Wiring deadwood doesn’t work because lignification is what makes a branch set in its new position after it has been wired and lignification is a process that only occurs in live wood.This is the second time I've had to rewire a "deadwood" limb this year.
It keeps going straight and needing a rewire. Guess it absorbs moisture and thinks it's alive.
Will it keep doing this or is there a time period where it will HOLD the position I wire it to?
Thanks.
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It's funny but I did think heat might do it.
Since it's so small maybe a butane fireplace lighter could supply a controllable flame.
Have to think about this.
It should be fairly easy to isolate the greenery.
Just did one! Here’s the victim:
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That long straight upper Jin is natural, just long and straight. The picture above was taken back in January, just after repotting.
So, on Monday last week, I brought it into the workshop, wet a towel, and wrapped it around the Jin. Used a bit of aluminum wire to secure it in place. Then covered the wet towel with two wraps of aluminum foil:
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I then let it sit outside in the sun until Friday. This gave the deadwood time to absorb water from the towel. I even added water into the wrap a couple times.
Then on Friday, we took a small propane blowtorch and heated the aluminum wrapping. We diddrape the rest of the tree with wet towels. Sorry, don’t have pictures. Kinda busy! We set up a block at the point if the bend, and a guy wire rig. We carefully steamed the branch, trying not to catch anything on fire! We let the steam do it thing for a few minutes, then we started the bend. I tightened the guy wire while a friend applied the pressure to the branch using one of those “branch bender” contraptions. I took up slack in the guy wire as he bent.
Then we removed the aluminum and towel. I decided to leave the block and guy wire a couple months:
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There was one small Jin up top I wired so it wouldn’t cross so bad.
I tried the steam bending thing this past Jan, just to try out the technique. It definitely loosened up the wood, but I also had similar experiences like @wireme. Over time it slowly returned to it's shape, not completely to the original position, but didn't stay as tight. Maybe I didn't leave it on long enough. I think for next time, I'm going to steam it longer and then leave it tied in the new position for a year or more.
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You can see in the back of the tree how far it's bent back up this year...
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I think it just needs to stay on longer... possibly with more pressure. @Adair M have you experiences the jins trying to return to their position?