Mac In Oak Ridge
Shohin
I am going to make two posts of this process because of photo limitations.
I couldn't stand it any longer. I know several of you here advised, in a previous post that I leave this tree alone this year and let it recover from 15 years of neglect in an abandoned nursery lot. This spring indicated that it was growing well, yellowish needles turned dark green, pushing new candles and the needles unfolding. Soooo.........
First a photo what my plan was to rescue a great trunk with wonderful rough bark on it. Then of the tree before I started.
I split the first section of the heavy limb vertically all the way through, that is the section between the main trunk and where the limb stubs come off, it is roughly 6" long and 1" in diameter. I forgot to take a photo of the split.
Then I wrapped that section with raffia laid 4 lengths of #12 copper wire along the area that was split with them following the direction that the limb would be turned. Wrapped with raffia over the wire. Continued the raffia on up the limb that was going to be bent in a curve. All the copper wire and raffia have been applied in the direction of the twist so that the twisting action tightened the wrappings instead of loosening them.
From there I wired the first section and on up the limb with #8 wire. I attached a length of re-bar to branch stubs right at the end of the split area. The stubs gave me a leverage point for the re-bar to do it's work.
I started twisting the split section a little at a time, I made about a 30° turn and then took a break for 15 min. or so. Came back and took the twist to about 90°. Stopped there and wired the rest of the main limb. Moved it about another 45° or so and stopped again.
The whole time I had my ear up against the split section listening for a cracking sound. I never heard one through the entire process.
After wiring the secondary limbs I went back to the re-bar and completed the 180° twist of the arrangement. I tied the re-bar off so it didn't get away and allow any untwisting of the trunk. I had no choice but to go ahead and cut off the large fat limb so the re-bar could complete it's circuit. The remaining stub is being used for leverage to increase the bend of the main trunk. It will be completely removed in the future.
After using guy wires in various places to hold the bends in place I was able to remove the re-bar from the arrangement. I managed to do this with only knocking one small flake of bark off the main trunk.
Hopefully the photo sequence shows what I describe. I'd like to see a little more curve in the section that I split but I think that can wait for a year or two.
Last photo is a vert with all the hardware and extra limb stubs removed. I am still debating if I want to jin them and leave on or remove completely for a smoother look to the bend. As with all trees others might see something I missed and if you do please fill me in. I saw this as the only way to save, as a bonsai, an other wise 5 ft. tall stick in a pot.
I couldn't stand it any longer. I know several of you here advised, in a previous post that I leave this tree alone this year and let it recover from 15 years of neglect in an abandoned nursery lot. This spring indicated that it was growing well, yellowish needles turned dark green, pushing new candles and the needles unfolding. Soooo.........
First a photo what my plan was to rescue a great trunk with wonderful rough bark on it. Then of the tree before I started.
I split the first section of the heavy limb vertically all the way through, that is the section between the main trunk and where the limb stubs come off, it is roughly 6" long and 1" in diameter. I forgot to take a photo of the split.
Then I wrapped that section with raffia laid 4 lengths of #12 copper wire along the area that was split with them following the direction that the limb would be turned. Wrapped with raffia over the wire. Continued the raffia on up the limb that was going to be bent in a curve. All the copper wire and raffia have been applied in the direction of the twist so that the twisting action tightened the wrappings instead of loosening them.
From there I wired the first section and on up the limb with #8 wire. I attached a length of re-bar to branch stubs right at the end of the split area. The stubs gave me a leverage point for the re-bar to do it's work.
I started twisting the split section a little at a time, I made about a 30° turn and then took a break for 15 min. or so. Came back and took the twist to about 90°. Stopped there and wired the rest of the main limb. Moved it about another 45° or so and stopped again.
The whole time I had my ear up against the split section listening for a cracking sound. I never heard one through the entire process.
After wiring the secondary limbs I went back to the re-bar and completed the 180° twist of the arrangement. I tied the re-bar off so it didn't get away and allow any untwisting of the trunk. I had no choice but to go ahead and cut off the large fat limb so the re-bar could complete it's circuit. The remaining stub is being used for leverage to increase the bend of the main trunk. It will be completely removed in the future.
After using guy wires in various places to hold the bends in place I was able to remove the re-bar from the arrangement. I managed to do this with only knocking one small flake of bark off the main trunk.
Hopefully the photo sequence shows what I describe. I'd like to see a little more curve in the section that I split but I think that can wait for a year or two.
Last photo is a vert with all the hardware and extra limb stubs removed. I am still debating if I want to jin them and leave on or remove completely for a smoother look to the bend. As with all trees others might see something I missed and if you do please fill me in. I saw this as the only way to save, as a bonsai, an other wise 5 ft. tall stick in a pot.
Attachments
Last edited:
