rafia - twine/rope jute - double sided tape

[Trueblackpercula]

Hi everyone i have very limited experiencing with branch splitting or drastic branch bending and have watched countless hours of youtube videos to say the lest. I am more confused now than before the videos because i see four major techniques used. not to mention none show what it looks like after the raffia/rope/tape is removed, what i have seen are wire scares when the wire is left to long on the tree or branch.

1. straight wire
2. wire over raffia
3. tape of all kinds then wire over it
4. Tape over the split (area-branch) then rope/twine over that than three strands of wire of heavy gauge

What is the best method used for major branch bending/splitting ? i watched this video

and i am thinking this would be the best method for my situation but i would really like to hear from others experiences.

I am doing this to a prunis incisa that i have had since july of 2020 the thread can be found here >>>>> https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/prunus-incisa-help.44831/

as always thank you
Michael

 

[0soyoung]

I only do this kind of stuff with conifers.

I am strongly influenced to wire and gently bend only young stems of 'deciduous' / 'hard wood' trees because older stems are very rigid and tend to just snap instead of bend.

I posted an experience of doing this kind of thing with an odd-ball p. thunbergii that I found in a local nursery in a BNut thread. The 'wire-left-on-too-long' problem occurred, but has smoothed out considerably over the last couple of years.

 

[leatherback]

Yeah, this will be a disaster when done on prunus I would say. The wood fibres are shorter and the branches snap easily.

In the end, when bending big branches you aim at providing outside stability so that when individual branchsections break the fibres cannot break through the bark, thus ensuring the branch survives. Wire alone will not do this, so only wire is mainly for smaller/younger branches. When you use as cover then just needs to be very strong, and not give much.

 

[Trueblackpercula]

Yeah, this will be a disaster when done on prunus I would say. The wood fibres are shorter and the branches snap easily.

In the end, when bending big branches you aim at providing outside stability so that when individual branchsections break the fibres cannot break through the bark, thus ensuring the branch survives. Wire alone will not do this, so only wire is mainly for smaller/younger branches. When you use as cover then just needs to be very strong, and not give much.

Understood now I understand why so many techniques as it depends on the thickness and type of tree.

Michael