Burned Deadwood/Fire Scars as a feature?

barguy8194

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Just curious because I’ve never seen this as a feature, but has anyone ever experimented with burning/charring deadwood in a tree where fire scars would be a common feature in nature? Giant Sequoias, for example, often have burnt-out hollows in their trunks from wildfires.

I can imagine this would be very difficult to do in bonsai without killing the trees, which is probably why I’ve never seen it. Also might just be “ugly,” and therefore undesirable.

Thoughts? Attached pictures are just googled imaged of sequoias where this happened in nature.
 

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Bonsai Nut

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Sequoias can't reproduce without fire.

That said, a sequoia has bark that is up to 36" thick (no that's not a typo) so they can withstand all sorts of punishment.

It certainly isn't impossible, but to get the bark to heal over the scar so it looks "natural" might take a while. Also it is really important how you introduce such a strong element into your design. If you don't have an impressive, powerful tree, all eyes will be drawn to the trunk scar. You have to make sure whatever you do with the trunk scar is balanced with the rest of the character of the tree.
 

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And as I was thinking about this thread... a young tree might heal over a burn scar in a different fashion than a giant in the woods. Having seen these large impressive examples first-hand, they are incredible. But I am worried with a smaller tree if you burn it you might get callousing or bulging that looks out of proportion to the entire design. Perhaps in a large example... 4' or taller. But a smaller tree... I wonder.

Best idea - try it and find out! Just take lots of photos to share!
 
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