Is There A Wrong Time Of Year To Wire?

[Timbo]

I think i'm going to wire within the next few days...Maple branches are in between and still seem flexible enough to me...i'll find out.
Temps in the high 70's/low 80's this week...nice for up here!

 

[markyscott]

The time to wire broadleaf trees is in the spring through early summer, for me. Fall wiring is not good. This is the time the tree is storing sugars for dormancy. Bad time for pruning and wiring. Even in Houston I've more or less reached the end of the window to wire broadleaf trees. This time of year, the wood has hardened off and trees are not putting on a lot more wood. So any movement you manage to put in now will have to wait until next year anyway to add enough wood to hold its position. Branches on boadleaf trees are grown into position, not bent into shape like conifers.

Scott

 

[markyscott]

Seasonal work on developing broadleaf trees entails:

1. Spring work. In the spring and early summer the shoots are strongly extending when the spring push hardens off, its time to work the tree. Select shoots, prune unnecessary shoots, cut back to strongly growing shoots and wire. Remove old leaves on extending shoots to allow light and air into the interior.
2. Fall work. Fertilize until leaf drop.
3. Late winter, early spring. Repot and cut back. Cut back involves pruning lignified wood. Remove downward facing growth. Prune to two shoots. Cut back to lighter interior growth and remove heavy branches. Prune for movement, basic branch structure and taper. I sometimes do a bit of wiring this season as well to redirect branches filling in areas that I've pruned. This wire has to be watched carefully - it will cut in quickly in spring.

Scott

 

[markyscott]

So, how can you tell when your tree is ready for developmental wiring during the growing season? It's ready when the new growth has hardened off.

• Hardening means establishment of the cuticle - a waxy covering that reduces transpiration
• Early spring growth is light green and very soft. As it hardens off it gets firmer and darker in color.
• That’s the moment to work the trees - when the spring push has hardened, but the branch hasn't fully lignified so it’s soft enough to work.

Work your trees as soon as the spring growth has hardened off. They'll reward you with another flush of growth. When that's hardened off you can work it again. And again. And again. With luck and a long growing season, you can get in quite a few growths in a single season. I can get in three to four stylings in a singe growing season.

Scott

 

[markyscott]

Read these threads for detailed discussion starting with the following posts:

https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/help-scott-pick-his-keeper.21589/page-4#post-485473
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/ebihara-maples.18215/page-6#post-345613

Scott

 

[MichaelS]

So any movement you manage to put in now will have to wait until next year anyway to add enough wood to hold its position.

Scott

They don't need to add more wood to hold position. All the trees I wire at leaf fall and into winter (which is all of them) hold their positions when I remove the wire before bud swell.

 

[BobbyLane]

i personally wire at any time in the year. i do like to wire just after leaf drop as i find the branches are still very pliable and take to manipulation very well. this also gives me more time to work on my trees, which i love doing and i can see them better without leaves and i can enjoy my styling work over the winter period and then come spring i find they set very quickly. i tend not to wire my trident over winter as the branches become quite brittle. everything else ie elms, hornbeams, hawthorn, beech, oak, privet, take to wiring well at this time. i find problems with winter wiring only arise when, you've done the styling but then go back in and start doing more bending and twisting, ive seen branch die back with over manipulation in winter. but its fine in my experience if you style your tree and then leave it be.
on my balcony, or in my climate, i dont have any problems with the cold affecting wired branches. ive only been doing this 5 years, but i ve only seen branch die back when you go back and continue to mess around with the styling. i saw this first hand on a specific branch that i kept twisting and turning, come spring said branch died back.

