond with chemical and physical changes, forming barriers that stop or slow the spread of disease and decay to the rest of the plant.

In 1983 in the Journal of Arboriculture, Shigo published results of 13 years of research on wound dressings. Applying tar does nothing to aid this process but can provide a home and protective layer for pests and fungi, he showed. It also inhibits the process of compartmentalisation.

In spite of my being in possession of this great and incontrovertible evidence, I still paint shut all JM wounds greater than 1 1/2" in my yard. And in some cases it doesn't help at all. Stupid is as stupid does?
You know, I figured someone was going to bring this up, and I figured it would be you!

Those studies are for species we don’t use for bonsai, and they’re conducted on types of wounds we don’t make when doing bonsai. And they conducted on trees grown for lumber, not for aesthetics. Everything we do in bonsai is concerned with aesthetics.

They also used “tar” as the sealant. Would you use tar on bonsai?
 

Dav4

Drop Branch Murphy
Messages
13,017
Reaction score
29,696
Location
SE MI- Bonsai'd for 12 years both MA and N GA
USDA Zone
6a
One of the Myth's of Gardening... The research showed that there was no difference from using many different kinds of dressing and using nothing at all, except some made the wound worse by harboring this or that pathogen or interfereing with the tree's own chemistry. To wit:

MYTH 5 Tree wounds need dressing
Countless generations of gardeners have painted tar or paint on wounds after lopping off branches. It was believed that, without protection, trees would be vulnerable to pests and disease. That myth was conclusively debunked in the 1970s and 80s by Dr Alex Shigo of the US Forest Service. Shigo was a passionate tree specialist whose theory of compartmentalisation of tree decay changed the way trees are pruned. He showed that, when trees are injured, they respond with chemical and physical changes, forming barriers that stop or slow the spread of disease and decay to the rest of the plant.

In 1983 in the Journal of Arboriculture, Shigo published results of 13 years of research on wound dressings. Applying tar does nothing to aid this process but can provide a home and protective layer for pests and fungi, he showed. It also inhibits the process of compartmentalisation.

In spite of my being in possession of this great and incontrovertible evidence, I still paint shut all JM wounds greater than 1 1/2" in my yard. And in some cases it doesn't help at all. Stupid is as stupid does?
It might be a myth in your yard, but it is an undeniable fact in mine that the cut paste hastens callussing of wounds on my potted trees.
 

Forsoothe!

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
6,878
Reaction score
9,248
Location
Michigan
USDA Zone
6b
You know, I figured someone was going to bring this up, and I figured it would be you!

Those studies are for species we don’t use for bonsai, and they’re conducted on types of wounds we don’t make when doing bonsai. And they conducted on trees grown for lumber, not for aesthetics. Everything we do in bonsai is concerned with aesthetics.

They also used “tar” as the sealant. Would you use tar on bonsai?
The species are made of wood, they are in an environment less hospital than a bonsai on a bench in my yard (I'm not so sure about your yard) where they are less exposed to evil pathogens (I'm not so sure about your yard), and the studies were conducted by scientists that have bona fides (I'm not so sure about your yard), and conducted in a manner accepted by the scientific community (I'm not so sure about your yard). Et tu @Dav4

Maybe in True Believer Georgia, modern science is beyond the ken?

Take that!
 
Top Bottom