First time wiring ever.

[YaBoyMyth]

This is my first time ever wiring anything so welcome so criticism and feedback! I’m going for a cascade as it’s my wife’s favorite style of bonsai. Starting to bring that right side down and pruned a big branch on the left. Trimmed down the middle area to get it shorter as it was very leggy so maybe it can fill in there and give a fuller appearance.

 

[Shibui]

Wiring looks neat and probably effective.
The smooth arching cascade will probably look OK for an azalea but not my idea of good cascade bonsai styling. I found that cascade look relatively easy but found getting a good looking trunk was much. much harder in practice.
Note that azalea are generally quite brittle so I'm glad you did not try for dramatic bends on this one.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Normally not best to wire while flowering or having tender new growth. Agreed wiring not looking too bad.

 

[PonderingSage:]

Google Colin Lewis wiring video.
He wrote some books in the 90’s, and has a good basic wiring video.
He uses color coded wire so it is easy to see. I found it helpful.

 

[Paradox]

Not bad for a first ever attempt. Wiring takes practice, lots of practice to perfect.
Study how others wire trees, practice and youll get the hang of it

 

[Njyamadori]

I’m no expert but really just a newbie also . But when I think about wiring the reason we wire is to change/bend the shape . If you are able to due so without hurting the trees health then you did a good job . Sure styling is a whole other factor but I’m just talking about applying wire . So if that’s the bends you wanted to make and you didn’t drastically hurt the health than amazing. Other than that you did do a decent job on making the angles seem all the same .

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Good first effort for azalea wiring!

This is likely a Kurume or such to be blooming this early. Almost all early bloomers have hard wood, so be sure this is what you what stylistically, as it will be very hard to bend that upper section later on.

A couple hints, azaleas can be very unforgiving and crack unexpectedly so overwire guagewise compared to what you can get away with on most other trees. You’ll find maples similar. Second, make sure your wire is in gentle contact with the wood at all points. This will help avoid, not prevent cracking.

It’s possible to wire azaleas at any time of the year. Right now the wood is a flexible as it gets. A reason most folks don’t like to wire when flowering is one often knocks off or damages flowers during wiring. That said, if one’s azalea is in development most folks remove all or most of the flowers to shift the blooming energy towards growth.

cheers
DSD sends

 

[YaBoyMyth]

Wiring looks neat and probably effective.
The smooth arching cascade will probably look OK for an azalea but not my idea of good cascade bonsai styling. I found that cascade look relatively easy but found getting a good looking trunk was much. much harder in practice.
Note that azalea are generally quite brittle so I'm glad you did not try for dramatic bends on this one.

ya i was going for a less arching look than that, but i could feel the wood didnt want to give much more than that. Think of chopping back some of the cascade next year when i find a good new leader branch to add some movement.

 

[YaBoyMyth]

Good first effort for azalea wiring!

This is likely a Kurume or such to be blooming this early. Almost all early bloomers have hard wood, so be sure this is what you what stylistically, as it will be very hard to bend that upper section later on.

A couple hints, azaleas can be very unforgiving and crack unexpectedly so overwire guagewise compared to what you can get away with on most other trees. You’ll find maples similar. Second, make sure your wire is in gentle contact with the wood at all points. This will help avoid, not prevent cracking.

It’s possible to wire azaleas at any time of the year. Right now the wood is a flexible as it gets. A reason most folks don’t like to wire when flowering is one often knocks off or damages flowers during wiring. That said, if one’s azalea is in development most folks remove all or most of the flowers to shift the blooming energy towards growth.

cheers
DSD sends

so would it still be beneficial to take the flowers off?

 

[YaBoyMyth]

This is my first time ever wiring anything so welcome so criticism and feedback! I’m going for a cascade as it’s my wife’s favorite style of bonsai. Starting to bring that right side down and pruned a big branch on the left. Trimmed down the middle area to get it shorter as it was very leggy so maybe it can fill in there and give a fuller appearance.

I also plan to change shave some of the top root ball off next repot and change the angle of the trunk to add somne more interest there too as it is pretty straight for the first few inches. Any other suggestions to make a dynamic trunk on this?

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

At this point, just enjoy the flowers and be sure to take all flower parts off once these start to wilt. Then cut back the 3-5 new shoots around each flower back to two shoots and two leaves on each shot.

I think it’s possible to double wire and get some more bend out of the last 2/3 of the branches.

Yet with your experience level I totally agree that you should let this guy recover and see what pops up. A semi cascade might work better… a full cascade is pretty ambitious.

Also do some research on repotting and changing soil for next year. I’m pretty sure there are still some azalea experts in the bonsai shops near you. When you call be sure they work azaleas/satsukis though.

Cheers
DSD sends