 

[BobbyLane]

i fully wired this oak last season in the dead of winter, end of nov
2016-11-29_07-45-02 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

come spring didnt lose a single branch because i styled it, was satisfied with the styling and left it alone.

ps
i tell a lie, hawthorn along with trident can be a little brittle in winter. ive had good results wiring young shoots on my hawthorn through summer and using clip n grow
guess its also a matter of knowing your trees and knowing which species can be worked. after a few branches snaps you'll soon figure that out

 

[Timbo]

Not to argue the point, thanks for replying, some 2nd flush trees up here harden off pretty late. Some of them have gotten the dark green leaves and woody branches in mid august or later. My Amur 'flame' is almost hardened off from the new flush of growth. Some of my Japanese maples still have some tender growth. 30's-40's at night help I suppose. Some don't even bud out until May.

For younger branches, perhaps try using thinner wire and working with a gentler touch. The trick is to wire the branch, then bend the wire, not the branch if that makes sense. And especially for the thin ones, you want to wire and bend in place just once. Don't manipulate it back and forth - that's just asking for it.

Time of year matters, too. If you try to wire maple branches in the winter, they're very likely to snap. Especially kiyohime maples. You really need to wire them when there's a bit of sap flow. I tend to wire late winter/early spring, just as they're waking up, but I've also done early summer, mid summer and late summer wirings and had it work out OK. It's when they're dormant that branch snapping can really be a problem.

Also fwiw, there's often a decent amount of time between "thin young growth" and "too late to bend the joints". You ought to be able to get the timing down with practice.

Keep working on it. Practice makes perfect. =)

Yeah I've found that to be more so on Maples...they will snap pretty easy.

 

[MichaelS]

i personally wire at any time in the year. i do like to wire just after leaf drop as i find the branches are still very pliable and take to manipulation very well. this also gives me more time to work on my trees, which i love doing and i can see them better without leaves and i can enjoy my styling work over the winter period and then come spring i find they set very quickly. i tend not to wire my trident over winter as the branches become quite brittle. everything else ie elms, hornbeams, hawthorn, beech, oak, privet, take to wiring well at this time. i find problems with winter wiring only arise when, you've done the styling but then go back in and start doing more bending and twisting, ive seen branch die back with over manipulation in winter. but its fine in my experience if you style your tree and then leave it be.
on my balcony, or in my climate, i dont have any problems with the cold affecting wired branches. ive only been doing this 5 years, but i ve only seen branch die back when you go back and continue to mess around with the styling. i saw this first hand on a specific branch that i kept twisting and turning, come spring said branch died back.

Yes wiring in summer is a true pain in the arse and not needed (except perhaps for Apricot) You can do it after defoliation but you then need to take it off again 2 weeks later braking off branches and leaves as you go. If you have trouble bending a branch after leaf fall you should have done it the year before. You can only have a rough idea about what you're doing if you wire a fully leafed tree.(conifers excepted) I can understand if you get severe freezes you might have to protect the tree or something....With maples you should not wire anything much more than matchstick thick - at least not severely anyway.

 

[MichaelS]

Hopefully this will convince you that autumn is the best time to wire deciduous trees. They are all wired at leaf fall. Never in summer

 

[William N. Valavanis]

Wiring deciduous species:

Decades ago I always removed all the wire from my deciduous bonsai before winter, and I have a lot of them to care for and am always creating new specimens. At that time we thought the wire would kill the delicate branches because of the cold.

When I was sponsoring symposia many years ago, I had a professor from Cornell University, who was my student, do some research on wire on deciduous species during the winter. Through actual research, what do you think he learned? He measured the temperature of the bark and discovered that the wire actually INSULATED the bark! The bark temperature under the wire was warmer than branches which were unwired!!!

I wire, shape and transplant throughout the year, most species I rarely stop. I do this when I have the time, energy and am inspired. But, after care is very important. Usually I don't do too much shaping of winter hardy species during the dead of winter, because I hate the cold and stay indoors and work on the magazine or books or programs. But, if inspired, I'm out in the heated studio, often with my skilled and talented assistant Alan Adair, working on trees.

The actual best time to wire deciduous species is in the summer as the branches are maturing, not in spring as the buds are opening. But, like most people, I find it easier to wire those species without foliage before the expand. But, the wire must be carefully checked.

