New Idea for Bending Technique

N-tropy

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Hi,

I am actually using Silicone on my Trees, after cutting off Branches, which is transparent with anti fungicides contained in it, and my Trees did all so far react positive to it.
The good thing is, I can see thru the Silicone and observe the progress the wound closing does show. Today I made a drastic bend on one of my tiny trees, and made it snap a bit at one point,
I am very sure it will heal perfectly fine - I did cover the part of the bent trunk in silicone, it will dry out air tight very soon, and fungus/bacteria will not have a chance. I always see those drastic
bendings done with Raffia and today I thought, it would be possible to cover the whole trunk/branch in a more or less thick layer of silicone before applying Raffia and bending, so if anything
breaks a bit, it would heal well, since the silicone itself will stay airtight and snug, no matter what happens with the tree that is being bent.

Since I am only working with very tiny Bonsai I cannot verify if this method would be effective, maybe someone might still be interested in giving it a try.
I hope it can be of use for someone.
 

0soyoung

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Yah, it works. One can get self-amalgamating silicone tape at autoparts and big box stores. Silicone is a moisture barrier that transmits oxygen, so it can remain in place for as long as it takes. These are usually opaque black or grey (where are you getting clear tape?). I did just what you are talking about doing with this tree (2014) Inked2014-09-20 13.00.19_LI.jpg. It broke twice under the silicone and wire. I left the silicone in place for two years (probably unnecessarily long). The breaks look like this now. 2018-10-10 12.50.25.jpg And this is the tree as is was last fall. 2018-10-10 12.38.24.jpg

Clearly, what you are thinking doesn't create a masterpiece, but it works, horticulturally speaking. I'm not sold on raffia, but maybe it does prevent a stem from snapping to some degree. When the stem underneath snaps, it parts and does absolutely nothing for preventing moisture loss and die back. Silicone is stretchy and I use it now when I anticipate a branch/trunk may snap. On small stuff I use parafilm after the fact, but just about anything will do because it really only needs to stay in place for two or three weeks, to prevent moisture loss until a new epiderm has formed over the exposed cambium.
 

N-tropy

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Nice, thx for the pictures.
Yes the moisture barrier is how it works technically.
I am not using tape, I use liquid silicone (sanitary silicone). It can also be mixed with cornstach to
use it like putty, but then u probably lose the transparency - not sure, never tried so far.

I use this product for my Mame/Shohins : https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00SBMC2D2
it does contain fungicides.

I think it depends on the species if it will heal well or look interesting or just ugly if a branch/trunk is broken.
My opinion is, it can be an interesting nature imitating method when it is pretty safe to use. And that can be
achieved with silicone.
 
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