Bill

Here is a Koto Hime Japanese Maple I wired and shaped in early April while the leaves were opening. Please note this is training wiring, not exhibition wiring.

 

[Pachycaul]

Oops. The plural of genus is genera. I guess I was pretentious and wrong.

Thankfully, the grammar police are all at a charity affair to benefit literacy this evening, so we'll just keep your little faux pas our secret.

 

[Timbo]

Wiring deciduous species:

Decades ago I always removed all the wire from my deciduous bonsai before winter, and I have a lot of them to care for and am always creating new specimens. At that time we thought the wire would kill the delicate branches because of the cold.

When I was sponsoring symposia many years ago, I had a professor from Cornell University, who was my student, do some research on wire on deciduous species during the winter. Through actual research, what do you think he learned? He measured the temperature of the bark and discovered that the wire actually INSULATED the bark! The bark temperature under the wire was warmer than branches which were unwired!!!

I wire, shape and transplant throughout the year, most species I rarely stop. I do this when I have the time, energy and am inspired. But, after care is very important. Usually I don't do too much shaping of winter hardy species during the dead of winter, because I hate the cold and stay indoors and work on the magazine or books or programs. But, if inspired, I'm out in the heated studio, often with my skilled and talented assistant Alan Adair, working on trees.

The actual best time to wire deciduous species is in the summer as the branches are maturing, not in spring as the buds are opening. But, like most people, I find it easier to wire those species without foliage before the expand. But, the wire must be carefully checked.

Bill

Here is a Koto Hime Japanese Maple I wired and shaped in early April while the leaves were opening. Please note this is training wiring, not exhibition wiring.
View attachment 160658 View attachment 160659

While I believe what you are saying, this is what makes is harder for anyone to know without their own experiences. Ask 5 people, you get 5 diff answers.
I wonder if biting in affects hardiness...then again if you do it after active grow I guess there isn't much branch growth.
I would rather do it in fall or late winter if it works. Saves me from knocking buds off and tearing the bark. To me it is easy to knock off larch buds in late winter/spring.

 

[M. Frary]

I would do as Bill says.

 

[sorce]

The trick is to wire the branch, then bend the wire, not the branch if that makes sense.

You fully must bend the branch too!

"My fingertips the raffia".

I get as much contact with the branch as safely possible.

You can totally feel blowout prevention happening.

.........

I could probly rant a Three page list of "what if's" and variances....

Aluminum or Copper?
Chem or Organic?
What time of day ?
What size wire? Appropriate, or a little large to keep from biting too early?

Etc. Etc.etc...

This revelation of temp of bark under wire for me is good information, but not a conclusive positive.

Anything that makes a tree think "WTF?"...
Which I feel this would...

Is more bad than good.

Blah...

Sorce

 

[markyscott]

While I believe what you are saying, this is what makes is harder for anyone to know without their own experiences. Ask 5 people, you get 5 diff answers.

I think Bill and I told you the same thing - late spring to early summer after the spring push has hardened is the start of wiring season for broadleaf trees. Late spring in Houston, because our trees start pushing growth in late February and it's hardened off by May. Early summer further north where the growth starts later. Timing varies across the country, but the key is to watch for the growth to harden, or, as Bill said, when the branches are maturing. We also both said you can wire in winter, but watch the wire carefully in spring because the branches thicken rapidly and the wire can start to bite in. The only thing I'd add is that you probably want to wait until during or after cut back, or you'll find yourself pruning through wired branches or have to remove wire in order to prune.

To me it is easy to knock off larch buds in late winter/spring.

Larch is a deciduous conifer, as I'm sure you know, but I wanted to point out that it is probably handled differently than broadleaf trees in terms of training and development. I can't offer you any advice on that species. Our native decidopuous conifer in my area is Bald Cypress. I wire that in summer, after the growth had hardened off. Or in winter, after cut back.

Scott